What is stress?
Stress is the way that you feel when pressure is placed on you. A little bit of pressure can be quite productive, give you motivation, and help you to perform better at something.
However, too much pressure, or prolonged pressure, can lead to stress, which is unhealthy for both the mind and body. Too much stress can lead to physical, mental, and emotional problems, and medical research now estimates that more than 75% of all health problems can be linked directly to stress.
What happens to us physically when we're stressed?
We are all born with an instinctive stress response. Whenever a potentially dangerous situation arises, stress hormones, including cortisol, adrenaline and noradrenaline are released into our bloodstream. They cause instant mental and physical change in us, giving added strength and endurance, and make us feel pumped-up and ready to fight. Stress hormones also enable us to run away much faster than we could normally manage.
This response is generally called the 'fight or flight ' and was vital when we used to live in the wild and were liable to attack from other tribes or wild animals.
In the modern world, instead of using these stress hormones in emergencies, we tend to live life at such a pace that we activate them all the time. However, most modern stressful situations – such as missing a train, work deadlines, or arguing with your partner- don’t demand a literal ‘fight or flight’ response, so although these chemicals are still released into the body, they are not used.
If these chemicals are allowed build up, over time their effects will be felt by the body. In the longer term, the constant bombardment by these chemicals will weaken a person's body - leading to degenerating health.
Common signs of excess stress include:
Increased irritability
Heightened sensitivity to criticism
Signs of tension, such as nail-biting
Loss of concentration
Difficulty getting to sleep and early morning waking
Drinking and smoking more
Indigestion
Physical effects of stress may include:
excessive tiredness
skin problems, such as eczema
pain resulting from tense muscles, including neck ache and backache
tension headaches
increased pain from arthritis and other conditions
heart palpitations
feeling sick
digestive problems
for women, change in their regular cycle including missed periods
fertility problems
Breaking the Stress Cycle with Reflexology
During a Reflexology treatment, the mind and body are able to relax totally, giving both a chance to break out of the stress cycle and begin the process of healing.
Reflexology therapeutically reduces stress and tension throughout the body’s systems, relaxing muscles, releasing built-up toxins from the body's tissues, improving circulation and lymphatic drainage and increasing oxygen supply to the cells. It is also believed to encourage the release of endorphins, the body's natural feel-good hormones, well documented in their ability to relieve stress.
Regular reflexology treatments which allow you to relax in this way are extremely beneficial, and in the long term enable the body to deal more efficiently with the stresses placed on it by daily living.