Don't Let Them Get to You

Modern life is filled with everyday nuisances that we all have to deal with. It might be someone cutting you off on the road, rude people in a store, or whatever the case may be. These nuisances that plague us on a daily basis, have the ability to influence our stress level.

This could manifest itself in many different ways; it could be anger it could be anxiety, fear, or worry. 

When it comes to stress, we’re adding elevations of certain hormones in our body that cause our body to work a certain way. Somebody cuts you off on the road, our blood pressure goes up, breathing changes and your emotions can change very rapidly. 

There are all these consequences and cascade of events that occur simply because somebody decided they wanted to get in front of you on a line or on the road. Some people can let that go pretty easily, but most people tend to get caught up in it. 

Of course, letting go of some of these things is easier said than done. It takes practice. There are countless stressors you can encounter on a daily basis that can get to you; be it a rude cashier, somebody cutting you off on the road or a boss that’s yelling at you. Any one of these things can increase your stress level, which can affect a wide range of systems in the body, especially those related to brain health.

Activities like meditation, exercise and other forms of stress management can help you deal with the feeling of stress, fear and worry that has gotten too far out of hand due to these accumulated stressors. This is especially helpful for anger that has gotten too far out of hand. Neurofeedback is another great tool that can help people become aware of their stress reactions and to help them gain control over them. 

There are many different tools and techniques to manage this immediate stress reaction. It takes practice and the first step is awareness.  Simply being aware of your reactions to potentially stressful situations is enough to get you started on finding the method that works best for you.

Contributor Author: Dr. Michael Trayford is a Board Certified Chiropractic Neurologist and Founder of APEX Brain Centers in Asheville, NC. For more information, please visit www.ApexBrainCenters.com/memory.

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