You might have a tendency to dismiss the impact of stress on your health and well-being but nothing could be farther from the truth. Most of us don’t think that we’re stressed and when we do the tendency is to think it’s a very temporary fleeting condition.

Wrong! Unless you live an extraordinarily simple life free from challenges you are stressed. The question is how severely and how well equipped you are to process the stress.

The Impact of Stress!

Research has determined that 90-95% of all illness and disease is stress-related. That means that stress is playing a significant role in almost all health challenges. On top of that 75% of all doctor visits are for stress. 

Yet, it really isn’t the stress that is responsible for making you ill. Wait, how does that match up with over 90% of disease being stress-related?

You develop health problems from your brain and nervous system’s inability to adapt to and recover from stress. This role falls primarily on the Autonomic Nervous System and more specifically on the Vagus Nerve. 

That is good news because you have very little control over the majority of stress you encounter. You do have much more control over how your body responds to that stress. 

You Can’t Manage Stress But You Can Transform It

I know firsthand how impactful transforming your stress response can be. About 5 or 6 years ago I started researching and practicing different techniques with the goal of achieving greater resilience. My motivation for this was the impact stress was having on my life and my health.

What I noticed over time was that the situations and events that previously “stressed” me out, had little to no negative impact. I’d love to share some of that with you. If you don’t change how you process stress it is inevitable that you will succumb to it.

There is no escaping stress. Not only is it here to stay, it’s increasing day by day. It’s the nature of the world we live in. This is the reason more and more people are experiencing chronic stress. It is the reason why more and more people are suffering from fatigue, fibromyalgia, acid reflux, anxiety, headaches, and all sorts of chronic pain. 

But you can control the impact stress has on you. In fact you can use the very same neurological principles that resulted in chronic stress related symptoms.

Resilience is the goal when it comes to stress. Resilience is that state where the challenges of life might push you off your center, but you return to balance almost immediately. You don’t suffer from disturbed sleep or fatigue or indigestion, or anxiety.

How to Overcome Chronic Stress

Stress is insidious. It slowly invades your life and your body and it’s often challenging to recognize just how much it is robbing you. The changes are often so gradual that you fail to notice them for a long time. Many people attribute the impact of stress as related to aging but that’s not true. 

Let’s take a look at what you need to do to change your relationship with stress. As with any journey it’s important to have a map to guide you.

The 4 Essential Components to Successful Stress Treatment

This is not therapy. While therapy can be very valuable, I’ve found it is critical to change how the nervous system reacts to, responds to, and processes stress. Over time the repeated stress we are all exposed to changes how our nervous system functions. The solution lies in rewiring your nervous system.

1. Inventory: the first step is to get a sense of the impact stress is having on your body and your life. We are creatures of contrast. We notice differences so it will help you to track where you are and where you are going. What physical and emotional challenges are you having? Here is a short list to help you:

• • Physical pain and tension
  • Headaches and Migraines
  • Insomnia and poor sleep
  • Fatigue
  • Digestion issues: gas, bloating, acid reflux, constipation
  • High Blood Pressure
  • Anxiety
  • Depression

2. Measurement: Let’s measure your nervous system to start. If you want to change anything you have to know where you are to start so you can assess your progress as you heal. Heart Rate Variability (HRV) is the gold standard in assessing the autonomic nervous system. HRV will tell you the degree of activity of your Sympathetic ‘Fight-or-Flight’ System as well as your Parasympathetic ‘Rest and Digest’ System. HRV is great to measure the impact of whatever you are doing. 

3. Correction of Nervous System Tension: there is almost universally a source of tension and interference that is a factor perpetuating in the nervous system imbalance causing a condition I call Sympathetic Dominance. This is that ‘Fight-or-Flight’ state that drives a self-perpetuating cycle of stress. Both the Sympathetic and Parasympathetic systems are part of the Central Nervous System.

In my more than 35 years of clinical practice I always find tension and interference located in the upper neck that causes tension to the brainstem and perpetuates the Sympathetic Dominance. 

4. Increasing Vagal Nerve Tone: your Vagus Nerve is the foundation of your wellness. The Vagus Nerve sends messages to almost every organ and regulates everything from digestion to heart rate to mental health. 

Why is the Vagus Nerve important to your health? Almost every health challenge is related to an imbalance. From anxiety, depression, PTSD, autoimmune diseases, to chronic pain and fibromyalgia; they are all related to Vagus Nerve imbalance.

The very nature of modern life causes an overactivity of the Sympathetic Nervous System which in turn suppresses the Vagus Nerve. You can’t easily turn down the Sympathetic but you can increase the activity of the Vagus Nerve.

How you got here offers keys to your successful navigation out of chronic stress. You can use the same nervous system functions that got you into chronic stress to get you out. 

There is a principle in neurology that says “Neurons that fire together, wire together”. The repetitive activation of the Sympathetic Nervous System did a couple of things. It made that ‘Fight-or-Flight’ system more and more active. And, it suppresses the balancing of the Vagus Nerve.

The solution lies in some reverse engineering using that same principle. If you remove tension from the Vagus Nerve and repeatedly activate it you can reverse this scenario. Like working a muscle at the gym to make it stronger you can increase the tone of your Vagus Nerve. 

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