Naturopathic Solutions For Stress & Burnout
Stress is a regular part of life for everyone alive. No matter who you are, where you live, or how wealthy you are, you’ll face stress.
Your body has ways of helping you cope with the stress of life.
But what happens when those coping mechanisms don’t work they way they should?
Do you feel more irritable than you used to be?
Does anxiety get the better of you more often than not?
Are you struggling with chronic headaches, pain, or difficulty sleeping?
If so, you may have a problem with stress.
Dr. Sheila can’t take the stress away from your life. However, she offers naturopathic solutions designed to help you better cope with the stresses life throws at you.
Keep reading to find out more.
What Is Burnout?
“Burnout” isn’t a medical diagnosis. Even so, it’s a term many of us can relate to.
If you’re feeling burnout, it might be in relation to your job, but not necessarily. It’s thought that burnout is linked with a number of different factors.
In particular, burnout can be linked with adrenal fatigue.
Your adrenal glands are part of your body’s endocrine system. They’re best known for producing adrenaline, a hormone that helps you spring into action under a fight-or-flight situation. However, your adrenal glands produce a number of other hormones as well.
If your adrenals aren’t producing enough of these hormones, you may experience the following symptoms:
- Fatigue
- Dizziness
- Brain fog
- Aches and pains
- Low blood pressure
- Hyperpigmentation (skin discoloration)
- Unexpected weight loss
Adrenal fatigue, like burnout, is not a medical diagnosis. Rather, it’s an umbrella term used to refer to the above symptoms.
From a lifestyle perspective, there are a few signs that you may be at higher risk for adrenal fatigue.
Are you working in a profession where helping people is at the core of your responsibilities? Health care is a great example of this.
Do you have a high workload, and a difficult time saying no to new responsibilities?
Is your job fairly monotonous, or do you lack control over what you do?
Are you stuck working with a bully, colleagues who undermine you, or a micromanaging boss?
Is your work unpredictable? One day may be monotonous, while the next is chaotic?
Do you feel isolated, lacking social support?
If so, contact. Dr. Sheila. She offers naturopathic solutions which can help you better cope with the stress life throws at you.
What Happens When You’re Stressed?
When you feel stress, your body is reacting to a change that requires some sort of adjustment. One theory for why we react this way is that it helps keep us alert and prepared for any dangers we may face.
Your endocrine system floods your body with hormones during a stressful episode, preparing you for whatever danger you’re about to face. If you’ve ever heard of the “fight or flight” response, this is what it’s referring to.
Stress is most commonly associated with negative experiences. But even a positive experience that involves significant change – a new career, pregnancy, a new home, etc – can trigger a stress response.
The triggers for a stress response vary from person to person based on life experience. For example, if you were a hostage in a bank robbery, it may trigger a stress response to return to that bank, or any other bank. Likewise, if you nearly drowned while swimming as a child, you may feel stress from being at the beach, even while your friends are overjoyed for a relaxing day.
In other cases, the stress response is fairly universal. Everyone feels a stress response, for example, after running into a grizzly bear and her cubs while going for a walk in the woods.
Whatever it is that’s causing the stress – known as the stressor – however, doesn’t matter. Your body still reacts with the same biological process.
You can feel stress in any number of physical, mental, or emotional ways. Here are some of the symptoms of stress:
- Muscle tension
- Increased heart rate
- Increased appetite
- Diarrhea or constipation
- Abdominal cramps
- Asthma-like symptoms
- Hyperventilation or constricted airways
Stress isn’t a bad thing – it’s simply a part of life. However, if you’re experiencing chronic stress, it can be harmful.
Chronic Stress Vs. Acute Stress
Acute stress is stress you can link to a specific event. This is the type of stress you’ll feel the night before a big job interview or test. It’s logical and consistent. And while you may feel echoes of that stress after the fact, for the most part your stress subsides once the event is over.
Chronic stress, on the other hand, is stress that lasts for a prolonged period of time, with no specific event to tie it to. If your stress lasts longer than a month, it may be chronic stress.
In some cases, prolonged periods of stress may still have a specific event tied to it. In these cases, it still leads to experiences like chronic stress.
Examples of chronic stress triggers include:
- A messy breakup
- A high-stress career
- Post-traumatic stress
- Inconsistent sleep due to shift work
- Periods of unemployment
- A long-term abusive situation
- The death of a loved one
- Poverty and homelessness
Why Is Chronic Stress A Problem?
When you enter a period of stress, your endocrine system floods your body with hormones to keep you alert and ready to respond. It diverts energy from systems in your body designed to keep you healthy on a longer-term basis in favour of the immediate need.
This means your senses and muscles get a boost. Meanwhile, your reproductive, digestive, and immune systems, as well as your ability to regulate your emotions, take a back seat.
In the short term, this is fine. But when these critical systems don’t get the resources they need to function properly over a long period of time, it can cause significant health concerns.
Chronic Health Issues Caused By Stress
Chronic stress, over a prolonged period of time, can lead to a wide range of different health concerns. If you’re experiencing any of the following health concerns, it may be linked to chronic stress:
- Appetite fluctuations
- Chronic fatigue
- Insomnia
- Sexual dysfunction
- Chronic pain
- Substance abuse
- Impulsive or irresponsible behaviour
- Tendency toward procrastination
- Difficulty concentrating
- Difficulty remembering
- Anxiety
- Depression
- Nervous habits, like biting your nails
- Increased risk of heart disease
If you already have an autoimmune condition, periods of prolonged stress may cause a flare-up of symptoms as well.
Naturopathic Treatments For Chronic Stress & Burnout
The first step to resolving your chronic stress concerns is to address what’s causing you to struggle with your stress in the first place.
One of the elements Dr. Sheila will explore is your vitamin levels. It’s not uncommon for those struggling with chronic stress to also be malnourished in certain nutrients. This includes calcium, magnesium, and the B-complex vitamins, which can help you manage your stress.
Dr. Sheila may also offer acupuncture as a solution. An acupuncture session in itself can be relaxing, but evidence points to acupuncture’s usefulness as a treatment for stress beyond the relaxation effects.
Other solutions Dr. Sheila may suggest include stress management techniques and herbal medicine treatments.
Contact Dr. Sheila
If you’re dealing with chronic stress or burnout, its effects can make life more difficult than it needs to be.
But there is hope.
Dr. Sheila offers naturopathic solutions for stress management.
She’ll help you uncover what’s behind your chronic stress issues and build a treatment plan designed to help you address the roadblocks in your way toward a calmer, less stressful life.
Contact Dr. Sheila today, and take your first step toward a vibrant, energetic life, naturally.