My patients with health problems of the nervous system commonly have stress.
They want to know: “Can the stress going on in my life right now make my (medical) symptoms worse?” My answer is always affirmative.
This is why:
The “stress” response is a basic, ancient function that is wired into the human nervous system. It functions to allow our bodies to respond to serious physical or mental threats to our well-being. This response is related to what is known as the “fight-or-flight” response. This means that the nervous system is hard wired to get us out of danger and protect our body and mind.
Unfortunately, if we experience constant turmoil or when we are forced to deal with unhealthy surroundings, our experiences can create a chronic “stress” response that can unfortunately become an every day experience. What happens then is that acute stress and more commonly chronic stress can lead into medical illness including hypertension, depression, anxiety sleep disorders, and chronic pain.
Stress can impair your brain and nervous system because of those “flight-or-fight” chemical signals that change the way in which those neurons connect with each other. When this happens, your health and medical condition may flair-up or decline and cause serious disability at work and at home.
The good news is: your emotional responses and how you think about information can modulate your body’s response and adverse impact from stress.
How does stress affect our nervous system?
Our study of neuroscience gives us medical proof that stress in fact damages your nervous system from the inside out. Stress often comes hand and hand with anxiety, worry, fear and uneasiness about our inability to control our external environment.
A single stressor, or a stressful event commonly is associated with physical signs such as neck tension, headaches, and insomnia. More concerning physical symptoms of stress and anxiety include tremors, depression, dizzy spells, fainting and stomach problems.
Fortunately, there are clinically proven methods to manage your own brain and nervous system responses to help with external events that cause your body’s stress response.
I find it helpful for my patients to know that stress can impair the nervous system. One of the goals of Your Brain Doctor is to inform you about how neurological symptoms from stress can pose a danger to health, as well as to help you reduce the risks of stress.
Your Brain Doctor can provide the knowledge and guidance you need to get on the path to fixing the problem and or relieving your symptoms.
This may include :
- Working on your sleep schedule
- Changing your diet
- Helping you incorporate exercise into your daily routine
- Understanding how pharmacological therapy and or alternative medicine techniques may help
Are you ready for your plan?