Stress – A word thrown around to describe the hectic nature of life. I once heard someone say that 80% of us are stressed, and the other 20% are in denial of it.

I believe that is pretty close to true.

So, who is stressed?

When I ask about stress, patients will often respond that they feel they handle stress very well or that stress is something they thrive on. That may be the case, though it still is likely to be problematic.

One of the points of confusion is our understanding of what stress is. Stress is not just the classical image of a frantic person sitting at their desk pulling out their hair; it is often much more subtle. When asked, people may confess to any of the following:

• High levels of pressure at work – this can be stress.
• Their “competitive side” or their “drive to succeed” – it’s the body’s stress systems that keep the competitiveness or the drive sustained.
• A “passion for my work” – there is usually a stress response that parallels that passion.
• They “worry a lot” and worry is a clear trigger to the stress response.
• Feeling quite anxious.

We may not describe these experiences as “stress,” but the body’s stress response is activated nonetheless. These are the adaptive systems that keep us going despite the circumstances.

How do we know if our bodies are stuck in a stress response pattern?

Our experience here in the office suggests that “stress” of one type of another does impact how our body is operating. We can see this clearly with the tools we use to assess how stress is impacting a patient’s health.

Once identified, we now have to opportunity to reset the “stress set-point” our body has adopted, and once we do, we open up opportunities to really thrive! For example:

• That “impossible-to-achieve” weight loss can finally start to happen.
• That cycle of colds or other illnesses due to a depleted immune system will finally break
• Uncharacteristic irritability or depressed mood will begin to lift
• Hormones that are just all off? …
• Fertility challenges?…

If you are concerned that your situation may be holding your health back ask us how we can help unravel how stress is playing into the problem.

~ Dr. Colin Race