August at Oaktree: Stress Awareness!😪😪

Subject: August at Oaktree: Stress Awareness!😪😪

August at Oaktree: Stress Awareness!

By Dr. Katrina Greer,

Orleans Chiropractor

Hi Oaktree family! This month's issue is all about STRESS. If you're reading this, I'm sure that stress is something you've actively tried to manage or take control of in your life. You may have found that it's not always easy. With a busy lifestyle: work, kids, travel and responsibilities - it seems like it is always around us.

Many of us feel stress physically and mentally, and it can be a careful balancing act trying to find healthy outlets to release that stress (i.e. physical activity), and time for rest and recuperation (i.e. sleep, reading, chiropractic, acupuncture). Stress can lead to inflammation and disease in the body, and therefore, managing it is of utmost importance to our health!

There are actually FOUR types of stress you can be on the lookout for (4 T's), and reducing these stressors can decrease your overall stress load:

Trauma - physical impacts, sports, falls, sleep and work posture
Toxins - chemicals in cleaning products, hygiene products, pesticides and hormones in our food, water, air quality, medications
Thoughts - emotional stress including self-talk, our inner circle and influences, care-giving, family and financial stress
Technology - phones, computers, tablets, and even the constant bombarding of our nervous systems with wifi, screens and lights

Share one of these categories with a friend or family member. And as always, feel free to ask our practitioners how you can work to reduce your stress!

By Dr. Emilie Perras, Downtown Chiropractor

I often tell my patients "we can't change the stress in your life (like your job, your spouse...lol!) but we can change the way your body deals with it".

This is a major reason we do what we do in both our chiropractic and acupuncture practices. We want your body to be adaptable to the world around you, whether you have emotional stress, chemical stress or physical stress.

Every session helps to calm the nervous system through all kind of really cool and complicated neurological pathways. We can understand on paper how the stress response can be reduced, but the coolest thing is seeing it in peoples' real lives!

I wanted to share through the perspective of a few more recent patients and what I've seen.

C.B.

C is 6 years old. She is very hypersensitive and has difficulty with sensory processing. She finds it hard to handle certain touch and sounds. She is also often overwhelmed when she comes home from school, having kept herself together all day. Outbursts are common.

Her parents brought her in to help see if we could calm her nervous system. A few weeks of adjustments and already they were seeing she was calmer and able to handle more. A few months later she is even better! She can come in, be around all the patients, is ok with the sounds of the table, being touched and loves coming. Her parents have seen a great difference at home and we're all thrilled.

She'll still have a similar school environment come September, but her nervous system is calmer - so she'll be able to adapt better to school and the daily changes there!

S.D.

S is middle aged with a sitting government job (may seem familiar to many of you!). The daily stress of sitting at work, being at a computer is there for the long term. It has led to upper back pain, shoulder pain, stress and headaches. There is physical (repetitive) stress here and mental/emotional stress. They both weigh on the nervous system.

We are a few months into her chiropractic care and she is doing so much better. Her work is the same, but she is in a better mood, has less headaches and her pain has reduced! What changed? With adjustments and acupuncture her stress isn't accumulating each day at work, with no release in sight. Chiropractic is a great release! We are so happy for her!

E.C.

Car accident - I thought this was a cool one. There is a rear end on the highway in a stop-and-go situation at about 20km/h. Two people in the same car, similar body/age/build. E.C. has been getting adjusted for years. The other person hasn't. E.C. is a bit sore but recovers pretty quickly. Her friend takes months to recover the muscle and joint pain. While they weren't identical to start, what I see is that E was more "shock absorbent" from years of regular spinal adjustments. Her friend would be stiffer and not absorb the shock of the accident as well.

One big reason why we recommend wellness care for our patients is to continue to help the body adapt to stressors around us. Otherwise it can accumulate and never be released. This will lead to dis-ease down the road.

Join the wellness journey if you're not already and stay well with us!

CLINIC CLOSURES

All clinics are closed August 5th.

LISGAR

Dr. Emilie and Martin are away from August 12th - 16th.

ORLEANS

Dr. Katrina is away from August 26th to September 3rd

STITTSVILLE

Dr. Marie-Pier is away from July 29th to August 5th.

Stittsville is closed Saturday, August 31st.

LISGAR ANNOUNCEMENT:

WELCOME MARK ANDRAWIS

Mark is joining the Lisgar team as an Acupuncturist on Mondays and Wednesdays!

You can check out his profile on our website here. Give him a warm Oaktree welcome!

Tips to Increase Vagal Tone

By Dr. Emilie Perras, Downtown Chiropractor

Why would we want to do this?

This will help calm the nervous system!

Doing the tips below will help calm your sympathetic system (fight or flight), and help increase your parasympathetic nervous system (rest, digest, immune, fertility). We think we could all use some help with less stress overall ☺

You’re hopefully already doing chiropractic or acupuncture, which both really help calm the nervous system!
Gargling
Vigorous humming
Singing
Growl like an animal and exhale
Tonal breathing: inhale for 4 counts, exhale for 8 with an ooooh or ahhhh sound
Laughing
Infants: sucking and desensitizing the gag reflex
Calming rhythms – rocking, swaying with a pat on the back to match (if you want to get technical, best is 60-80 beats per minute)
Any gentle touch

Managing Unhealthy Stress

By Dr. Marie-Pier Sauriol, Stittsville Chiropractor

Stress.

We all have it.

And we all have different sources of it and different ways of coping with it (some ways healthier than others). Since there's only so much we can do to lower our sources of stress, I'll be sharing some ways below that you can help manage your stress.

Stress is a normal and natural response to life. It helps us address challenges in our lives. Stress affects both the mind and body. While a little can help us perform our daily tasks, too much stress can cause both physical and mental problems.

Here are some ways you can manage your stress:

If you've been following Dr. Vanessa's Instagram, you'll have noticed that one of the ways she's found to help her is through chiropractic adjustments (we already knew that, but her Oura ring helped her prove it)! Adjustments help balance your nervous system, elevating your parasympathetic response (which is the side of your nervous system responsible for healing, sleep, digestion, and reproduction).

Acupuncture is also a great way to lower stress! Many studies have shown that acupuncture is more effective than medication, and with fewer side effects.

Other ways to help with your stress management include getting enough sleep, making sure you are eating healthy foods, getting enough exercise, and connecting with family/friends that you can trust and open up to.

Most people have heard the saying "You can't pour from an empty cup". I want to challenge that saying - The cup is for you; the overflow is for everyone else. Take care of yourself first and make sure all your needs are met. It doesn't matter that you are able to fill your cup if you're constantly emptying it for others. So I repeat - The cup is for you; the overflow is for everyone else.

July's book of the month comes not from a practitioner, but one of the lovely Lisgar receptionists, Erin!

Gabor Mate's "When the Body Says No; The Cost of Hidden Stress" is an enlightening read, both on ways in which we as people ignore our stressors, and ways in which it takes a toll on us both mentally and physically!

As we work to encourage your health through chiropractic care and acupuncture, it's important to help that care along by getting in touch with yourself, connecting with the flags that your body are raising for you and respecting the boundaries your body is trying to set.

Share your thoughts about your Oaktree Family using the links below!

LISGAR

ORLEANS

STITTSVILLE

Subscribe

Subject: August at Oaktree: Stress Awareness!😪😪