Why not all stress (and stress relief) is created equal.
Did you know that some stress is actually good for you? In the right
amounts, stress can improve brain function, make you more creative, help
you get fit, lower your risk of breast cancer, Alzheimer’s, and lots
more.
It’s chronic stress—the “stress overload” you feel day in, day
out—that’s silently but systematically sabotaging your health and
well-being.
Here’s the thing, though. You’re smart. You exercise, get your 7
hours, do deep breathing, yoga, meditation. You’ve even logged hours on
the couch (the therapist’s couch!) , trying to get to the “root” of your
stress.
But still, you feel its effects. Even worse, stress-related disease shows up everywhere you look.
So what gives?
The Answer: Like stress, not all stress relief is created equal.
Stress isn’t just in your head. Stress is also physical. (There’s load of scientific research proving this, by the way.)
Until stress is fully released, it stays
lodged in your body, in your cells,
running rampant, putting
your health at risk.
Still not sure? The health-damaging effects of chronic stress are scientific fact.
Here’s how stress damages your health (and your life, relationships, waistline, and more) in 13 sad steps:
1. You think about something stressful—work, money, relationships, family, whatever’s bothering you.
2. Your amygdala (in your mid-brain) senses danger.
3. Your amygdala helps to initiate your body’s fight-or-flight response to stress.
4. In “fight
or flight”, your body releases adrenaline and the “stress hormone”
cortisol, diverts blood away from your digestive tract, leaving you less
able to digest food and absorb nutrients AND more likely to gain
weight.
5. In this
physiological “crisis mode,” you’re more vulnerable to pain—from chronic
illness, arthritis, fibromyalgia, migraines, stomach upset, and more.
6. In this
state of heightened physiological “alert”, your brain’s creative center
is deemed “non-essential” and shuts down. Down goes your problem
solving, your creative skills, your intuition.
7. You feel increasingly irritable, isolated and impatient. Your relationships suffer.
8. Stress affects your sleep. Your metabolism slows.
9. Your body
secretes even more cortisol, wreaking more havoc on your digestion (and
waist line), increasing your blood pressure, lowering your immune
response.
10. After
releasing too much cortisol for too long, your body goes into “adrenal
fatigue.” You feel depleted, exhausted, and depressed.
11. You no
longer have the energy to adhere to your exercise routine, your healthy
eating, meditation, yoga. Migraines, insomnia, stress-related hair loss,
chronic pain, and any number of other issues become regular parts of
your life.
12. Battling low energy, you can hardly focus at work, and elsewhere. Your relationships suffer.
13. Your depression deepens. You (and your body) are STRESSED OUT.
Typical “Quick-Fix” Stress Relievers
Alcohol
Food
Television
Shopping
You feel better, but only until the next morning or credit card statement.
What about aerobic exercise, yoga/meditation, and “talk” therapy?
40% of the population exercises for 30 minutes each on 1 – 4 days per week
NO debate here. Exercise is crucial for a healthy lifestyle. Physical
activity promotes the release of endorphins, known as the “feel good”
neurotransmitters; makes you “smarter” and more creative by increasing
blood flow (and oxygen) to your brain; and acts as “meditation in
motion”, providing mental and physical stress relief.
The reality: However
critical, it’s hours, even days, after that stressful meeting with the
boss, or that fight with your spouse, before you can seek out the solace
of your running shoes. (If you have that healthy habit..)
38% of Americans use “complementary and alternative medicine”, which includes yoga, meditation and other natural stress relief
Again, NO debate here. These practices provide powerful stress relief, increased focus, creativity, and lots more.
The reality: Yoga
and meditation provide significant stress relief and other benefits that
yield significant results in weeks or months with regular, frequent
practice. Many who try meditation give up too soon because they feel
it’s “not working.”
What about psychotherapy? Does “talk” therapy provide lasting stress relief?
A study performed by Dr. Dawson Church, PhD and Dr. David Feinstein, PhD, measured cortisol levels before and after treatment.
83
participants were divided into 3 groups: the 1st group received an hour
of of Tapping, a practice that combines “talk” therapy with acupressure
treatments; the 2nd group received an hour of psychotherapy (“talk”
therapy); the 3rd group (control group) received no treatment.
Results: The 1st group demonstrated a 24% decrease in cortisol levels; the 2nd and 3rd groups showed no change in cortisol levels.
The reality:
Pyschotherapy alone relieves stress, but over a long period of time. The
immediate benefits of psychotherapy don’t register in your body, where
excessive amounts of the “stress hormone” cortisol still run rampant,
putting your health at risk.
Where’s the REAL stress relief?
Tapping, the practice that produced a 24% decrease in cortisol after
just one hour, blends Western psychotherapy or “talk” therapy with
Eastern wisdom about “meridian points” or acupressure.
Acts fast. Use anytime, anywhere. For 5 minutes or 20.
Because it accesses your emotions and body simultaneously, it
provides powerful stress relief, lowering cortisol levels faster than
most traditional and alternative stress relief methods.
Study findings:
Tapping balances activity between the sympathetic and parasympathetic
regions of your brain, producing “a neutral emotional state,” the gold
standard of health and wellness.
Dr. Church, PhD: Tapping “gives you the best of both worlds, body and
mind, like getting a massage during a psychotherapy session.”
More about the science behind it:
The sympathetic region of your brain
Prepares your body for vigorous physical activity, speeding your heart,
dilating pupils, contracting blood vessels, reducing digestive
secretions.
In a perpetually active “stressed out” state, you’re more vulnerable
to heart disease, high blood pressure, insomnia, weight gain,
irritability, and impatience. This is what chronic stress looks like in
the early stages.
The parasympathetic region of your brain
Prepares
your body for relaxation, cell regeneration, and digestion by slowing
the heart, constricting the pupils, stimulating digestive secretions,
and dilating blood vessels.
In an overactive state, you suffer from depression, weakened immune
response, fatigue and diminished motivation. à This is what chronic
stress looks like over time.
The Takeaway:
“High sympathetic / low parasympathetic ratios have been linked to
both psychological and physiological disorders and may, in fact, “be the
final pathway linking negative states and conditions to ill health.””
CREDIT: Dr. Dawson Church, PhD and Dr. David Feinstein, PhD, “Modulating
Gene Expression Through Psychotherapy: The Contribution of Non-Invasive
Somatic Interventions”
The Alternative:
EFT Tapping regulates activity between these regions to achieve balanced activity and optimal health.
Study finding: EFT Tapping is “substantially more powerful” than diaphragmatic breathing at lowering cortisol.
Extra Benefit #1: Relieved of the excessive cortisol
and “adrenal fatigue,” your body and mind re-balance. Your energy is
restored, you sleep better, feel healthy again. Your metabolism is
restored. Your body is again able to heal itself.
Extra Benefit #2: The comprehensive body/mind stress
relief you get from Tapping in minutes, takes hours, weeks, or months
to achieve with meditation, yoga, “talk” therapy, and other treatments.
Extra Benefit #3: If you already practice
meditation, yoga, affirmations, and others, Tapping can enhance the
benefits of those other practices by lowering your cortisol levels much
quicker, promoting even deeper relaxation “on the cushion” and beyond.
What it all means:
Chronic stress is sabotaging your health and well-being, making you more vulnerable to depression, disease, and worse.
EFT Tapping quickly relieves chronic stress on physical and mental/emotional levels.
