The Stress Toll (Healing) - 3/3
If you would like to take a step back and read (or re-read my previous posts on stress, you can find them here:
Defining Stress - Where is your stress originating from?
Coping with Stress - 5 Tactics & 1 Key Strategy to cope
The healing process is a tricky and a sticky one. Coping with stress, removing stressors, and then we should heal, right? Not so straightforward.
In fact, it can be sometimes seem impossible to heal after you feel the stress has disappeared. Why?
When stress has been on-going and repeated for some time, it’s chronic. This chronic level of stress can trigger a whole world of ailments, including inflammation leading to other health problems such as diabetes, cancer, heart disease. One of the more frequent ailments starts with leaky gut.
Leaky gut begins as our gut bacteria is upset. This can happen from hormonal imbalances (gut bugs munching on hormones), disordered eating, processed foods, refined sugar and flour and a lack of diversity in fruits and vegetables. Toxins can enter our bloodstream via ingestion, transdermal applications, inhalation, etc. But our gut bacteria can also be the creator of toxins. As our gut lining begins to have gaping holes in it, our bloodstream is now carrying the bad stuff throughout our body. Our livers detoxifying as they can, but what skips them goes to our skin - rashes, eczema, psoriasis, acne. You’ve likely had a breakout before an exam, right? Our brains also experience some toxicity entering through the blood-brain barrier which is now leaky most often. Leaky brain = inflamed brain = depressed brain.
Chronic stress can take years to recover from, so coping with it consistently, early in life is key.
However, growing up we aren’t taught how to cope, deal, or heal from stress. It’s expected that we just know. And no one truly knows how.
If we are lucky enough to be able to deal with the stress, remove the stress, cope with the stress, it may still be “too late”. We’re often struck with illness after the struggle is over. Leaving us physically ill from a lifetime of stress lingering around. This “let-down” effect can occur as our cortisol levels drop when we’re done with the stressful situation. As cortisol can mask pain (for good reason, so we can escape danger), without it around we start to feel pain again. Inflammation is raging, our immunity is suppressed and we don’t have the same mechanisms in place to hide or deal with the pain. So it feels like onset, when we’re really paying the price for the stress later on, or stress was masking the pain, or both.
As our bodies relax and release stress, we make room to feel pain.
A healing path is possible, but requires attention. Paying attention to what your body needs is critical. Holistic healers can offer so much help in this area. As a Holistic Nutritionist, I can look at your nutrition, your mood, your spirit, your habits, everything that affects you. We are your healers for your life, not just your gut.
Not dealing with your stress can lead to depression, adrenal exhaustion, and so, so much more.
If you are ready to recover from, and manage chronic stress, let’s chat. I work specifically with individuals just like you to get through every struggle along the way - with your personally designed blueprint.
CHECK OUT MY RECIPE SECTION FOR NOURISHING WAYS TO MANAGE STRESS
