How to Control Stress in Your Life
from The Blue Mountains Gazette, Wednesday, April 18, 2001
Our bodies are designed to cope with stress. Some stress is good - it gets us motivated and makes us feel alive to have a welcome challenge to conquer. Winning a sporting event or successfully delivering a speech, meeting a deadline at work etc. can make us feel on top of the world. However, unwelcome stresses such as illness, loneliness, financial worries, unresolved grief, anger, anxiety and depression are stresses that may linger indefinitely.
Whether it is short or long term stress, our bodies respond by engaging "the flight or fight" response.
Once engaged, this response results in the release of adrenaline, noradrenaline and cortisone into the body. We become mentally alert and all our senses are activated. The blood pressure increases, the breathing rate speeds up and the heart beats very hard and fast pumping blood away from the skin and internal organs (including the brain) into the muscles. The muscles become tense ready to fight or run. The liver releases fatty acids, sugar and cholesterol into the bloodstream to provide energy for the muscles. Sweat breaks out and there may be a loss of bladder and bowel control.
One lady who was suffering from recurring lung infections discovered that within the first week of Buteyko program she not only began to overcome her physical symptoms but found herself so much more relaxed that she was able to cope with family stresses.
If stresses are long term, the aforementioned physical changes will lead to serious health problems. As a Buteyko breathing teacher I work with client after client that has breathing problems due to stress. When the fight or flight response increases the breathing rate for a prolonged period of time, the balance between our much needed oxygen level and it's facilitating "delivery" gas, carbon dioxide, goes "out of whack". This results in conditions such as asthma, panic attack, rashes, migraine, nausea, bedwetting (in children) and so on. If you learn to control something as fundamental as your breathing you can control your response to stress and learn to relax at the same time. My breathing program includes education in posture, relaxation, diet, lifestyle and exercise. There are no course fees. I work on a consultation system so you pay as you go with the added bonus now that many of the health insurance companies offer refunds to Buteyko clients.
Need help? Phone Jennifer Harris 0414 833 857.