Are you living with stress and anxiety? Most of us do in one way or another. The most important thing is that you are doing something about it?

We live in a very stressful age and our bodies just can’t cope. We were not made to cope with the constant levels of stress we experience today. Workplace stress, family stress, money, driving, what to eat, what not to eat, our health and life can be just too much. We all have our triggers, symptoms and coping mechanisms.

What we need to deal with is what triggers our stress and anxiety in the first place. This can be difficult and something we just can’t deal with right now. So living with stress and anxiety can be a huge challenge for us on a daily basis.

Having someone to talk to like a therapist, counsellor or anxiety coach, if it is part of their training, can really help. Through using kinesiology, BWRT, EFT and coaching I help a lot of my clients with stress, anxiety and the triggers.  To find out how I can help and to see what my client’s say please take a look here.

Some symptoms related to stress and anxiety

Do you actually recognise that the symptoms you are experiencing are actually stress related? Symptoms like:

• Headaches
• Insomnia
• Chronic fatigue and low energy
• Digestive problems linked with ‘IBS’ such as constipation, bloating, abdominal pain, also heartburn and indigestion
• Muscle and joint pain
• Rapid heartbeat
• Sweating
• Changes in appetite
• Low energy
• Skin problems such as eczema and acne
• Frequent illness such as cold-like symptoms

All the symptoms mentioned above can certainly be linked to stress and anxiety and they can also be connected to other health issues so please always get them checked out with your GP. For me, when I am stressed I can experience muscle and joint pain and the feeling like I am getting a cold, it usually begins with a sore throat and feeling a bit heady. When you feel like this, it can be because stress is affecting your immune system. 

Stress has a huge impact on our immune, nervous, digestive and endocrine systems and as such affects our overall health and wellbeing and how we feel. Moreover, by suppressing emotions, including stress and anxiety, it can have a detrimental effect on our health.  

When we are stressed we release the hormones, adrenaline and cortisol and it is these hormones that are instrumental in the ageing process. Also, too much cortisol can suppress our immune system leaving us more susceptible to illness. Our digestive system suffers and this is shown through symptoms like indigestion and heartburn.

Long-term stress can, therefore, make us feel and look older than we actually are. So bringing our stress levels down and addressing the triggers will help our health and wellbeing enormously. 

Experiencing stress on a daily basis takes its toll on our bodies. So what do you do about it? Do you have techniques you can use when stress gets too much?

Here are some simple and useful tips to help you with stress and anxiety:

1. Breathing properly. This is so very important. You need to belly breathe, so take some nice slow deep breaths so you can see your belly expand.
2. Mindful walks. Leave your phone at home and take nice long walks and pay attention to all you see & hear.    
3. Meditating. I know I always mention this but it is so helpful, and again, as I say, just do it for 5 minutes. Quieten your mind, refocus your mind, this really can help you. You can then build on the length of time. Short spurts can be done anytime and anywhere. Build it into your daily routine.
4. There are lots of useful acupressure points you can hold to help calm you and here is one of my favourite go-to points, it’s call ‘the sea of tranquillity’. When holding the point take some nice,  deep slow breathes and feel yourself calming down.

1. Create positive affirmations like, ‘I am calm, this will pass’, ‘I am doing the very best I can’.
2. Reduce stimulants like caffeine & try a herbal tea like peppermint, lemon balm or chamomile tea.
3. Essential Oils – Lavender, Ylang Ylang, Serenity, Vetiver, Basil, Consol.  You can add them to bath water in a little milk or carrier oil, add a few drops to a diffuser so you can breathe in the aroma throughout your home. Or you can add some to your wrists, behind your ears, over your heart centre. 
4. Take some Bach Flower Remedies. It depends on the reasons for your stress so, for example, you could take

• Mimulus, if your stress is fear-based and something you know, such as going to the dentist.
• Aspen, if you are fearful and don’t know why.  
• Red Chestnut, if you are worried about others.
• Rock Rose, if you panic, tremble, sweat. 
• Cherry Plum, if for uncontrollable emotions, feeling very tense and restless.
• Elm, If you feel exhausted, overwhelmed and stressed.
• White Chestnut, If you are constantly worrying and overthinking, have tension, headaches and feel exhausted.

For more information on Bach Flower Remedies and how they can help you please click here

If you would like any more information or would like to know how I can help reduce your stress and anxiety please contact me using the form below and we can organise a free 20-minute consultation.

Much love

Toni

xxx