How to Deal with Chronic Stress

People's lifestyle had a huge change due to the Covid-19 outbrake in 2020 and the ongoing fight against the pandemic. The pressure of work, relationships and homesickness is increasing, thus more people are struggling with stress. The more the pressure increases the worse increases the situation of mental strain, anxiety and depression.

Proper, meaning positive stress makes us feel energetic in life and work, and helps our body respond to emergencies properly in order to prevent injury. However, overload and long-term stress will lead to the release of stress hormones, such as cortisol and epinephrine. It will cause damage to the body and the occurrence of disease development will increase due to a high level of stress hormones.

You Might Experience The Situations Related To Stress:

• Mental symptoms:

• Overthinking or constant worries

• Difficulty relaxing

• Moody, frustrated or irritability

• Racing thoughts

• Lack of concentration

Physical symptoms:

• Upset stomach - poor appetite, nausea, diarrhea, constipation, bloated or abdominal cramp

• Palpitation or chest tightness

• Sleep disorders

• Muscles tension or aching, especially in the neck and shoulders

• Headache

• Low energy

• Tinnitus without injury (Distinguish from other diseases by patient history, physical and medical testing.)

When Under Chronic Stress, You Are Exposed To A High Risk Of:

• Heart disease and heart complication- heart attack, stroke, high blood pressure, abnormal heart rhythms, etc.

• Immune system disease - recurrent infections or colds, chronic illness, etc.

• Digestive system disease - IBS, obesity and other eating disorder, etc.

• Other’s disease - menstrual problems, skin problems, hair loss, sexual dysfunction, etc.

People have limited options to manage and release stress in today’s daily life. More and more people seeking new and different solutions to get rid of the stress or ease the symptoms from stress for health and well-being.

How Can TCM Help?

TCM can be an option with very little side effects. Nowadays, TCM becomes an important tool to assist in managing effects of mental wellness treatment, like counseling, psychotherapy, and medications. All the treatments for mental wellness are not one-size-fits-all, combined therapies are more recommended.

Acupuncture is considered a safe and effective treatment modality. It reduces accumulated stress and restores the body's balance and energy. The flow of Qi (energy) is promoted by stimulating certain acupoints and meridians, especially the liver system in TCM theory. The mechanism of acupuncture treatment brings relief of pain and inflammation, and stimulates the brain to produce more endorphin (the feel-good hormone) to improve the balance of the emotions.

What You Can Do?

• Regular sport and exercise (Yoga, Taiichi, walking and hiking, etc.), aim to reduce harmful stress-related hormones.

• Aroma or music

• Meditation or mindset

• Healthy and balanced diet (Eat healthy, regular meals, less sugar and alcohol)

• Plenty of rest (deep and enough sleep)

• Enjoyable activities and hobbies (watching movies, reading, playing games, etc.)

• Spending time with families and friends

Dr. Viviane Li, TCM doctor, Acupuncturist.

Viviane offers a full range of TCM treatments and evaluation,  including herbal medicine and acupuncture, at the Body & Soul Medical Clinics - Downtown (Xintiandi) clinics. She has extensive experience to treating in TCM and works closely with members for holistic solutions. Please scan the QR code below and contact Body & Soul Medical Clinics to make an appointment with her.