Stressed? Instead of letting the effects of stress take control of your life, see an Osteopath to get the support and treatments you need to learn how to better deal with stress before it impacts your health and well-being.
Your stress may come from different places. You may be stressed at work, struggling to conceive a child, behind on your bills, or suffering from trauma triggers you can’t escape. The common thread is that it has serious physical and mental effects that can impact your daily life and well-being.
No matter the level of it, an Osteopath can help on your healing journey. Many Osteopathic services and therapies can help your body better respond, putting you back in control of your life again.
Keep reading to learn how to turn tension into tranquillity with the stress-relieving benefits of Osteopathy.
What is Osteopathy?
Osteopathy helps align your body’s systems so they function optimally. It typically treats pain and dysfunction of your muscles, bones, tendons, ligaments, nerves, connective tissue, and internal organs. An Osteopath can also help you better manage acute or chronic stress.
Stress can be good and bad
This is a part of your body’s “flight or flight” response. It’s your body’s way of warning you of danger or that you’re pushing too hard. Some of it can be good for you as it can:
- Help you feel motivated to overcome obstacles.
- Make you more alert and focused.
- Improve cognitive function.
- Help you move away from danger.
- Boost your immunity through increased glycoprotein released when you’re stressed (this can help regulate your immune system to fight against colds).
Acute stress is what we feel in our everyday life and is short-lived and temporary. This stress is normal and usually easy to manage through basic coping techniques. However, chronic stress feels never-ending and more severe. It is often triggered by past trauma, financial stress, and relationship and self-worth issues.
Prolonged or high stress can harm your physical and physiological body and have the opposite effect of the above benefits. Stress stops being a mental motivator if it causes:
- Headaches
- Elevated heart rate and sweating
- Trouble with digestion and elimination of body wastes
- Disrupted sleep and increased tiredness
- Physical tightness of your shoulders or chest
- Depression or anxiety
Stress can never be 100% removed from our lives, but we can prepare our bodies to better respond to stressors and triggers through Osteopathic care.
Managing stress through Osteopathy
Osteopathy helps relax your mind and body to find calm and tranquillity. Here are some ways Osteopathic treatments can help you manage it:
Breathing techniques
When you’re not breathing well due to stress, your body’s lack of oxygen can lead to hyperventilation, shortness of breath, and tightness in your chest. You can increase the oxygen you take into your body through breathing exercises.
Your Osteopath can help you learn targeted, calming breathing techniques to perform during anxiety or stress to ensure you get enough oxygen.
Massage
Massage can help calm your mind and body so it’s less susceptible to the adverse effects of stress. Its techniques can reduce tightness in your muscles and tendons, a side effect of elevated stress.
Massage is a treatment whose psychological benefits are just as substantial as the physical. Massage can be tailored to your touch and pressure tolerance, providing an environment to enhance your emotional relaxation. You’re encouraged to relax and not to use electronic devices during a massage. Your massage therapist or Osteopath will likely play calming music and dim the lights in the room, giving your body signals to calm and relax.
Exercises
Exercise is an effective way to manage. Some find exercising a good stress-relieving activity more effective than turning to bed habits like unhealthy eating. Your Osteopath can recommend some good exercises, including jogging, stretching, yoga, or sports.
Lifestyle modifications
Living an overall healthy lifestyle can help you avoid many harmful effects of stress. An Osteopath can help you look at your lifestyle and find ways to eliminate unhealthy habits and replace them with healthier ones. Here are some examples:
Habits to eliminate
- Unhealthy eating in response to stress
- Negative self-talk
- Not exercising
- Excessive smoking or alcohol
Healthy habits to start
- Regular exercising
- Healthy eating habits
- Focusing on positive, healthy relationships
- Self-care
For many, unhealthy eating is a way to cope with elevated levels. However, for chronic stress sufferers, unhealthy eating significantly damages your digestive system and can cause bloat, constipation, and affect the lining in your gut. It can also lead to bulimia or other eating disorders and their associated physical and mental effects (stress and anxiety being one of them).
Posture support
Your Osteopath can help you maintain a tall posture. This is important because it helps your body transmit signals to and from the brain faster and more effectively. Good posture also enables you to manage the effects of stress by opening your lungs so air can move in and out more freely (so you get more oxygen) and so more blood and oxygen can get to the brain to help you feel happy and content.
An Osteopath can gently manipulate the soft tissues throughout your body so the flow of blood, oxygen, and communication signals is unobstructed.
Where to find an Osteopath for stress relief
Thuja Wellness, I can support your journey to minimizing and managing the effects of it in your life. Through an integrated approach, I help you balance your mind and body so you have the tools necessary to avoid or manage acute and chronic stress.
Book an Osteopathic appointment at Thuja Wellness today.
