When asked to define stress, most people give a description that includes overwhelming feelings of anxiety, anger, frustration, and physical symptoms such as lack of energy, insomnia and IBS, which they may try to compensate for by resorting to over eating, drinking alcohol, smoking or taking pills to calm themselves or to enhance their mood.

But many people are unaware of a physical chain of events that takes place in our bodies when we feel stressed.

It is widely accepted that it took man millions of years to evolve to accommodate changing climates and circumstances, but in the last couple of centuries our bodies have been bombarded with thousands of new chemicals (added to our food and found in common household products), pollutants and radiation (from computers, cordless 'phones, TVs etc), not to mention the relentless pace of life that we have adopted in the last century, and especially since the introduction of personal computers and mobile 'phones.

Unfortunately, our bodies have not had time to evolve in response to these factors so react to them in the same way as they would have done hundreds of thousands of years ago - with the 'fight or flight' response.

When our bodies are physically or emotionally overburdened the following changes take place:
• Pupils dilate - letting in more light to help us to see more effectively
• Heart rate and force increase - to enable increased blood flow to muscles and essential organs
• Bronchial (lung) muscles relax - to widen the airways and take in more oxygen
• Liver increases blood glucose concentration - to increase our energy
• Adrenals secrete more adrenalin and cortisol - to help deal with pain and stress
• Blood is redistributed from less to more active organs and muscles

All these reactions sound positive and harmless enough, BUT they are meant to be temporary (ie to allow you to fight or take flight and then recover) and because blood is distributed from less to more active organs and muscles, all the above reactions happen at the expense of other vital systems in our bodies, which are not needed in emergencies, for example:

• Saliva and mucus production are reduced
• Digestive function and peristalsis are reduced
• Kidneys decrease urine secretion
• Adrenalin narrows blood vessels in the skin
• Function in reproductive and other non-essential organs is reduced

In most cases the body’s fight or flight reactions are wasted as, unlike our ancestors, we rarely have to fight or take flight and usually just bottle up our emotions. Consequently, the strain of trying to rebalance all our systems for prolonged periods of time exhausts our bodies' systems and causes us to feel stressed.

For advice on how to reduce symptoms of stress naturally please click here.

If you feel like you have a lot of stress in your life then Sigal's stress treatments may be of help. Reflexology and Reiki treatments are great for reducing stress levels and help to rebalance your body. Please give Sigal a call today for advice or to book a Reflexology or Reiki treatment.