Friday, April 22, 2011

Mind/Body Connection: How Your Emotions Affect Your Health

The health or well being of the body can no longer ignore the impact of the mind, the emotions or the spirit in the process.

As we continue to pour stress into our lives we have to understand the impact that can have on us from a physical and emotional standpoint. Our bodies produce adrenaline in response to our stress as part of our fight or flight response. However, those were times that were supposed to be few and far between. Throughout our busy days we have multiple instances where our adrenaline continues to respond to that stress. This constant flow can take a toll on our physical health. Over a prolonged amount of time, it can wear down the immune system and cause you to frequently become ill.

Let’s look at three stages of pain. The first is the pain that is bad enough to grab your attention. The second is the pain that takes hold of you and the third stage of pain finally compels you to do something. And how do we respond? Many of us reach for some type of over the counter pill, maybe alcohol, or pain medication. Of course the source of the pain remains the same; we just cover up the symptoms that our body is giving us. Here is an example that might make the picture clearer for us.

Let’s say that your smoke detector went off in your home. The first time it would catch your attention. If it went off a second time, it would most likely take hold of your attention. But if it went off a third time it would compel you to do something. Now the question is “Would you take the batteries out so you wouldn’t hear it anymore? Of course not!

Symptoms are your body’s attempt to alert you that something is going on. So, what steps should we take to get our bodies back in balance? There are four steps to regaining that balance.

1) Recognize and Understand the Sources of Stress
2) Identify Opportunities
3) Choose Your Action
4) Review Progress and Make Adjustments.

Look for next week’s blog on step number one!

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