Beating stress naturally

Stress is universal. Most of us have come to think of stress mainly in terms of unpleasant emotional stress, the kind that happens in families and at work. There are many other forms of stress that go unrecognized. In my acupuncture practice, when I ask people if they have been under stress, many say no, they haven't.

But as we talk a bit further a different picture emerges. One may be working 10 hour days and commuting an additional 3 hours; another hasn't slept for 6 months after giving birth, and at the same time she moved house, and her father had major heart surgery across the country; another has a new job -- which she loves -- requiring her to travel weekly, often flying long distances to meetings and enduring ongoing jetlag.

When you understand all the forms that stress takes, you begin to see that it is the root cause of most symptoms of illness. It's no surprise that while on vacation you usually feel pretty good -- all those nagging complaints clear right up.

Carpal tunnel syndrome, neck and back pain, pinched nerves arise from postural stresses related to our work and repetitive activities. We sit long hours at computers and desks, pick up children and lift heavy objects, hold the phone with our shoulder, and so on. Insomnia often arises after we have burned the candle at both ends for too long and when we work right up until bedtime or stay up beyond when we're tired. Digestive problems arise from overwork, tension and irregular eating. Anxiety and depression are among the most common symptoms arising from prolonged or excessive stress.

Instead of searching for the best herbs and supplements to combat stress, start with these simple (free) changes you can make in your life, and learn to take charge of your own health naturally.

Here are 8 of the most simple, straightforward ways you can beat the effects of stress:

1. Get enough sleep. Go to bed when you feel tired and be sure to get 8 hours of sleep. If you find yourself protesting, "I can get by on 6 hours of sleep," note that you are kidding yourself into believing this. If you use medications to sleep, you need to ask yourself why. It is not natural to medicate ourselves to sleep, although pharmaceutical marketing would have us think otherwise. Just because the use of sleep medication is widespread, this does not make it natural, normal, or healthy.
   
2. Drink enough water. Drink water throughout the day when you are thirsty. Coffee, tea, soda and juice are not substitutes for water.
   
3. Breathe. This is one of the biggest stress-busters, your breath. Notice how you breathe shallowly when busy or tense. Take a deep breath in, allowing your whole torso to expand. Feel the breath expanding your ribcage and abdomen as you breathe in. Allow the air to flow all the way out. Repeat this several times and do it repeatedly throughout the day.
4. Eat regularly and calmly. This is another big stress-buster. Choose whole, unprocessed foods. Eat at regular intervals, not waiting too long between meals. Chew your food and eat without having a meeting, working on the computer, reading or watching TV.
5. Exercise. You may feel you don't have time to exercise, but you do. Even daily walking can help tremendously by moving the muscles, relaxing the breath, improving circulation, increasing lymphatic drainage and providing an enhanced sense of well-being. Look for opportunities to walk instead of taking the car, to take the stairs instead of the elevator, and to walk up and down escalators instead of just standing there! Better yet, get into a yoga class or join a gym.
6. Have fun. Every human being needs fun, recreation and creative expression. Find out what you like to do for fun and add it into your schedule on a regular basis. Fun is not self-indulgent, it is essential to your health and wellness.
7. Give thanks. Every day, remember what you are grateful for. Practice gratitude to keep yourself in touch with the bigger picture, the cycle of giving and receiving that is human life.
8. Give something back. Out of gratitude flows giving. When we give, we tap into something greater than ourselves. Think about how you can give something back to others and the world around you. It can be as simple as a kind word of acknowledgment, volunteering for a charity, or giving financial support to those in need. Be creative, and give something every day.

The mystery of depression

Did you know that anti-depressants are the most highly prescribed medications in the U.S. today? Maybe the incidence of depression is increasing. Or, it could be that a lot of previously untreated depression is now being treated with medications. Or, possibly, what used to be considered normal human sadness is now being labeled as depression, and treated. Or...what?

Maybe it's a bit of everything. But while some people may benefit from anti-depressants, there can be no question that we are overusing these medications.

