4 Stress Management Tips for Improved Allergy Relief
Have you noticed your allergy symptoms worsen when you’re under a lot of stress? Or perhaps your symptoms started following a particularly stressful period of your life?
When you’re experiencing stress, your body produces cortisol to help you deal with trigger. Increased cortisol suppresses the immune system, gut and reproductive hormones and the effects can present in a wide variety of symptoms throughout your body.
Studies have also confirmed the link between stress and an increase in the occurrence and severity of allergic symptoms.
Our modern lives are very fast paced, which can leave many of us in a ongoing state of stress, and can sometimes lead to adrenal fatigue. You can learn more about this relationship in our previous article “The Relationship Between Stress, Cortisol and Allergies“
I see this all to often in clinic, with my Positive Association Technique (PAT) and Emotion Release Technique (ERT) clients. So, I wanted to share four of my favourite stress management tips for improved allergy relief and preventing flare-ups.
Emotion Release Technique (ERT)
Emotion Release Technique™ or ERT is a process of assessing the subconscious through muscle testing and processing emotions through acupressure points.
ERT helps to interpret the physical manifestation of emotional issues so you can get to the heart of the issue and trauma held inside the body that is blocking health and wellness.
ERT can help to process stress and stress patterns, resulting in improved wellness and better mental health. It’s a tool to address self-sabotaging behaviours and helps to create lasting behavioural change to achieve goals with ease.
If you have been through trauma or don’t wish to discuss the details around particular events, feelings or emotions, ERT can still process the stress, providing huge healing and transformation as well as privacy.
I provide ERT sessions in-person from our Surry Hills clinic or online via telehealth, for more information you can send me an email on amyh@naturalallergytreatment.com.au. Bookings are available online HERE or call our office on 9964 0099 for assistance with your booking.
Meditation
Studies have found that instead of thinking and being in the present moment, approximately 47 per cent of the time, our thoughts are preoccupied with things that have either already happened in the past or yet to occur in the future. This can often lead to many feelings of anxiety, worry and stress.
Meditation can be a beneficial practice to support us in becoming more self aware and remaining in the present moment. This allows our body and nervous system to feel more relaxed and at ease leading to less stress, tension and worry.
Another study found “just 8 weeks of meditation helped reduce anxiety symptoms in people with generalised anxiety disorder, along with increasing positive self-statements and improving stress reactivity and coping.”
Like most things in life, meditation is a skill that requires practice and patience before you can fully reap its benefit. There are also many different types of meditation so if you try one and it doesn’t resonate then it is worthwhile experimenting with other styles to find one that suits your needs.
There are two main styles of meditation:
Open monitoring meditation – this style encourages a wide and expansive awareness of our sense of self, our thoughts and our environment. There is a sense of curiosity around the sensations, feelings, emotions and feelings that may or may not be present.
Focused attention meditation – this style involves honing in and focusing on a singular object, image, thought or sound. There is an emphasis on clearing the mind of any distractions however when our mind inevitably does wonders, remembering to return to the present moment.
Address Magnesium Deficiency
Did you know that when we are stressed, our body rapidly uses up our magnesium stores which can lead to a deficiency? Interestingly, a magnesium deficiency can then also make us more sensitive and susceptible to the impacts of stress. (1)
One of the major hormones that gets released during periods of stress is cortisol. When there is a lot of cortisol in our system, the magnesium stored within our bodies gets excreted via our kidneys to help bring the cortisol levels back into balance. However when there is chronic ongoing stress, our magnesium stores become depleted and hinders our capacity to remove excess cortisol.
Intensive agricultural practices has also contributed to soil depletion so it is often hard to reach our recommended daily intake of magnesium via food alone, as the soil in Australia is low in magnesium (2), and many other important minerals. Many of us will therefore benefit from taking a magnesium supplement to help support our busy, fast paced lifestyles.
In particular, oral supplements containing magnesium glycinate are beneficial for stress management as it is gentle on the stomach and easily absorbed as it has the ability to cross the blood brain barrier. Magnesium can also be absorbed via the skin in the form of an epsom salt bath or a magnesium spray.
Forest Bathing
We all know how beneficial it is to spend time in nature. However for those of us who live in big concrete cities like Sydney, it’s so easy for us to spend most of our time indoors in front of a screen or in a shopping centre.
Although, by simply spending more time in nature, we can help reduce cortisol levels in the body and therefore alleviate stress and worry (3).
Shinrin-yoku, also known as Forest Bathing or “taking in the forest”, originated in 1980’s Japan as a beneficial physiological and psychological exercise to therapeutically relax and reduce stress. Forest bathing can be practiced simply by being in a natural environment with trees and plants such as a park, bush or forest and allow all your senses to come alive as you take in your surroundings. Begin to notice and focus on the textures, sounds, colours, taste and smell of nature all around you.
In the late 1990’s, numerous studies were conducted on the beneficial impacts of Forest Bathing by Dr. Qing Li and his research team at Nippon University. It was discovered that the air in forest environments is high in terpenes, which is a naturally occurring plant substance produced by most plants as part of its protective defence system.
When we breathe in and smell terpenes, they have the ability to influence neuronal activity in our brain. Research suggests that the terpenes we breathe in from nature can promote a general sense of wellbeing and more specifically may reduce blood pressure, improve cognition and boost immunity by increasing natural killer cells.
However if you experience hay fever or sinus symptoms, in some individuals terpenes may have the opposite effect and instead contribute to your respiratory symptoms. You can learn more about these reactions in our previous article – “There’s more to Hay Fever than just Pollen!“
Dr. Li’s research also showed that “these therapeutic effects can occur in as little as a 2 hr excursion in nature, with these positive effects lasting for several weeks thereafter. And if you spend an extended time Forest Bathing, the beneficial effects only multiply!”.
Written by Amy Huynh – Naturopath, PAT Practitioner and ERT Practitioner
Please note that this blog post contains general information only. Always consult your health care professional before changing your diet, starting new supplements or regarding any medical condition.
