Craniosacral and stress

Stress is the number one health issue in our society. Modern life is very demanding, asking more and more from us. We have to juggle so many things between family, work, school etc., that we don’t have time to eliminate the stress that has accumulated in our body. Stress is so common now that it has become a way of life.

Stress is a normal physical response to danger. So we could stay alive at a time when real life threatening danger was everywhere, our bodies have been built with a mechanism that helps us to fight the danger or run away from it, the “fight or flight response” activated by the sympathetic division of the autonomic nervous system. When in danger, our heart beats faster, we breath faster, the blood supply goes to the muscles , adrenaline is pumped in our bodies and so on so we can run faster and have more strength to fight.

Our bodies have also been built with a calming system, the parasympathetic division of the autonomic nervous system. This allows the body to return to normal and relax after the danger has passed. However, the parasympathetic response takes much more times than the sympathetic response. If we can become alert and ready for action in a few seconds, it takes a couple of hours for everything to settle down again.

Nowadays life is not so physically dangerous, but the the body does not make the difference between physical and psychological threats. If we are scared to be late at work, anxious about a deadline, worried because there is a traffic jam and the children need to be picked up from school etc., we will be feeling stressed and all the sympathetic responses will be activated. Unfortunately we often don’t have a couple of hours to relax to get everything out of our system as we are constantly facing stressful situations.

Long-term exposure to stress can lead to serious health problems. It disturbs nearly every system in the body. It can suppress the immune system, raise the blood pressure, increase the risk of heart attacks and strokes, contribute to infertility, and it is one of the major components of cancer. It can also bring anxiety and depression.

It’s important to learn how to recognise when your stress levels are out of control. We often don’t realise that we are over stressed as we are so used to it and we don’t notice how much it is affecting us, even when it takes a heavy toll.
Stress affects the mind, body, and behaviour in many ways. Not only can overwhelming stress lead to serious mental and physical health problems, it can also affects our relationships at home, work, and school.

Craniosacral therapy can help in more ways than one. It can help you completely release accumulated stress as it is a therapy that works with the nervous system. A craniosacral session is deeply relaxing and clients often comment on how they feel so relaxed and so good after a session. Craniosacral also releases traumas from the body and with the trauma, the stress created at the time will be released as well.

Many clients like to come regularly, about once a month or every second month depending on their stress levels, just to help release stress. They comment that they have more energy, sleep better and don’t get sick.

So don’t ignore the signs of over stress and give yourself one hour now and then to see a craniosacral therapist. It is better to dedicate one hour regularly to stay healthy. You deserve it.