The Health

& Stress
Workshop
How Stress
is Affecting
Your Life
1
Definition of Stress:
Stress is the rate of
wear and tear on the
body as a result of
anxiety, worry, or
exhaustion, from a
difficult or challenging
situation.
2
Definition of Stress:
A hard, difficult or
intense experience,
which, if prolonged,
could cause irritation
and/or damage to a
person’s nervous
system.
3
 Some of the causes of
stress are:

 One’s job  Children

 Money  Junk food
 Relationships  Medical drugs

4
 Some of the causes of
stress are:
 Exam  Exam
 Money  Junk food
 Grade
 Relationship
 Peer pressure
 College  One’s Job

4
To avoid
stress you
would need
to avoid life.

5
One of the world’s early
researchers on stress, Hans
Selye, M.D., documented
three stages a person goes
through in response to
stress.
Source: Stress and Natural Healing, Hobbs, C., L.A.C., p. 10.

6
 The Alarm Stage:
The body’s defense
towards its “fight or flight”
mechanisms are activated.

7
The Resistance Stage:
The body either adapts to
the threat or successfully
resists the stress and
returns to normal.

8
The Exhaustion Stage:
The body’s failure to
return to normal from the
Resistance Stage, due to
prolonged stress, low
resistance, or malfunction.
9
In the
Exhaustion
Stage the
nervous system
overreacts and
causes the
secretion of
hormones.
10
These hormones, primarily from
the adrenal glands, cause the
following:
 A lossof the ability to digest
 A decrease in circulation to the heart
 A drop in the body’s immune defenses
by reducing the number of white blood
cells
 A drop in oxygen carried to the cells

11
Adrenal Stress Hormones:
 Cortisol: Raises blood sugar and halts
the immune response
 Adrenaline: Stimulates the heart
muscles
 Norephinephrine: Constricts the blood
vessels, reduces oxygen to cells, inhibits
gastrointestinal muscles and increases
heart activity
12
In a study done by
Carnegie Mellon
University, the
cold virus was
sprayed into the
noses of 400
volunteers...
13
...those volunteers
with high stress in
their lives were
twice as likely to
develop colds.

Source: Stress: 63 Ways to Relieve Tension and Stay Healthy, Inlander, Charles B., and Moran, C., p. 5.

14
A University of Michigan
public health study
concluded that poorly
managed anger is linked to
a 2.5 times greater risk of
death from heart disease.
Source: New York Times, April 25, 1994.

15
The primary symptoms
of stress are:
 Headaches  Irritability
 Fatigue  Sleep problems
 Pain and  Allergies and sinus
tension in the problems
neck, shoulders  Digestive trouble
or low back
16
The primary symptoms of
stress such as headaches,
fatigue, aches and pains,
digestive trouble, difficulty
sleeping, allergies, irritability
are listed on the Stress Survey.
17
To help us
determine if
you are
currently
suffering from
any symptoms
of stress, please
fill out this
Stress Survey.
18
If you had more
than one stress
symptom or are
having that
symptom more
than once per
month,
your body has a
stress disorder.
19
Stress also
makes muscles
contract, makes
people become
uptight, and
causes one to
become tense
and restricted.
20
We are going to do
several simple tests to see
if stress is affecting your
nervous system, causing
a build-up of tension in
your joints and muscles.
21
First Test:
Neck tension
and injury:
Turn your head
to the right as far
as you can, then
left as far as you
can.
22
Second Test:
Low back
tension:
Stand up and
try to touch
your toes
without bending
your knees.
23
Third Test:
Neurological
Stress Test:
To determine if
your balance is
normal. March in
place with your
eyes closed until I
say “Stop.”
24
Fourth Test:
Trigger Points:
Tender areas
indicate
irritated nerves.

25
 Neck

Low Back

Shoulders

26
When a pressure point
exists, it indicates a build up
of tension, due to a local
irritated nerve.

27
These tests indicate the
body is breaking down from
stress and shows the need to
take action to lead a
healthier life.

