The Top Causes of Stress In The U.S. And What You Can Do About It

The top causes of stress in the U.S., according to the American Psychological Association,  include:

1. Job pressure. Key factors include co-worker tension, bosses and work overload.
2. Money. Key factors include loss of job, reduced retirement, medical expenses.
3. Health. Key factors include health crisis, terminal or chronic illness.
4. Relationships. Key factors include divorce, death of a spouse, arguments with friends and loneliness.
5. Poor Nutrition. Key factors include inadequate nutrition, caffeine, processed foods, refined sugars.
6. Media Overload. Key factors include television, radio, internet, email and social media.
7. Sleep Deprivation. Key factors include inability to release adrenalin and other stress hormones.

For more information, visit Statistic Brain for stress statistics.

Most natural healing remedies address the physical and mental/emotional results of all this stress.

The top physical symptoms of stress include:

1. Fatigue
2. Headache
3. Upset stomach
4. Muscle tension
5. Change in appetite
6. Teeth grinding
7. Change in sex drive
8. Feeling dizzy

The top psychological symptoms of stress include:

1. Irritability or anger
2. Feeling nervous
3. Lack of energy
4. Feeling as though you could cry

For every physical or mental symptom, for example headaches, there are countless natural healing remedies as well as traditional medical approaches.

Whether you take an herb, an aspirin, use acupuncture, chiropractic, massage or a prescription medication, often our most effective approach long-term is addressing what is actually causing your headaches.

Once we understand that how we feel in body in mind is more than likely the net effect of stress, we can begin our alternative medicine therapies with three simple approaches:

1. Change the circumstances causing our stress.
2. Change our attitude – our thoughts, beliefs and emotions – about the circumstances causing our stress.
3. Change our lifestyle to cope with the physical and mental consequences of stress.

A simple exercise that is profoundly helpful is to go through the top seven causes of stress and give yourself a grade in each area.

An A would be an area that is currently going well in your life. A C, D or an F would be an area where you are currently experiencing great challenges.

Just this simple self examination can be a real revelation if your physical or mental/emotional health has been suffering.

If you give yourself a tough grade, it doesn’t necessarily mean you are failing in life – it may mean that the challenges you are facing are currently exceeding your ability to deal effectively with them. You may need more resources.

Then, so as not to become totally overloaded with this simple exercise in facing reality, pick just ONE area where you feel most comfortable making a change.

Sometimes it’s most important to pick your area of greatest challenge. At other times, depending upon our inner resources, it’s better to choose the least threatening area to address first, such as your sleep, your media overload or your diet.

Once you have picked your one area to address first, ask yourself:

1. Do I need to change my circumstances?
2. Do I need to change my attitude?
3. Do I need to change my lifestyle to accommodate the demands life is currently making of me?

For example, if you look at your seven major stress areas and the top stress you discover is your job, you can ask yourself whether it is time for you to make a change in your circumstances, change your attitude, thoughts, beliefs and emotions or improve your lifestyle so that your work becomes more enjoyable.

In my work as a health intuitive and holistic healer, I achieve profound results because I use kinesiology  and critical point analysis to address three major areas:

1. What changes you can make now to eliminate your primary causes of stress.
2. Clear the thoughts, beliefs, attitudes and emotions that have caused you stress.
3. Identify which lifestyle changes and natural healing remedies will be most effective to help you to feel better.

I have found that this three-pronged approach works more effectively than simply treating issues symptomatically.

What is healing?

The most profoundly effective way to address our physical and mental symptoms is to address the stress that causes them. This is what holistic alternative medicine is all about.

If you recognize that stress is the cause of how you have been feeling, give yourself permission to make an appointment by calling 678-612-8816 or emailing me at catherine@catherinecarrigan.com.