"It is estimated that as many as 90% of doctor's visits are for symptoms that are at least partially stress-related!"
Stress
Understanding Stress
Stress basics
By Mayo Clinic staff
Stress is a normal psychological and physical reaction to the demands of life. Your brain comes hard-wired with an alarm system for your protection. When your brain perceives a threat, your body releases a burst of hormones to fuel your fight-or-flight response. When the threat is gone, your body is supposed to return to normal. Unfortunately, the nonstop stress of modern life means that your alarm system rarely shuts off.
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That's why stress management is so important. Stress management gives you the tools to reset your alarm system. Without stress management, your body is always on red alert. Over time, that level of stress leads to serious health problems. Start learning stress management techniques now.
Welcome to life in the twenty-first century where daily stress is so pervasive it seems to be a way of life. We feel pressured to keep up with jobs, family, and the myriad responsibilities of everyday life. Hardly a moment goes by when we are not subject to some form of stress. Stress is a normal part of everyone’s life. However, people must learn how to control their stress because it can have grave, long-term effects on a person’s mental and physical health.
How Do I Know If I’m Suffering From Stress?
Not all types of stress related events are harmful or even negative. Preparing for a college entrance examination, thinking about an upcoming surgical procedure, and planning for one’s wedding can all cause stress. Different situations, however the body just reacts to brainwaves and can’t differentiate the difference. Mentally we begin feeling anxious, irritable, and under pressure. As stress continues we physically start feeling tired, weak, exhausted and even sick.
As stress continues it becomes more severe, causing serious mental and physical disorders. Stress causes sleeping problems (not enough sleep or too much), leads to relationship problems, memory and performance failures.
The first physical symptoms can be relatively mild, like chronic headaches and increased susceptibility to colds, followed by being less productive and escaping by watching TV, shopping, playing computer games, etc.
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The cycle continues with returning to bad habits such as smoking, putting on weight, drinking more, personality changes, etc.
With more exposure to chronic stress more serious health problems may develop. These stress-influenced conditions include, but are not limited to:
• Depression
• Hypertension (high blood pressure)
• Obsessive-compulsive or anxiety disorder
• Sexual dysfunction
• Hair loss
• Ulcers and digestion problems
• Obesity
• Diabetes
• Alcohol and drug abuse
• Heart disease
• And possibly more serious diseases such as cancer.
Ineffective long-term Solutions
• The first solution family and friends suggest is “just relax”. (If you knew how to relax, you wouldn’t have the problem in the first place!) Stressed people have tried to relax, only to find that their mind quickly wanders back to worries about money, relationships, or world events, etc. Relaxation is a brainwave, not being physically immobile.
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• The second solution: “just take a deep breath”. Everyone suffering from stress has “taken a deep breath”....it does not control, nor is it effective in stress management.
• The third solution: a physician or psychiatrist will prescribe medication. We have been seeing clients for stress management for 20 years and the majority have been on medication. Drugs are not the solution.
Understanding Medication
Medication can relieve some of the symptoms of anxiety, but it doesn’t cure the underlying problem and it’s usually not a long-term solution. Anxiety medications also come with side effects and safety concerns, including the risk of addiction.
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Medications shouldn’t be thought of as a cure. Anxiety medication can provide temporary relief, but it doesn’t treat the underlying cause of the anxiety disorder. Once you stop taking the drug, the anxiety symptoms usually return in full force.
Consider the side effects of
anti-anxiety drugs
Stress medication can cause a wide range of unpleasant and sometimes dangerous side effects. Many medications are habit forming and physically addictive, making it difficult to stop taking them once you’ve started. Anti-anxiety drugs like benzodiazepines work by reducing brain activity. Understandably, this leads to side effects beyond stress relief such as: drowsiness, lack of energy, slow reflexes, confusion/disorientation, dizziness/lightheadedness, impaired thinking/judgement, memory loss, nausea, stomach upset, vision problems, depression, emotional blunting, personality changes, and more.
The Solution
The good news is that there are relatively simple ways of breaking the Cycle of Stress.
The mind initiates the cycle and with the right guidance the mind can stop the cycle.
Hypnotherapy can be an excellent method to quickly change your response to stress.
Hypnotherapy Is effective
Can provide long lasting treatment
Has no side effects
“The purpose of hypnosis as a therapeutic technique is to help you understand and gain more control over your behavior, emotions or physical well-being.”
-The Mayo Clinic 12/03
“Learn to control your thoughts, or your thoughts control you.”
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Dr. Morris
Long term, patients on medication grow to
understand what they thought was the solution
has become the problem!
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The advantage of non-drug treatments for anxiety is
they produce lasting changes and long-term relief.
Let Morris Institute help you
“get off the Cycle”
and replace stress with success.
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