Why you should take stress seriously even if you don’t “feel” it.

Stress is a major health problem that you need to take seriously. Most chronic illnesses can be attributed to stress as an underlying catalyst and block the body from healing itself. By taking steps to consistently improve your well being with Chinese medicine and acupuncture you can maximize your health and longevity and support your whole self, mind, body and spirit.

One of the most frequent comments I hear about stress is: “ I don’t feel stressed, how can my problem be caused by stress?” This is where we need to gain some clarity about our health patterns and begin to shift our health paradigm to one that will support us and enhance the quality of our life.

Culturally we have been trained to react to a crisis. This is what I consider the broken and fix model; and the problem with this model all around is that we are left with, urgency, crisis mode and limited choices. Often it takes a giant pimple on the middle of our nose before we will notice there is a problem. Unless we can embody awareness around stress being a root health issue, we are left with poor health outcomes and peak health will elude us.

It’s not a news flash by now that stress -- especially prolonged stress -- can have negative effects on your health and well-being. High blood pressure, heart disease, cancer, stroke, depression, obesity, and insomnia are all medical conditions across the spectrum that can be related to, or directly influenced by, high stress.

What are some of the signs that stress is having a negative affect on your health?

Here are a few signs and symptoms that could indicate stress is already affecting your health and quality of life:

• Insomnia (this is big)

• Poor concentration (not feeling so sharp and on your game)

• General feeling of wariness and burden

• Can’t remember the last time you felt real joy and excitement

• Headaches especially on the weekends

• Neck/back pain

• Shortness of breath/ feeling a need to sigh

• Digestive problems (gas, bloating, abdominal pain, constipation, diarrhea)

• Irritability

• Fatigue, low motivation

• Catches colds easily

• Craving sugar/caffeine

• Elevated blood pressure

• Weight gain

While the above list may seem like temporary health problems they can turn into more serious conditions. This is the time to pay attention to what you body is revealing to you so that you can make the necessary adjustments to changes the course of your health for the future.