Disclaimer: I am not a psychologist or medical professional. This is intended to educate, inspire and support you healing stress and embodying your highest self. Some content might be sensitive; I invite you to practice self-harmonizing.

We’ve all experienced stress; we know it doesn’t feel good.

Between juggling work, the side hustle, relationships, cooking, cleaning, exercise, 4 legged children… it seems like the stress never ends…

Stress piles on until we reach overwhelm, anxiety, stomach issues, tightness in the throat, confusion and self-doubt just to name a few…

Even when the stressor passes, the physiological changes to your bodymind created to deal with the stressor stays because we haven’t used that survival (stress) energy, and it’s discretely deteriorating major areas of your health!

Here’s the thing…

You don’t decide to feel stressed… it happens instinctively… automatically…

So even if you don’t consciously think you’re stressed, your body is likely whistling a different tune, my friend!

That’s because stress happens in the autonomic nervous system; autonomic as in automatic, instinctual, involuntary, unconscious.

When stress strikes and overwhelms the nervous system, it compromises specifically the autonomic nervous system…

The autonomic nervous system is responsible for these really important systems:

Digestive system; stomach, intestines, liver, pancreas, etc.
Respiratory system; lungs, breathing, etc.
Circulatory system; heart, blood, etc.
Endocrine system; hormones, emotions, metabolism, etc.
Immune system; skin, gut, wound recovery, etc.
Reproductive system; sexual arousal, function, pregnancy, etc.
Elimination system; intestines, colon, kidneys, etc.
Sleep; circadian rhythm, falling asleep, staying asleep, etc.

In addition to hindering the function of all the systems above, research shows that when stressed, the prefrontal cortex (cognition) is under active, impacting:

9. Cognition; ability to think clearly, creativity, plan, reason, etc.

Ok so stress overwhelming the bodymind is not a good thing!!! But you knew this already!

If we want to have better digestion, mental clarity and more…

We need to cultivate more stress relief in our lives — here’s how.

infinite health & growth,
Stephanie