How to Reduce Stress

How to reduce Stress : How it can make your allergies even more miserable

Have you ever noticed that sometimes when you're having a really tough day, you sneeze a lot and your skin feels itchier?

It's not a coincidence, your emotions may have been the trigger.

Researchers are now finding that certain allergic disorders like hay fever, eczema and asthma are regulated, in part, by hormones and brain chemicals released into the bloodstream in response to stress.

When it rains, it really does pour.

The nervous system is the interpreter of which events are "stressful" and determines how the body responds to the stress.

Negative emotional responses disturb the carefully constructed equilibrium of the brain systems, putting some parts into overdrive and others into underdrive.

The body produces a number of factors including hormones (e.g., cortisol) and neurotransmitters (e.g., adrenalin) which, in turn, can influence other systems in the body such as the immune system.

If this imbalance goes on unchecked and becomes persistent, long-term damage, allergies and disease can result.

In other words, it is the wear-and-tear from chronic overactivity or underactivity that is potentially damaging

Most information about allergies discuss what the specific allergen is and how once found out what needs to be avoided.

Information about the emotions and the psychology of an allergy sufferer is often left out of the picture.

Allergic reactions occur when the immune system reacts to stress in an inappropriate way.

Instead of digesting properly or cleaning the air that has been inhaled it reacts in a different manner.

Alarm Reaction Adrenaline and a variety of hormones is released to combat the stress and to stay in control.

The muscles tense, the heart beats faster, the breathing and perspiration increases, the eyes dilate, the stomach may clench.

Once the cause of the stress is removed, the body will go back to normal.

Resistance or Adaptation occurs when the stress isn’t resolved.

Hormones that increase blood sugar levels to sustain energy and raise blood pressure are released.

The adrenal cortex produces hormones to continue battling the stress.

Should there be a prolonged period of time with no relief, sufferers become prone to fatigue, concentration lapses, irritability and lethargy as the effort to sustain arousal slides into negative stress.

Exhaustion, Finally, the body has run out of its reserve of body energy and immunity.

Mental, physical and emotional resources suffer heavily. The body experiences “adrenal exhaustion”.

The blood sugar levels decrease as the adrenals become depleted, leading to decreased stress tolerance, progressive mental and physical exhaustion, illness and collapse.


All of this can lead to many kinds of symptoms, here are a few for example :

Skin symptoms : Dermatitis, hives, eczema, burning lips, dry skin patches, itching, swelling and blisters, red weals, sores on face, ulcers, perspiration, dandruff.

Cardiovascular symptoms : Pain around heart, racing heart, palpitations and irregularities, flushes, erratic pulse.

When the total stress load is more than the body and the adrenal glands can cope with, that is when allergic symptoms appear.

If the stress load can be lightened, they will tend to disappear. In other words, if the total body load of stress is high, the threshold at which allergic symptoms appear will be low, and vice versa.

So one of the basic treatments for allergic disease is this one ; lower the total stress load.


Ways of Reducing the body's toxic load to reduce stress

Avoid Negative emotions : Hormones generated by negative emotions such as fear and resentment are very potent, and toxic in excess.

Eat clean foods : Buy as organically as possible and learn to cook in a healthy style. Avoid processed foods.

There are many ways you can reduce stress, you might want to consider some of the following : taking time to relax, following a healthy diet, exercising, distancing yourself from stressful people and stressful situations.