HEALTH - E - TALK: 4th edition.
Hi!!
Welcome to the fourth edition of "Health - E - Talk".
Feeling stressed out? Well, have we got the answers for you.

 QUESTION: HOW CAN YOU COPE WITH SRESS?
Here are some tips for dealing with "bad" stress and using "good" stress: Of course this is no psychology text book, and is far from a complete stress management guide. But I hope there is some food for thought and action:

1) FINISH THE JOB! As discussed last week, "stress" is your body's "fight or flight" response to a "stressful" situation. It activates your body to be able to respond to the situation quickly, energetically and effectively.

So, if the stressful situation is a "job" that needs to be dealt with - then use the extra energy to get the job done. Procrastinating or getting sidetracked with other less important things will only lead to you building up the stress internally.

2) HARNESS THE ENERGY! If the situation that is causing your body to have a "stress response" is one that you are unable to deal with presently - then harness the energy produced for another activity. Competitive sport, creative hobbies, gardening are examples of activities that you can channel the energy into, instead of taking it out on your family or work mates.

3) BURN OFF THE OVERGROWTH: Many situations on a day to day basis can be the source of minor or major stress. If you add all these together, then you will have accumulated some excess "stress" by the end of the day. The best way to get rid of this is to burn it off. Go for a walk, do some stretching, go and do a workout, have a swim, ride your bike etc.

4) BE WELL ADJUSTED: A Chiropractic Adjustment is a great way of releasing some tension from your muscular and nervous system: In fact latest research suggests that one of the ways that an adjustment improves your general health is by draining off some of the effects of stress.

5) "ADJUST NORTH OF THE ATLAS": This is an old chiropractic saying: The Atlas is your C1 Vertebra - on the very top of your neck. So the only thing north of the atlas is your skull with its' biggest tenant being your brain!

To adjust north of the atlas hence means to change what's going on inside your brain. Many stressful situations are only stressful because we think they are. To change our attitude towards the situation, will change our body's response to it.

6) TRY THE FLUSH TECHNIQUE: Stressful situations fall into one of two categories - those you can do something about, and those that you can do nothing about! Allowing the latter to "stress" us is a no-win situation: Politics, the weather, other peoples' behaviour, our inability to win tatts, annoying machinery, banks, etc etc.

The flush technique works like this: When you find yourself getting stressed about something which you have no influence over, write it down on a sheet of toilet paper, then put it to its' normal use. Watch it disappearing as you press the flush button, and mentally let the stressful event go with it.

7) PRAY / MEDITATE / TALK: Practice techniques which allow you to mentally pass stressful situations onwards &/or upwards.

HERE'S A THOUGHT!!
"The more mechanically distorted a person is, the less energy is available for thinking metabolism, and healing." (Roger Sperry - 1980 Nobel Prize winner for brain research)

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© Dr Nick Hodgson 2008

2005 Victorian Chiropractor of The Year, Australasian TRT Training Provider, Fellow Holder Research Institute.

 Visit Nick's other web site at www.torquerelease.com.au