Stress affects the body physically, mentally and emotionally
Using the Functional Medicine approach to get to the ROOT CAUSE of chronic disease has been an amazing journey for me as a health care practitioner. I have been witness to many life changing transformations working with clients as we identify the ROOT CAUSES of their chronic symptoms. Over the past 5 years I have come to recognize that STRESS is one of the biggest underlying driver’s of chronic disease, and that helping my clients recognize this has been an ongoing struggle. I have personally struggled in this area myself. What I have realized is that it is not the event or situation itself that creates the stress, but how we respond to it.
We know that there is clear evidence that meditation, yoga, acupuncture and massage all help reduce stress hormones and inflammation. What I find is that most people, including myself, struggle to incorporate these strategies on a daily basis. Nonetheless, I believe that all of these techniques should be a part of your journey to wellness. Over the past few years I have been researching a technique called HeartMath. This technique a form of simple bio-feedback that focuses on beat to beat heart variability or Heart Coherence.
We know that emotions have a powerful impact on the human body. Positive emotions like appreciation, care and kindness feel good and are good for us. They help the systems in our body synchronize and work better. Research has shown when we intentionally shift to a positive emotion, the heart rhythms immediately change. This shift in heart rhythms creates a favorable cascade of neural, hormonal and biochemical events that benefit the entire body.
How does HeartMath work?
The HeartMath technique is centered around Heart Coherence. When we are stressed, the body is out of sync. The depleting emotions we feel, like anger, frustration, anxiety and worry, lead to disorder in the nervous system. Renewing emotions like appreciation, care and kindness create order which is called coherence. Coherence leads to mental clarity, creativity, and resiliency. I love my HeartMath device. It connects to my smart phone, which allows me to conveniently use it throughout the day to maintain coherence. Check out this youtube demo of HeartMath.
Using HeartMath to find your Balance Within
Here is a summary benefits from the HeartMath website.
Reduced Stress & Overwhelm
Life is moving so fast. Today’s world has become increasingly complex, challenging and at times uncertain. As a result many of us can feel stressed and overwhelmed affecting our sleep, health, relationships, performance and the overall quality of our lives. Doing more than just keeping up, thriving and not just surviving, takes new skills and approaches. We understand. HeartMath offerings have been caringly created to help us manage the day-to-day challenges we all face.
63% | improvement in rapid heartbeats† |
46% | drop in anxiety‡ |
17% | improvement in home/work conflict* |
Build Performance & Resilience
Increasing resilience is essential for success. Any of us who are working in organizations know it can be challenging to keep our employees, motivated and healthy. On top of that organizations have to be innovative and adaptable to keep up with change. We are no different and have spent years developing training programs and technology that helps us and our clients in health care institutions and corporations to become more resilient, maintain balance and better achieve our goals.
Health & Well-being
Caring for ourselves and providing care for others are keys to a meaningful life. To that end we are dedicated to providing training, tools and technology for individuals and professionals to promote better health and fulfillment. We believe it is important to serve health professionals to help them create better patient outcomes and we work with coaches of all kinds to help clients achieve their goals. For ourselves we have developed tools we have personally benefited from that anyone can use to take charge of their body, mind, emotions and—lives!
30% | improvement in sleep† |
60% | drop in depression† |
43% | improvement in indigestion, heartburn or stomach upset‡ |
Check out this TedTalk for more information.
Our team at the Optimal Wellness Center is committed to helping you live the life you deserve through identifying the root causes of your chronic illness. Device instruction and coaching packages are available. Contact us to start your Journey today.