Stressed, Anxious or have chronic pain?

There seems to be, from my experience, an increase in people struggling with stress and anxiety. Each individual will have their own story as to why, but when we live in a world that values busyness, pushing boundaries to achieve more & more, and a high proportion of negative bias stories in media, it’s not entirely surprising. 

Your nervous system controls a vast number of functions in your body. From those that are conscious like sight, hearing, and movement through to vital unconscious functions like breathing, hormone regulation and digestion. Your nervous system is also what bears the brunt of stressors which is what it was designed for to keep you safe. The issue is when your nervous system gets caught in “fight, flight or freeze” & does not come back into “rest and digest” once the perceived threat is over. In this heightened state, your nervous system has less resources to control the functions of your body that happen when your nervous system is relaxed, like digestion, hormone regulation and quality sleep. This is a key reason why there are increased dietary issues, lower fertility rates, higher & autoimmune disease in our population. 

Through the busyness we become disconnected from listening to our bodies. “That pain in my neck will go away in a couple of days, I don’t have time to do anything about it, I have all these things I have to get done”. Your body compensates for the disfunction which is causing the pain or discomfort and the compensation spiral continues. You then get to your 50s/60s/70s and feel like the pain is “just part of ageing”. 

The great news is that you can do something to help your nervous system become agile in the large majority of cases. Keeping you safe when it genuinely needs to and then settling back down and efficiently do its other vital functions when you’re safe. The key is interoception, connecting with your body and being aware of what you are feeling. There are a vast number of ways to do this, from hands on therapy like craniosacral therapy, massage therapy, or perhaps yoga, breathwork, qi gong, nervous system modifying exercises, dancing, gentle exercise etc. I urge you to take the time and find what works for your nervous system to help it come back to its agile self-regulating state.

I dare you to make your health a priority.