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Using Massage Therapy & Exercise As Stress Management Tools

As our society becomes more health-conscious, there has been an increased focus on the importance stress management because we all experience stress in our lives. Stress costs employers enormous amounts of money every year. Millions of workers are absent every workday due to stress related complaints because the vast majority of health problems are caused or influenced by stress. It’s important to understand how stress affects your body, and to learn effective stress management techniques to make stress work for you rather than against you.

Stress is your body’s response to changes in your life. Because life involves constant change (ranging from changing locations from home to work each morning, to adapting to major life changes like marriage, divorce, or death of a loved one), there is no avoiding stress. Stress can trigger the body’s response to perceived threat or danger, the Fight-or-Flight response. During this reaction, certain hormones like adrenalin and cortisol are released, speeding the heart rate, slowing digestion, shunting blood flow to major muscle groups, and changing various other autonomic nervous functions, giving the body a burst of energy and strength. Originally named for its ability to enable us to physically fight or run away when faced with danger, it’s now activated in situations where neither response is appropriate, like in traffic or during a stressful day at work. When the perceived threat is gone, systems are designed to return to normal function via the relaxation response, but in our times of chronic stress, this often doesn’t happen enough, causing damage to the body.

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