Here’s How to Find Just How Stressed You Are

Did you know that Chicago is ranked as one of America’s Most ‘Stressed Out’ Cities?

There’s no denying that we all deal with stress to some degree. While stress looks different for every person, it shows up in our lives in one shape or another. Just a few weeks ago, The Everygirl posted a quote to their Instagram page and it couldn’t be more true! As the quote reads “A stressor is a challenge in life. Stress is your negative emotional reaction to those stressors.”

Stress is not:

  • Traffic on I-294

  • Interviewing for a new job

  • Getting the kids to all their camps and activities

  • Delayed Metra trains

  • Your little one’s 4-month sleep regression

  • Construction on I- 55

These are demands and they are burning up what we call “adaptation energy”. Adaptation energy is your ability to handle a change of expectation or our body’s ability to overcome stress. When we run out of this energy, our body launches into an involuntary stressed-out state called “fight or flight” or “gas pedal” mode. In other words, our palms get sweaty, our stomach aches, our sleep is interrupted, our back starts to hurt and we feel fatigued a lot quicker.

When we run out of adaptation energy, it leads to illness or dysfunction within the body. However, we can live in an un-adapting state for far too long before we are even aware of it (or it becomes symptomatic). Unfortunately, these symptoms didn’t start the day you noticed it! They began when your body hit its threshold of adaptation energy.

There are many signs of dysfunction prior to symptoms. This is why being able to measure and track adaptation energy to ensure that you are being proactive is crucial. Advanced chiropractic technology allows us to measure heart rate, skin temperature and skin perspiration. An algorithm then determines if you are adapting to the stressors and demands placed on you or whether you are in that stressed-out, “gas pedal” mode. We track this information over time to ensure that we are seeing changes.

It is one of the most rewarding things to see someone who starts off in this “gas pedal” or “fight-or-flight” mode shift into a state of growth and adaptability. This is why it is our goal to not only have a thorough conversation about your health and goals, but to also objectively measure where stress is affecting your nervous system. With specific chiropractic adjustments tailored to you, both physiologic stress and the surge of stress hormones are reduced, which allows your body to restore its adaptation energy.

If you currently feel like stress is overwhelming your life or even if you just want to be proactive in managing stress, checking the performance of your nervous system is essential! Let us support you in the best way we know how.