Chiropractic Care Summerville, South Carolina

The U.S. has the highest rate of mental illness (anxiety disorders and depression), with over a quarter of the population suffering versus as little as 4.7 percent in other countries.i Most of these countries who suffer with only a fraction of as much mental illness have living situations and quality of life far, far below that of the U.S.

Learning how to manage your life and reprogram how you look at stress-inducing circumstances will put a major dent in this devastating emotional crisis.

The Journal of Circulation reported in May 2004 that people with normal blood pressure and with higher scores on an assessment of their anger traits (with its resulting negative stress and anxiety) are nearly three times more likely to have a heart attack. Even those whose anger is moderate face a significant risk of illness and death from coronary heart disease. In other words, even if you’re healthy and routinely test in the normal blood pressure range, if you’ve got an anger management problem, you put yourself at high risk of not only emotional explosion, but also valve explosion.

Man was built to survive. In order to do this, he has within him an anger or stress mechanism. This mechanism stimulates your fight or flight. If you are under attack, your body releases stress hormones designed to focus maximum energy on the tissues needed for battle and takes energy away from the ones that aren’t. That way, if you are attacked by a dog or a Yankees fan, you can fight or run.

If, however, you get angry or excited and don’t use that adrenaline for physical activity or continually allow yourself to become overstimulated, the stress hormones will cause damage to your arteries and glands. Excessive amounts of stress hormones in the body can damage the lining of the heart’s vessels as well as clog the veins and arteries.

Where Does Anger Come From?

Hint: it’s not from your wife’s Aunt Maude or that incompetent kid at the Wendy’s drive-thru. Take a look at these different anger “inspirations” and responses.

• Low Self Esteem
• The Immature Emotional Response
• Value Judging
• Unfinished business

Stress management doesn’t work. If you’re stressed, that’s hard to manage. Maximized Living a calls it “peace management.” Don’t look to fight stress; instead build and manage peace so as to overcome and/or prevent stress.

You attain peace through better managing your life. Life management includes getting control of your time, gaining new perspectives on life, and building strong relationships. Peace is not something you find when your latest crisis is over. In a stressful life, what usually follows stress is the next stress. When you manage your life better, stress is more likely to be followed by peace.

Creating peace and strong relationships does not begin by changing everyone and every circumstance surrounding you. Switching locations, jobs, or spouses is typically not the answer. While the grass always seems greener (in this case, more peaceful) in someone else’s yard, occupation, or relationship, once you get over there, over there becomes over here. As the adage says, “Wherever you go, there you are.” Peace of mind and better associations start (and end) with you. When you change, the atmosphere around you changes.

Recognizing that you must be transformed for your life to be transformed is not cause for despair. While it’s easy to blame outside influences for your anxiety and stress, that philosophy is self-defeating since it implies that there’s nothing you can do about it. You end up handing power over to the things going on around you instead of acknowledging what’s going on inside of you, where the real power is. (Remember, you’re not controlled by your genes or fated for anxiety, depression, and stress-you control them.)

If you’re not signed up for the Extreme Makeover Challenge yet it’s not too late! You missed the kickoff (which was awesome!), but you can still join in for week 2! Talk to Danielle… Right Now!

i Norman D. Ford, Health Report