Stress & Wellness:

Do you feel burned out? Stressed out? Can't handle it anymore?

Life is a balancing act. Between work, relationships, parental duties, staying fit, academic efforts, maintaining friendships, community involvement and personal fulfillment, it's a wonder most of us can even find time to catch our breath and we feel a heavy burden. Yet we move forward with all our obligations and commitments because we have to, and in most cases, we want to. But when life gets so hectic the stress of it all impacts our mental and physical well-being, it's time to take action. If we do not take proper action, our productivity at home and at work suffers significantly.

Becoming familiar with the ways different types of stress can affect our minds and bodies, specifically our immune system, as well as learning about the available tools that have been clinically proven to manage the impact of stress on the immune system, are proactive steps toward keeping healthy. Lessening the impact of harmful invaders on our immune system entails not just strengthening it to combat the bacteria and viruses that cause common illnesses, but also ensuring that our immune system's response to such external stimuli as allergens is not too strong. In short, keeping our immune systems in check, but more importantly, in balance, is imperative to our overall health. It is estimated that over 85% of all chronic conditions is directly or indirectly related to how we handle stress!!

How Stress Affects the Immune System
While many aspects of our daily lives can negatively impact our immune systems—a less-than-optimal diet, travel, pollution, changing seasons, overexertion during exercise, lack of sleep and even the normal aging process—stress can also interfere with a healthy immune system. This can also impact our cardiovascular, central nervous and other key systems in our body.

Healthy cells produce healthy tissues, healthy tissues produce healthy organs and healthy organs produce healthy systems. It is about time that we focus on the stress response that affect our healthy cellular functions that contribute to our overall health & wellness.

Certain physiological changes occur to help an individual cope with stress. Chronic activation of the neurological pathways associated with stress result in the production of hormones and neurotransmitters/chemicals, which then alter the function of certain cells of the immune system. These altered cells cause the immune system to respond improperly, either by over-responding or under-responding, to bacteria, viruses, allergens, fungi and parasites. During our wellness assessment we evaluate all of the above factors to determine the key stressors for every employee and the natural solution to neutralize it. 

Types of Stress
There are certain types of stressful events and situations called "stressors" that our bodies react to in different ways. Surprisingly, not all types of stressors negatively affect us. "Acute stressors" are time-limited and temporary. Public speaking and academic testing are examples of short-term stressors that temporarily boost, or over-stimulate, the immune system. The body quickly adapts itself to respond to short-term stressors through the "fight or flight" response by releasing such chemicals as adrenaline that enable our pupils to dilate, our awareness to intensify, our sight to sharpen, our impulses to quicken and our immune system to mobilize and increase activation. Much of the time increased immune system activity is a benefit to us, as it helps to ready the body for challenges, but in some cases an over-reactive immune system can result in allergies, asthma, chronic inflammation, heart attack, stroke and autoimmune diseases.

"Sequential stressors" include major events that give rise to a series of related challenges, such as the loss of a spouse or a natural disaster. "Chronic stressors" are ongoing, persuasive demands that force people to restructure their identity or social roles and have no end in sight. Examples of such stressors include caring for an aging spouse or elderly parent, being victim of an event that leads to a permanent disability or fleeing a third-world country because of violence or war.

Both sequential and chronic stressors suppress, or under-stimulate, the immune system, leaving the body open for attack and more vulnerable. Other manifestations of these types of stress include: fatigue and exhaustion; headaches or migraines; neck and back pain or stiffness; gastrointestinal problems (nausea, diarrhea, constipation or colitis); chest pains or palpitations; sleep disturbances; family conflicts; job tensions; and a change in sexual energy. You can count on our team to empower your emplyees to understand the connection between stress & wellness.

"Dr. George Grant's Doctoral Thesis, 1995, University of Toronto, ON. Canada"& Master's Thesis, 1992, Brock University, ON, Canada.

From Distress to Success "101 Ways Great Ways to Improve your Life" Vol. 3 by

Dr. George Grant, Ken Blanchard, Les Brown, Mark Victor Hanson, Bryon Katie and David Riklan.