Why take anti-depressants?
If you speak to people who are taking anti-depressants, or if you yourself are taking them, you usually find similar reasons to explain it. Apart from the severely afflicted, most people say that they went through a hard time and started anti-depressants then. Most people say that they would like to find a way to get off the meds. A lot of these people seek out acupuncture to help them do this, which is how I hear about it so often.

What is depression?
Before getting into the scientific theories of depression, let's look at it from a Chinese medicine viewpoint. Chinese medicine may seem primitive to many of us, but in many ways this traditional form of medicine has a much more effective grasp on health and illness than we do. Chinese medicine may not explain the biochemical mechanisms of disease, but it understands the energetic imbalances involved in disease. More significantly, it knows how to treat these imbalances and restore health.

In Chinese medicine, ten different cases of depression may have ten different patterns of imbalance. That means that your particular pattern of depression may not be identical to that of the next person. Your treatment is based on your unique pattern, and is not a standard "formula" that is applied to everyone.

That said, however, there are some overarching patterns found in depression that are common to all. For most people, when you resolve these patterns of imbalance in the body, the depression goes away.

The main pattern of imbalance is related to the energetic system the Chinese call the "Liver." The Chinese Liver is not the same as the liver organ as we know it. The Chinese saw the body in terms of function more than form. For this reason, the Chinese Liver is a set of functions, many of which belong to the liver organ itself, but not all. For example,the Chinese Liver includes some nervous system functions that we would not attribute to the liver organ.

Here's the basic image. The Liver energetic system is in charge of keeping everything flowing smoothly in the body. It regulates "flow" of everything -- blood circulation, Qi (the Chinese term for "vital energy"), nervous system, muscles, and so on. Any dysregulation, including spasms, tremors, and pain in general, is related in some way to dysregulation of the Liver.

Depression is another form of dysregulation. Imagine how depression feels -- heavy, stuck, tired, without movement, no motivation, unending sadness. It reflects a lack of movement of energy (Qi) in the body. It's like when a flowing river dries up, little pools of stagnant water remain, breeding algae overgrowth and decay. To get the water flowing again, and revitalize the river, you need to open the dam and let more water flow again, and get it moving.

The plot thickens
Guess what causes this stagnancy of the Liver energetic system? Mainly it is stress. There's a lot to talk about regarding stress, which includes injury, overwork, overexcitement as well as emotional upset. But for now, let's just say that any stress pattern is a tension pattern, and tension creates blocked energy.

Stress is at all-time high levels for most of us today, and it's perpetual. Most people are living with high levels of daily stress -- long work hours, commuting, eating on the run and over meetings or computers, raising children, schedules that are extremely full from morning to night, and usually not enough sleep. And then there are the big stressors on top of that -- job loss, death of a loved one, long-term care of family members in need. Given the levels of stress we cope with daily, we're completely wiped out by these big ones when they come along.

If you look back at your own history of depression, you will almost certainly find that it started during or after a major or prolonged period of stress.

Get the energy moving
The good news is, when you get that blocked energy moving, most depression clears up. It really is that simple.

Acupuncture does this amazingly well. Often you will experience immediate relief. A treatment course may last from a few weeks up to several months to help you fully rebalance and heal.

What you can do on your own is:

• Reduce your stress: Most of us feel that our stress is our stress and there's nothing we can do about it. Take another look. Stop and question some of your own assumptions about how you are living. Is there any way to make your schedule work better for you? Can you ask for help? Can you cut back on some responsibilities or postpone them until a later date? Look at the choices you are making and recognize that you have the power to make choices more conducive to your health.
• Incorporate movement: Exercise moves the energy, even if it's simply a daily brisk walk. Often when depressed it's hard to get moving, so you don't need to feel it's either a full gym workout or nothing. Just take a walk.
• Breathe: While walking, use your breathing to move the energy. Take deep breaths in and out. During your day, whatever you are doing, pause regularly to check your breathing and take a nice deep breath, relaxing the diaphragm, the chest and the abdomen. Breathing is a potent self-treatment and it's free.
• Express yourself: Everyone needs creative expression, social connections, and fun. For many people, this is an element left out of the mix in a busy life. But it's essential to health. Find out what you love to do and what you are missing, and find a way to bring it into your life.
• Eat consciously: One of the best ways to reduce stress, improve digestion and heal naturally is to eat consciously. This means eating on a regular schedule, eating when you are hungry and not putting it off, sitting down to eat, chewing your food and breathing while you eat, not eating over your computer, while reading, watching the news, or over a meeting. It also means eating fresh, wholesome, healthy, unprocessed foods in balanced proportions.

