Release the tension There’s no question that truly
Stress hormones cause your muscles to tense up quickly so you can deal with the problem. But if the stress doesn’t let up, your muscles can’t relax. That leads to headaches and shoulder, neck, and back pain.
lowering stress in your life means dealing with the circumstances that are causing the stress. But one way to improve how you feel under stress is to simply ease muscle tension. When your muscles are more relaxed, you naturally feel more mentally relaxed. And when you’re more mentally relaxed, you’re able to think more clearly and calmly. 3 It’s amazing what releasing tension in your muscles can do! Your life may still be busy, but it feels more manageable. And you feel better because feeling less stress allows your gut microbiome to carry out its many functions better, 4 which in turn helps your immune system do its job. Take charge of your immune health Lately, we’ve all been feeling more stress about keeping ourselves healthy. What’s the best way to lower that stress? Think about what your immune system needs, and do all you can to support it! There’s a lot you can do. For instance, your immune system will benefit when you eat foods high in antioxidants, wash your hands, get regular exercise, and take time to relax and meditate. The bottom line is that when you take charge of your immune health, you’re less stressed about it. Melaleuca has world-class supplements to help you feel less stressed and to give your immune system powerful antioxidant support. Check out what Mela-Out and Activate Immune Complex ® can do for you on page 37. Relax—and take charge of your healthy future. JC
Cortisol released from your adrenal glands gives you more energy to deal with the immediate situation. At the same time, cortisol dampens your immune system’s response so that pain and inflammation don’t slow you down.
70% of your immune system resides in your gut. When stress throws your gut microbiome out of balance, that also throws your immune system off balance. Then it can’t do its best to protect you from illness.
energy. It also keeps your immune response dampened, which over the long term keeps you at greater risk of a variety of health concerns. 2 Your gut response Have you ever felt butterflies in your stomach? You were actually feeling physiological changes in your gut caused by stress hormones. Stress hormones, when they stay in your body due to prolonged stress, can decrease the amount of beneficial microorganisms in your gut and increase the amount of harmful microorganisms there. Changes to the balance of those microorganisms affect how your gut directs and regulates processes throughout your body.
To get your gut back in balance, you’ve got to get rid of stress.
All wound up Long-term stress can directly affect your muscles as well. Your muscles are very sensitive to stress. During a short period of intense stress, they tense up quickly, then they relax when the stressful event is over. But when stress sticks around, they can’t relax. And when you have a headache or a muscle ache, it’s harder to think clearly about the problems you’re facing. Then you’re more prone to make shortsighted decisions— which just creates more stress!
3. Charmaine Liebertz, “Want Clear Thinking? Relax,” Scientific American , October 1, 2005.
4. Ayman Mukerji Househam et al., “The Effects of Stress and Meditation on the Immune System, Human Microbiota, and Epigenetics,” Advances in Mind-Body Medicine , 2017.
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