Going through a divorce can be one of the most challenging and frustrating life events you can go through. While a divorce can lead to a lot of good things and less stress in certain areas of your life, it can also create many new stressors and emotional pain you have not experienced before.
When these types of big stressful events happen, your body responds physically and emotionally. Mental issues like depression, anxiety, fear, and inability to cope with new feelings often arise. Furthermore, these emotional systems can easily lead to physical symptoms as well. The body and the mind are closely intertwined and when stress levels rise during a divorce for an extended period of time, you are bound to feel it in your body as well.
The good news is that while this time in your life can feel defeating and difficult, there are ways to help manage emotional pain and stress after your divorce is finalized. In this post, we will explore the mind-body connection built through chiropractic care after divorce and why emotional pain leads to physical symptoms.
Here’s how chiropractic care after divorce can help you manage stress, pain, and anxiety once you begin your new life.
The Mind-Body Connection
The mind-body connection is a very real and complex concept that defines the way the human body and mind function as a unit. The mind-body connection is not just a theory, it is a scientifically proven concept that happens when white blood cells function differently after stressful life events.
Essentially, our emotions and feelings have the ability to affect how our bodies function on a biological level. Chronic and persistent stress affects our physical bodies in a multitude of ways, and our bodies are not equipped to handle long-term high levels of stress. Because of this, chronic stress can lead to physical conditions such as:
- Fast breathing
- Increased heart rate
- Tight muscles
- Blood pressure issues
- Headaches
- Sleeping problems
- Gut problems
- Low energy
- Low libido
These are only a small handful of ways that stress affects the body. Essentially, stress affects different people in different ways and the possibilities of psychical symptoms are endless.
Stress induced by relationship issues and failed relationships tends to be one of the hardest emotional pain one can go through. It is challenging yet so common that a real scientifically proven condition called Broken Heart Syndrome exists. This condition is caused by an enlargement of the heart that fails to pump as well as a healthy heart should. When the heart enlarges it can lead to heart failure. According to a study, life events that cause significant grief and chronic stress can bring on the symptoms of Broken Heart Syndrome due to the increased production of certain hormones in the body.
Of course, this example is an extreme physical reaction to stress, grief, and divorce, but it allows us to understand and realize just how significant the mind-body connection truly is. Most of the time your physical symptoms will be much less extreme than an enlarged heart, however, it only means it is even more important to get emotional pain and stress under control before it can turn into anything life threatening.
How Chiropractic Care Can Help Emotional Pain and Stress
Although seeing a chiropractor may not be your first thought when it comes to dealing with stress and emotions, chiropractic care is a great option to add to your healing process. While it is likely that chiropractic adjustment will not solely fix your problems, in conjunction with other treatments like therapy, supplements, some medications, etc., it can help get you back to feeling your best.
Mind-Body Approach
Chiropractic care after divorce is effective because it uses the mind-body approach that we discussed above. Chiropractic adjustments help fix the physical symptoms from stress, so you can feel improvements in your mental state. During an appointment, your chiropractor looks at many aspects of your life, from what your exercise routine is like to diet to supplements you take. Once your physical health is evaluated, they will make adjustments to your body and even suggest other ways to improve your physical health so there is a positive impact on your mental health.
Positive Hormone Response
Additionally, making adjustments to your spine can actually help trigger the production of positive hormones like neurotensin, oxytocin, and cortisol. Neurotensin is responsible for improving pain caused by stress, oxytocin improves social bonding and neuro-communication, and cortisol stops pain that is caused by inflammation. These hormones may be depleted from emotional pain and stress, and chiropractic care is an effective way to help increase and balance out there hormones again.
Improved Tension and Headaches
Headaches, body tension, and stiffness are all very common signs of stress as well. Muscles become much more tense when you are stressed. Tight muscles, especially in the neck and shoulders, can lead to headaches and migraines, which can be painful and affect quality of life significantly. Chiropractic adjustments aim to lift that stiffness and tension, so headaches improve and become less common.
Better Sleep
Sleeping can also feel like a challenge when you are stressed and anxious. When your mind is racing with thoughts or you have that unsettled feeling in the pit of your stomach, getting to sleep and staying asleep throughout the night is easier said than done. In addition to other natural options, chiropractic care after divorce can help with improving sleep quality as well. A study was conducted that looked at patients suffering from insomnia. Following spinal manipulations, some patients had improved sleep quality, although a lot more research needs to be done to confirm its effectiveness. Nevertheless, it is worth a try.
Increased Relaxation
Just like with many other forms of therapy and natural remedies, chiropractic adjustments help to promote and increase feelings of relaxation. When your body, muscles, nerves, etc. are more at ease and relaxed your mind will feel more relaxed and less stressed as well. Studies can confirm these benefits. 25% of muscle activity was reduced promoting feelings of relaxation and less stress.
All of these great benefits of chiropractic care can lead to less stress, reduced emotional pain, anxiety, and depression. Keeping your body healthy will improve your mental state and a healthy mental state will do wonders for the body.
This reciprocal relationship between the body and the mind is one of the most important relationships you need to focus on. Just because a connection with another person did not go as planned, does not mean your body and mind need to suffer as well. Taking the time to focus on fixing the relationship and connection between body and mind will make you feel like a strong, powerful, and confident person. A healthy emotional state and a strong body will go a long way in improving emotional pain and stress, and chiropractic care after divorce is a great way to make that happen.
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