By eating a diet that nourishes your body, and doing it calmly, you will receive all the nutrients your body needs, naturally. When you do this while also exercising, breathing, and minimizing your stress, and having fun, you can heal depression without medications, herbs or supplements.

Reclaim your health, naturally

A 2008 New York Times article revealed that out-of-pocket health care costs for insured couples retiring at age 65 are likely to reach $225,000 over the course of their retirement. This figure excludes over-the-counter drugs, dentistry and nursing home costs, all of which are potentially significant. Those retiring ten years from now at age 65 may need over $1 million to cover the same medical costs.

Is this progress?

Health care in America today is a market created by an industry seeking ever greater profits. We can not wait for reforms to our health care system to come from the government or from the industry itself. We can reclaim control of our health -- and our wallets -- primarily by learning to take care of our own bodies. It's that simple. But we've lost sight of what this really means.

Although we are inundated with information about health and medicine, and spending more than ever on health care, somehow we are no healthier. Insurance companies are covering less, out-of-pocket costs to consumers are increasing as medical and health insurance expenses continue to rise. Doctors are ordering costly tests of questionable value to increase their own income or just to protect themselves from legal action, driving up costs even more. Pharmaceutical costs are unregulated by the U.S. government and just keep going up even as their marketing of new diseases (and drugs to “treat” them) flourishes.

We are driven by fear to get a range of medical screenings and tests, and to become consumers of pharmaceutical medications for life. Why does it seem that once on a prescription for high blood pressure or high cholesterol, for example, it is assumed you will remain on it forever? Might not your body’s health improve? What if you were to take additional measures including diet and exercise, as well as stress-reduction – couldn’t your blood pressure normalize or your cholesterol return to healthy levels? Why aren’t these approaches a part of the standard of care in medicine? Why doesn’t your doctor talk to you about what you can do to eliminate your need for certain drugs and give you a plan that aims to help you get off the medications? And what are we doing to create so much high blood pressure and high cholesterol in the first place?

Something is wrong with this picture. We have bought into the sickness industry and continue to fuel it. The real remedy is to “get off the wheel” and stop playing along, to recover our health without relying exclusively on drugs, tests and providers to do it for us.

It's time to question what we've been told about health and medicine. As it turns out, the person with the greatest power to cure you is...you. And you can do it without the latest information on antioxidants, Omega 3 essential fatty acids, blueberries, SAMe or caffeine.

This does not mean rejecting all of medicine. Medicine has its place -- both conventional and holistic approaches. The problem is that it doesn't know its place and has taken away our inherent power to cultivate health naturally. It has convinced us that health is finding the right medicine for our symptoms, instead of teaching us to avoid those symptoms in the first place. Once we're sick, we're potential consumers of the medical market, and they have a lot to sell us.

While holistic medicine grows out of a preventive approach to health, in the current environment even this has been taken over by the prevailing medical marketing approach. Instead of emphasizing a whole diet and a lifestyle that includes a balanced range of activities to support health, we are seeing nutrients and herbs being tested and used in a drug-like way. Holistic therapies are tested for use as alternatives to existing medical treatments instead of using them preventively as they were intended.

Instead of starting you on a pharmaceutical medication, the "holistic" doctor may first give you a vitamin supplement or concentrated herb. True, it may be better for your body, but it continues to ignore the power of a whole foods diet combined with healthy living in favor of another form of "medication."

It's time to reshape our relationship to health and medicine. This is what we'll be looking into in this blog...how to reclaim our own health naturally, and to use medicine wisely and judiciously.