28
Have you ever
had a pebble in
your shoe? The
pebble irritates
a nerve. Nerves
are extremely
sensitive.
29
A minor irritation to a spinal
nerve will not only cause tension,
pain, and numbness, but
symptoms of stress as well.

30
Chiropractors
gently and without
pain, remove
irritation to the
spinal nerves by
using their hands
to reduce tension
and distortions.
31
You might have some questions
about Chiropractic care.

32
Stress normally attacks your body in
areas of pre-disposed weaknesses. A
person with a damaged neck under
stress gets headaches. A person with
a damaged low back under stress
gets back pain, circulation problems,
menstrual problems, or even colitis.

33
Trauma to the
spine and nervous
system as a child
can create areas of
weakness, which
show up in an
adult with the
onset of stress.
34
According to the
Occupational Safety and
Health Administration, the
average child has already
had 1,500 spinal traumas
from falls and accidents by
age 10.
35
Some of the most common
causes of direct spine and
nerve damage are:

 Auto  Falls
accidents  Sports injuries
 Poor posture  Repetitive motion
 Birth injuries
36
What can you do to reduce the
harmful effects of stress?

37
Exercise!
Engage in some form of
exercise and relaxation.

38
 A recent study followed 40,000
post-menopausal women for
seven years. Those who regularly
engaged in moderate activities
had a 41% lower death rate than
those who did not exercise.
Source: Journal of the American Medical Association, as featured in Consumer Reports on Health, April 1998.

39
Take a walk!
California State
University found that
a 10 minute walk is
enough to increase
energy, alter mood,
and effect a positive
outlook for up to 2
hours.
Source: Stress: 63 Ways to Relieve Tension and Stay Healthy, Inlander, Charles B., and Moran, C., p. 45.

40
 A seven-year study by the
University of Minnesota involving
12,000 men, found that those who
walked or did similar exercise for
an average of just 20 minutes a day
were 37% less likely to die of
coronary disease than those who
exercised less than that.
Source: Consumer Reports on Health, April 1998.

41
 Laugh!
Research conducted at Loma
Linda University showed that
comedy lowers the body’s level
of stress, thereby lowering blood
pressure and increasing white
blood cells and your immunity.
Source: Stress: 63 Ways to Relieve Tension and Stay Healthy, Inlander, Charles B., and Moran, C., p. 10.

42
A study reprinted in the July/August
1995 issue of Men’s Health showed
toddlers laugh 400 times a day while
adults only laugh 15 times.

Source: Stress: 63 Ways to Relieve Tension and Stay Healthy, Inlander, Charles B., and Moran, Cynthia, p. 10.

43
Another natural and
healthy approach to
reducing stress is through
alternative health care, such
as diet, vitamins, massage,
and Chiropractic care.
44
A recent study showed that 4 out of
every 10 American adults use
alternative health care and that
chiropractors are the most popular
Doctor of choice amongst people
interested in a natural approach. A
study done this past year showed an
8% increase in the number of people
seeing chiropractors.
Source: Trend Tracking, Celente, G., www.healthy.net, May 1998.

45
Because Chiropractic care relieves
stress on the nervous system, it has
a very positive effect on stress-
related illnesses.

46
In a study involving 75
male and female subjects,
Chiropractic treatment
caused a marked drop in
high blood pressure after
only one minute.
Source: Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics, Vol. 2, No. 4, August 1998.

47
 In another study, Chiropractic
adjustments decreased the number
of headache hours by 69% after
only 2 weeks of care.

Source: Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics, June 1997.

48
 A clinical study was done on a group
of patients suffering with ulcers,
comparing traditional medical care
and Chiropractic care. The group
receiving Chiropractic care
experienced pain relief an average of
10 days earlier than the group under
medical care.
Source: The International Journal of Chiropractic, Vol. 8, No.3, 1997.

49
To reduce the harmful effects of
stress, one should eat a healthy
diet, exercise regularly, and make
sure their spine and nervous
system are functioning normally.

50
A Gift

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