How physical stress takes a toll on everyday life

Physical stress occurs daily, but there are times when it is helpful. For example, it helps when you’re about to make a big presentation at work or take a difficult test. That rush of adrenaline can actually benefit you in those types of situations. However, when stress becomes too frequent of an occurrence and begins to develop a pattern of interfering with your rest and relaxation, it then starts to negatively impact your health and can cause physical complications.

How physical stress takes a toll on you

Stress begins to show itself in your body through muscle tension, which is the reasoning behind the old saying of “pain in the neck.” Those unnaturally tight muscles in your neck and shoulders end up causing you pain. You may also experience pain in your chest and stomach when your body is under stress.

The body’s biggest weakness will usually be the first area stress shows itself in. The systems within your body become weak and do not work properly, especially if you have an injury, joint inflammation, or some other prior physical issue. These combinations of injury and stress often become really difficult to handle, as they tend to be even more severe than usual. If your mind is stressed out, your body reacts in the same way.

Other effects of stress on the body include, your heart rate accelerating rapidly when you are nervous about a situation, which makes your heart work harder than it needs too. Also, your breathing is affected as you will start to breathe faster than you normally would when you are feeling tense. Another common side effect of physical stress is insomnia, which is not being able to fall asleep or the inability to stay asleep all night. You may even experience wild dreams and racing thoughts if your mind can’t relax.

The three most common areas that cause physical stress are:

1. Stress from working out

Under normal circumstances working out and exercising reduces stress and anxiety for people, but it can actually lead to physical stress when done incorrectly. Some common problems can occur when someone fails to stretch and start out with a lighter load before moving on to more difficult workouts, or if equipment is used improperly. These types of harmful practices place a great deal of strain on the body and leads to physical stress which increases the potential for injury, such as a sprain or muscle tear.

2. Poor posture

Posture affects the whole body and neglecting to have good posture can lead to experiencing a great deal of physical stress. For example, when the top of your body is leaning forward, your butt has to stick out, which leads to your calf muscles becoming tight, and then before you know it you’re in pain and stressing your body out. Proper posture utilizes the correct muscles in the right way. It should make you feel like your upright, but mostly your body should just feel more aligned and natural.

3. OCC stress or stress related to work

Perhaps the most common and damaging habit for your body is sitting for extended periods of time at work. Eventually, all of that sitting begins to alter muscles in your back that result in alignment issues of your spine. It also leads to disruptions within your central nervous system.

Even if you get up and stretch your legs often, sitting in poorly designed work areas or work equipment can cause the very same types of issues. Other common stressors within the workplace include repetitive actions such as lifting, bending, twisting, etc.

Physical stress can lead to serious complications

Everyone experiences stress within their lives, but chronic and untreated stress can eventually lead to severe illnesses and complications. This is where the most life altering problems resulting from stress lie. Prolonged physical stress is believed to contribute to cancer, heart attacks, paralysis, nervous breakdowns, and other serious health issues.

A mindful approach to managing physical stress by creating a greater resilience in adapting to and recovering from stress, combined with corrective chiropractic care is the best way to prevent serious issues due to long-term stress from taking root in your life. Contact us today; we are here to help you!