The Many Affects of Stress
Stress is not something we only feel emotionally, mentally and physically but our bodies "feel" it at a cellular level as well.
In Traditional Chinese Medicine, our emotions are connected to our organs. When we experience the negative emotions that are associated with stress, this can make certain organs become overworked or even damaged.
For example, the Liver & Gallbladder is connected to the emotion anger, the Kidneys & Bladder are connected to fear, the Lung & Large Intestines is connected to grief and sadness, the Heart and Small intestines is connected to discontentment and lack of self-expression, and the Spleen & Stomach are connected to worry, anxiety and overthinking.
Last month, I talked about cancer prevention. Many studies show a connection between a person going through a stressful, emotional trauma such as divorce or death of a loved one and then getting cancer. These emotions manifest themselves at a physiological level.
This is why it is so important to develop healthy ways to manage stress. Short term stress can be a good thing as it can help your performance for a presentation, athletic competition, or to reach a deadline for example. It is when it is ongoing, chronic stress that continues to eat away at you; that is when it becomes unhealthy and you may see some of the symptoms shown below start to appear in you life. Then it is time to rethink how you are handling your stress & emotions by adapting to a new lifestyle that will bring you more peace & joy and prevent you from getting sick.
