I am constantly asked: “Doc, if stress is responsible for 80-90% of all chronic illness- what can I do to reduce or eliminate it?” The answer to that question begins with another question, I’m afraid. “Is stress normal or abnormal?”

But before you move on to something more stimulating
(YouTube videos of cars crashing or ‘The 10 Most Grizzly Bungee Jumps of All Time’)
consider the following:

Stress is the body’s response to the environment. If you are standing outside at noon on a typical August day in Philadelphia your skin will respond to that stressor by sweating (and eventually, in my case, becoming pink, then lobster red, and finally the crusty, charred look of an overdone marshmallow). That is a normal response to overexposure. On the flip-side, we change the environment to Philly on a December afternoon at Eagles’ Stadium amid freezing rain and arctic wind. The result? Goosebumps, shivers and hair that stands up on our arms and legs designed to create blood flow and store heat in places that may be frostbitten otherwise.

So we find that stress is not what happens to us, but, rather how our bodies respond to what happens to us. Completely normal! It amazes me how some people can travel in shorts and sandals year-round when others need a sweater to walk on the beach at mid-day. Our bodies handle stressors very differently. How can one child in a family constantly get colds, fever and flu while others go for years without so much as a cough?
It’s all about adapting. Some have ‘learned’ to change more readily as the environment changes. Some are more ‘plastic’ or resilient to those changes… that is, they bounce back more easily. I have to tell you that this learning process cannot be accomplished by reading a book or watching a video. It is not like learning the alphabet – because it involves more than the conscious mind (the 5% that controls our thinking). It involves the entire mind! It involves the entire person!

Wadaya Mean?

What I am trying to do is demystify the healing process. Modern science has confirmed that poor (or inappropriate) responses to our environment lead to illness and disease. Similarly, research has found that a healthy body can cope nicely with bacteria, viruses, and yes, cancers. In fact, that defines health! For health is the recognition of damaged tissue followed by the repair or replacement of that damage.

What’s The Magic Formula?

Of course, there isn’t one. There is no magic at all. The miracle, however, is the reverse of the stress response. This is called the relaxation response. Again, a normal phenomenon. It is a response that requires no pill or potion nor special knowledge from a lonely guru on a Tibetan mountaintop. This response (just like the stress response) is built in. It is part of what balances the ‘fight or flight’ reactions we go through every day. When in ‘fight or flight’ our immune systems stop, our digestive processes slow, and our ability to reproduce (wonder why so many young couples are having difficulty conceiving?) is stymied.

So, how can we trigger this ‘Relaxation Response’ and get healthy?

Thanks for asking! There are three components we teach at Thrive designed to get people back onto the right track. Once on the right track, however, we need to make sure they get on the right train! The train that will get that individual where he or she really wants to go. Those three elements are

    1.    Structure: insuring that each physical body part is whole, functional and moving properly (movement is life).
2.    Biochemical Balance: insures that each and every tissue, organ and cell is nourished.
3.    Neurological Integrity: Insures the brain function is optimal and is communicating appropriately with the body.

We do this by awakening the brain with neurologically based chiropractic care, clean eating, and the use of brain training devices that replace the brain’s bad habits with patterns that support tissue repair.

“So Doc, if stress is responsible for 80-90%
of all chronic illness- what can I do to reduce or eliminate it?”

Get to ThriveLancaster as soon as possible for a Stress Response Evaluation (SRE). It will tell you where the weak links are. Further, laboratory tests may be needed to figure out if damage has occurred as a result of exposure to toxins in the environment or poor nutrition. Lastly, evaluation of strength, flexibility and endurance is critical to get the body fit, trim, and more energetic- the way it was designed to be.

The magic in all this is that what we do reveals the miracle that is
already in you… just waiting to express itself!

I ran across an article yesterday that got my attention. It could have been written for any American newspaper but happened to show up in a Japanese news outlet.

Having a medical condition that affects one’s appearance can be a source of major psychological stress. Likewise, suffering from stress can sometimes lead to unfavorable changes in one’s appearance.

One person who needed such care is a 35-year-old woman in Yokohama<Japan>. She developed alopecia when she was 9, and by the time she was 26 she had lost all the hair on her body–not just on her head, but her eyebrows and eyelashes too. For several years after the hair loss, she felt apathetic and helpless. Whenever she went out, passersby would say insensitive things like, “That woman’s wearing a wig, isn’t she? It’s so obvious!” She felt hurt by such comments and became increasingly introverted. Looking back on those days, she said: “I lost interest in the things I used to like, and I stopped wanting to look nice. I even thought about committing suicide.”

Having a condition that affects one’s appearance can often lead to psychological scars and illness.Nobuko Okamura, 36, who heads a self-help patient group for those suffering from alopecia, was herself treated for depression. Back then, she had difficulty sleeping and had a tendency to overdrink. For three to four years, she was on medication and underwent counseling. According to Ayako Toyoda, a 41-year-old psychological counselor in Tokyo who deals with those suffering from physical blemishes and other problems, many of them are worried about whether they can find a job or form a romantic relationship. “They’ve experienced failure several times in life, such as being bullied or withdrawing from society. As a result, they’ve lost confidence and tend to feel more anxious about things than other people do,” Toyoda said. Nippon Medical School Hospital in Bunkyo Ward, Tokyo, offers a psychodermatology consultant service once a week for outpatients suffering from chronic hives and itchy skin rash induced by stress they feel from work and relationships.

These are examples of stress-induced ailments seen by these doctors:

• I’d like to have a romantic relationship, but I don’t feel those of the opposite sex see me as a potential partner.
• I’m worried about whether I can find a job that I want.
• When I talk about my worries with people around me, they just brush them off, saying, “It’s not such a big deal.”
• I seem to be causing problems for my family because I was born, and I feel bad about that.
• I hate my parents for making me look like this.
• I’m so worried about the way people look at me that I can’t open up to interact with them.
• I was told I should learn a vocational skill because I’m not marriageable, and that hurt.

Researchers have found that stress is epidemic – not just in America, but worldwide. Some estimate that over 90% of all doctor visits are a direct result of the body’s inability to cope with stress. Others have maintained that 85% of all chronic disease is caused by the same. At Thrive Lancaster we take a proactive view. Our clients are trained to be more aware of their stress response and hone relaxation response skills. As a result, they are better sleepers, better performers at work and more energetic and fit members of the community.