Stress Relief Innovations

What is Biofeedback?
Voice Mapping Technology
Understanding Stress
Who Benefits from Biofeedback?

Chronic stress is nothing to be taken lightly, but how do you know when your stress level has become habitual and therefor threatening?

In this day and age, life can be full of demands, hassles, deadlines, and frustrations. For many people, stress is so commonplace that it has become a way of life. Stress isn’t always bad. In small doses, it can help you perform under pressure and motivate you to do your best. But when you’re constantly running in emergency mode, your mind and body pay the price.

If you frequently find yourself feeling frazzled and overwhelmed, it’s time to take action to bring your nervous system back into balance. Stress Relief Innovations can help.

What is stress? 

The Body’s Stress Response

When you perceive a threat (real or imagined), your nervous system reacts by releasing a tidal wave of stress hormones, including adrenaline and cortisol. These hormones prepare the body for emergency action.  Your heart pounds faster, muscles tighten, blood pressure rises, breath quickens, and your senses become sharper. These physical changes increase your strength and stamina, speed your reaction time, and enhance your focus – preparing you to either fight or flee from the danger at hand.

Stress is a normal physical response to events that make you feel threatened or upset your balance in some way. When you sense danger – whether it’s real or imagined – the body’s defenses kick into high gear in a rapid, automatic process known as the “fight-or-flight” reaction, or the stress response.

The stress response is the body’s way of protecting you. When working properly, it helps you stay focused, energetic, and alert. In emergency situations, stress can save your life – giving you extra strength to defend yourself, for example, or spurring you to slam on the brakes to avoid an accident.

The stress response also helps you rise to meet challenges. Stress is what keeps you on your toes during a presentation at work, sharpens your concentration when you’re attempting the game-winning free throw, or drives you to study for an exam when you’d rather be watching TV.

But beyond a certain point, stress stops being helpful and starts causing major damage to your health, your mood, your productivity, your relationships, and your quality of life.

Effects of chronic stress

The body doesn’t distinguish between physical and psychological threats. When you’re stressed over a busy schedule, an argument with a friend, a traffic jam, or a mountain of bills, your body reacts just as strongly as if you were facing a life-or-death situation. If you have a lot of responsibilities and worries, your emergency stress response may be “on” most of the time. The more your body’s stress system is activated, the easier it is to trip and the harder it is to shut off.

Long-term exposure to stress can lead to serious health problems. Chronic stress disrupts nearly every system in your body. It can raise blood pressure, suppress the immune system, increase the risk of heart attack and stroke, contribute to infertility, and speed up the aging process. Long-term stress can even rewire the brain, leaving you more vulnerable to anxiety and depression.

How much stress is too much?

Because of the widespread damage stress can cause, it’s important to know your own limit. But just how much stress is “too much” differs from person to person. Some people roll with the punches, while others crumble at the slightest obstacle or frustration. Some people even seem to thrive on the excitement and challenge of a high-stress lifestyle.

Your ability to tolerate stress depends on many factors, including the quality of your relationships, your general outlook on life, your emotional intelligence, and genetics.

Related links for stress signs, symptoms, causes, and effects

Most of the information gathered for this section came from this article.

Stress signs and symptoms

Understanding and Dealing with Stress – This course, prepared by a West Virginia-based organization that works with disabled people, presents a wealth of information on stress and its signs and symptoms. (Mountain State Centers for Independent Living)

Stress: Unhealthy response to the pressures of life – Description of how stress causes symptoms and changes in different systems in the body. (Mayo Clinic)

Effects of Stress – Provides a list of the 50 most common signs and symptoms of stress and describes how stress affects the body. (The American Institute of Stress)

Physiology of the Stress Response – In-depth description of what happens in your body when the stress response is activated. (Centre for Stress Management)

Causes of stress

The Different Kinds of Stress – Overview of the different kinds of stress, along with the common causes, signs, and symptoms. (American Psychological Association)

Causes of Stress – Looks at both internal and external stressors that can trigger the stress reaction. (Stress Management for Health Course)

Effects of stress

Stress: It’s Worse Than You Think – Covers the physiological basis for stress, the signs and symptoms, and the devastating effects it can have on people of all ages. (Psychology Today)

Stress and Disease: New Perspectives – Article on the link between stress, the brain, and the immune system. (National Institutes of Health, Word on Health)

Stress – Discussion of stress signs, symptoms, and long-term effects, with a focus on cardiovascular health. (Mount Sinai School of Medicine)

Renew: Stress on the Brain – Detailed article on the effect of stress on the brain and how the biological stress response works. (The Franklin Institute Online)

Stress in kids and teens

Childhood Stress – Clearly lays out what causes stress in children and what parents can do about the problem. (KidsHealth)

Teen Stress – Article geared for teenagers describes the causes, symptoms, and effects of stress in young adults. Includes tips for keeping it under control. (TeenHealth)

What is Biofeedback?
Voice Mapping Technology
Understanding Stress
Who Benefits from Biofeedback?