Quote of the Month
“Our bodies are just trying to do their job…we just keep doing things to screw it up!”
We’ve had quite the up and down winter this year. If things stay the way they are, seasonal allergies are going to start much sooner than later.
I thought I’d give you a few facts and tips that can explain why one person suffers more than another.
7 conditions that can make you more at risk:
- Asthma
- Stress
- Trauma/Surgery
- Recent illness
- Sleep
- Medications
- Hidden food sensitivities
Obviously Asthma makes us more susceptible to seasonal allergies because our Lung function is compromised. But unknown food issues can definitely aggravate the condition.
But how about ?
According to Traditional Chinese Medicine, emotional stress of any kind affects the Heart. Sadness and grief deplete Lung function. Overthinking, worry and anxiety knots up the Spleen. The Kidney’s energy sinks when someone has fear. Stress also affects the Liver’s ability to keep ALL energy moving smoothly within the body causing the things to stagnate. This gives rise to anger, irritability, melancholy, menstrual irregularities, headaches, pain in the chest, stomach or abdomen.
Emotional stress can be due to finances, family, overwork – to name a few! Unfortunately, some of us deny that they’re affected by stress.
Physical stress can also harm us if we do too much. When someone is emotionally stressed a little exercise or physical work may be okay, but some of us think that exercising heavily daily is a good way to deal with emotional stress when it actually weakens and depletes you more. Why? Because it consumes what little resources and nutrients you have left. Plus, exercise is stress on the body! No exercise isn’t helping you either – take a walk in nature.
Things like trauma/surgeries and illnesses actually weaken us and add to any underlying stress that we are already experiencing.
Poor sleep doesn’t allow your body to rest and repair. It’s really a ‘catch 22’ scenario. You can’t sleep, so your symptoms get worse and you get more stressed. What a viscous cycle.
When it comes to medications, some of us do need them, but please realize, they aren’t curing your allergies or your other ‘conditions’. They just block your symptoms to manage your condition. But they also compromise and stress your organs. Some give you side-effects as an added bonus!
Any foods that you have sensitivity to can also create added stress to your body worsening your seasonal allergy symptoms. Most of us are unaware that we have food sensitivities because we aren’t recognizing some of the hidden signs and symptoms. Some of us have no symptoms at all! If you’d ever like to find out what you may be sensitive to, stop by for a consult – it’s free and we don’t use needles!
So what’s all of this all got to do with allergies?
According to the British Institute for Allergy & Environmental Therapy, unmanaged stress makes allergies worse. If you can properly manage the different stressors in your life, your symptoms should improve. Believe it or not, at our clinic, we can help your body deal with what’s stressing you! Here’s a demo. It actually starts at 3:39 into the video.
Christine
Remember the key is to lighten the load on your immune system so that you can actually enjoy the warm weather of summer a little!