Creating Physical & Emotional Health & Healing

Emotional health can be harmful in that it can affect people to have harmful relationships with loved ones and other people they come into contact with on a daily basis.  They cannot adjust to events in life that are stressful, or seem to be stressful in their mind.  When the individual is in a mental or depressive state, they are irritable or anxious, and can display characteristics of both.

They can develop hypochondriac-like symptoms of different aches and pains.  They fear a calamity will befall them or a loved one, almost like the world is coming to an end.  They go through mood changes, almost on a constant basis.  Some will develop an inability to think clearly, with difficulty in carrying on normal speech interactions with others.  As the emotional condition progresses into a more depressive state, other symptoms start to manifest themselves.  Symptoms such as, insomnia with difficulty in getting out of bed in the morning, will cause an inability to react normally for the rest of the day.

Emotions can also cause a loss of appetite to the point of anorexia leading to a loss of weight.  In some cases, there can be an increase of appetite and an abnormal weight gain.  Other manifestations of stress will be a loss of confidence in themselves, with severe mood swings and can become irritable and hostile at times.  What we have been discussing thus far is the ordinary type of emotions that the individual encounters on a daily basis.  These conditions can lead to more depressive states, and if left unchecked can lead to greater psychotic manifestations when not addressed at early stages.

Anxiety and depression, more severe forms of emotional health, can manifest itself in emotional disturbances that can result in organic symptoms.  These symptoms may be due to the direct tension to muscles, causing spasms and other conversions to the various body systems.  Emotional health can come disguised in many forms. Long-term affects can result in personality disorders, antisocial behavior, psychosomatic, and other types of neuroses.

The long-term conversion of emotions as mentioned above, can lead to various forms of gastritis.  There are a variety of symptoms associated with stress-induced gastritis.  They can appear as mild to severe upper abdominal discomfort, such as a burning sensation to mild or severe pain. Should the symptoms be left unchecked on a long-standing basis, an ulcer can develop, and over a long period of time may cause bleeding, and if severe enough can cause hemorrhage.

Another manifestation can be emotionally-induced incontinence where it affects the urinary sphincters, causing an involuntary loss of urine on straining, as in lifting, sneezing, coughing or anything causing an increase in intra-abdominal pressure.  Many times the individual may not realize that the urinary symptoms are emotionally related and will go through many different tests to determine the cause for the loss of urine. When all the tests prove negative, they are at a loss for a reason, and the symptoms will continue unabated.

An individual must first recognize that they are going through various forms of emotional conditions before they address the problem to it's fullest.  There are ways of managing stress, but they must first identify the things that cause the stress (stressors).  When your body reacts with stomach upsets, tenseness of muscles, clenching of teeth, headaches (migraines) that appear suddenly, and other symptoms, such as cold, clammy, sweaty hands and body, it is time to take stock of the situation and develop a program to reduce your stress.  Awareness is the first step in starting a relaxation program.

There are many ways and techniques that are used to reduce stress.  Once you find a method that is best suited for you, be sure to practice it on a regular basis.  Hit and miss won't give you the desired results.  In other words, it should become a way of life. Once you have made the commitment to start these changes, you need to know what is available for you start managing stress.

The first method we will discuss is one that I do not advocate as a starting method.  I believe self help is where you should start. The method I mentioned is called "Biofeedback".  It is a method that is applied by a Biofeedback practitioner, using an electronic machine.  The individual has sensors placed on the body. These sensors measure the stress responses, such as muscle tension and perspiration.  The responses given off by the machine are audible tones and it is up to the individual to relax the various areas of the body.  By concentrating on relaxing the body, the machine will give off different tones that will alert the individual that they were able to relax.  There will also be a read-out on the machines' meter that this has been accomplished.  Biofeedback is generally used with other relaxation methods.  These methods are generally the more natural ways that the individual uses on their own.

The starting point for such a program is to develop a positive attitude and lifestyle in order to obtain the best possible results.  When you feel your muscles tensing, your heart begin to race, and tenseness in the pit of your stomach, take the time to relax.  If this tenseness was brought about by a particular situation, then by all means try to step away from whatever caused this stress and regroup thinking positively.  Consider stress to be like a switch.  You can either turn it on or turn it off.

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