Stress, Weight Loss, and Chiropractic
The missing link to weight loss and lean body mass & why Chiropractic is your solution!
More people than ever before report that they are under chronic stress! In fact, one in five Americans reported feeling “extreme” stress in 2012, according to the American Psychological Association. Those who suffer from this, experience physical side effects, such as shaking, heart palpitations, depression and other chronic health conditions. A British study shows that the more people check their smart phones, the more stressed they become; also the stream of emails is playing a big role in cardiovascular health. (1) The most alarming fact is that the majority of us fail to acknowledge that, and find it difficult to admit to ourselves that we are stressed! (2) Throughout the day, we come across small stresses that add up quickly and can impair our mental and emotional clarity and overall health. Eventually it shows up as a bad decision, an overreaction or an unwanted diagnosis at the doctor’s office. Applying this idea to working out, stress can play a huge role in stopping people from reaching their goals and cause them to have to work harder then necessary. It is important to identify the effects of stress on the body, and what to effectively do about it so that you can experience the satisfaction of reaching your health goals while looking and feeling great along the way!
With all the stress that we experience in our lives, we often associate the body’s response to stress as the problem. It is very important to acknowledge that the effects of stress are not the problem, but rather the effects are the body’s answer to the stress so that you can continue surviving that moment. Stress, seen by the body as a threat, causes the body to go into a ‘fight or flight’ response. ‘Fight’ meaning that we are going to fight the stress we are encountering, and ‘flight’ means that we would run away from the potential threat. We were never designed to live in an environment that is constantly stressful. The fact that the majority of Americans are experiencing this, points the finger to the reason why we have epidemic health problems with high blood pressure, high blood lipids, high blood glucose, not to mention obesity, low energy and other side effects of chronic stress.
When your body responds to stress, it is thrown out of its ideal state and makes your body focus on survival rather than growth and repair. (3) I will spare you with the nitty gritty details about how this occurs (if interested, please reference my 3rd citation below) and summarize what happens in our day to day lives. Our environment stresses our bodies and how we respond is to have increased fat deposition, blood pressure, blood sugar and blood lipid (fat) levels, and clotting factors. It has also caused more breaking down of muscle and connective tissue, more feelings of fear, stress, anxiety and depression, decreased short term memory, and lowered immune function, less testosterone and growth hormones and bone/muscle fiber type changes. (3) So what this is saying is that stress can cause you to get sick more often, produce less muscle forming tissue, decrease the amount of muscle tissue you have currently, causing you to gain more weight and lead to unhappiness and depression.
There are many ways to support the body in relieving stress, such as better time management, yoga, meditation, working out, proper sleep, nutrition – all of which I actively engage in. However, the most powerful one that I recommend before doing any of the others is chiropractic care. Chiropractic care is designed to allow the body to work and function at its optimal level through taking pressure off the nervous system.
Granted I am a chiropractor, and yes there probably is a little bias coming from myself and why I vote chiropractic to be the number one resolution to stress. That being said, with respect to the physiology and neurology of the human body, pressure on the nervous system increases the stress load on the body. What chiropractic care effectively does is relieve that pressure and allow the body to manage the stress effectively and move out of the ‘fight or flight’ response quickly. Thus chiropractic care turns off all the processes that the body MUST do because it is under stress; in particular, stopping the formation of fat, preventing breaking down muscle and promoting the creating of lean body mass. ‘Chiropractic is based on the now scientifically proven hypothesis that proper structure of the spine is required for proper function of the nervous system as it relates to the control and regulation of global physiology and health.’(3) What that means is that your spine must be in the correct position so that your body can work properly, which will allow you to can gain proper lean body mass and lose weight effectively!
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References
1 -Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/facts-about-stress-and-your-health-2012-6?op=1#ixzz2PncI1u6q
2- http://www.heartmath.com/news/uncommonly-known-facts-about-stress.html
3-Chestnut, James L., “The 14 Foundational Premises for the Scientific Validation of the Chiropractic Wellness Paradigm.” 2003.
