keeping your fitness resolution this year

While the body can typically respond to occasional bouts of stress, prolonged stress levels can take their toll—not only emotionally, but mentally and physically. If you are feeling overly stressed in your life, whether it's from school, work, relationships, a health condition, you could benefit from consulting with a holistic wellness coach. Take a look at why chronic stress is a problem and how a wellness coach could help.

What are Some Physical Manifestations of Stress?

While many people are familiar with the emotional downsides of stress, such as feeling moody or overwhelmed, there are mental and physical side effects of too much stress. Mentally, you may have trouble focusing or be more forgetful. You might find yourself dwelling on pessimistic thoughts or feeling hopeless. People with high levels of stress can also develop physical symptoms such as:

• Headaches
• Insomnia
• Frequent infections or colds
• Chest pain
• Fatigue
• Loss of appetite or nausea
• Bruxism

If these symptoms aren't treated, chronic stress can make you more prone to the development of systemic illness, such as gastrointestinal issues and heart issues.

What is a Holistic Wellness Coach and How Can They Help?

You'll want to visit your primary care doctor first to make sure your symptoms are related to stress and not indicative of another problem. Once you have a firm diagnosis, then you can visit a wellness coach.

Holistic wellness coaches look at the body in a holistic way, meaning that they consider how a person's mind, body, and spirit are interconnected and how bodily systems affect each other. They will typically have an intake appointment to look at how your stress levels are affecting your diet, sleep, and activity levels before recommending treatment.

How Can Holistic Wellness Treatments Help Your Stress Levels?

A holistic wellness coach can help you develop an exercise regimen. Physical exercise has so many health benefits and can certainly help release endorphins—the body's feel-good neurotransmitters.

Holistic wellness coaches also offer services like talk-therapy, nutritional counseling, and massage therapy.

Therapy

Therapy is beneficial for people suffering from stress since you will learn coping skills and learn how to reframe thoughts or emotions that may cause the continuous cycle of stress. Your wellness coach can teach you how to meditate and find goodness in your life. Harvard Health says that people who learn how to give gratitude, for instance, are better able to improve their health and deal with adversity in their lives.

Nutritional Counseling

Because stress can alter your appetite, you may find that you are eating foods with low nutritional value for comfort. Unfortunately, comfort ingredients—like dairy, gluten, or caffeine—can be triggers for food intolerances. About 20% of the world has some form of food intolerance. Your coach can run tests to figure out if you have any food intolerances that may be upsetting your stomach and help you develop a better diet so that you have the energy levels to cope with the stress in your life.  

Massage Therapy

Massage therapy is a great way to reduce the physical symptoms of stress since massage therapy can

• Improve immune function
• Improve circulation
• Help muscles to relax
• Help you reduce bouts of insomnia

Along with massage therapy, your wellness coach may also offer other alternative therapies, like acupuncture, dry needling, and chiropractic services.

Reach out to a holistic wellness coach today for more details.