Causes of Irritability

Fatigue
If adequate sleep is Beauty, then inadequate and/or poor sleep is surely the Beast. The health consequences of poor sleep aside, restless nights can lead to crankiness the likes of which have rarely been seen.

The Solution: Make sure you get not only enough sleep every night; ensure that it's restful sleep with the right mattress, pillow, lighting (lack thereof) and preparation.


Stress
Stress manifests in many ways, but irritability is perhaps the most common symptom. Stressed about your job, the screaming kids, the unpaid bills, your lack of motivation to hit the gym, or any number of other life challenges? Irritability can't be far behind.

The Solution: Manage stress by discussing it, dealing with it proactively and taking control; anything but avoiding it.


Hunger
Irritability that comes on like a wave and doesn't have any other obvious cause (like those above) could be due to hunger. Face facts:  People don't eat often enough, and when they do, it's high-GI foods that rush into your bloodstream and rush right back out, leaving you tired and hungry.

The Solution: Eat small, frequent meals high in complex carbs that fuel your whole day.

Tackle Anxiety & Stress

When I ask my patients if they have anxiety symptoms, many of them deny it, but then they will say they feel "stressed." It is as though there is a negative stigma about the word anxiety.

Why is it that our society thinks it is abnormal to have some level of anxiety when the modern American life is so stressful? This anxiety is a natural response to alert us to the fact that there is something in our life that is causing ongoing stress to our body. It is an adaptive response to protect ourselves so that we can alter the trigger to prevent long-term damage to or drain on our body and health.

What we do with this physiological signal is what determines whether the anxiety ends up being harmful long-term or being helpful in altering the stressful event so as to maintain health. In short, what we do with anxiety is what's important.

When we feel stressed or anxious, it is our body's way of telling us that the current situation is not optimal for healthy functioning; that our body and mind don't like it and that it could cause negative health impacts in the long run. It is important for us to identify these situations because long-term stress can lead to adrenal fatigue and increased inflammation in our body, which leads to unhealthy states.

So, when we feel anxious, how can we overcome it? We need to remove the anxiety-provoking cause, and if we can't, we need to initiate adaptive behaviors so as to lessen the overall negative impact. Removing that cause is sometimes not possible (as is often the case with family members or work). In these situations, we have to find ways to lessen the stress and impact on our body from these stresses.

When we are anxious, our body's cortisol level rises, along with levels of several other hormones associated with stress. Cortisol is a stress hormone in our body; if it is secreted at elevated levels over time, it may lead to adrenal fatigue. Your adrenal gland is one of the organs that act almost like a battery in your body. When it is exhausted from chronic stress and anxiety, its overall function diminishes and your body's inflammatory status worsens, leading to a decrease in overall health and endurance.

By implementing intentional moments during the day of mind-body techniques, you can keep the adrenal strain and anxiety from being a constant drain on your health and give your body necessary periods of respite from the stress.

There are numerous versions of mind-body techniques. Examples include breath work, self-hypnosis, imagery, progressive muscle relaxation, biofeedback, and music therapy. I also discuss with my patients other treatment options such as manual therapies, including chiropractic and massage, that may decrease anxiety.

Should symptoms persist, we discuss supplements and/or herbs that may help to facilitate the calming process. There are a wide variety of herbs and supplements that may help with anxiety. For example, chamomile tea is calming, as is passionflower and hops teas, just to name a few. Certain supplements are also helpful for anxiety such as L-theanine, other amino acids, and various minerals, herbs, and vitamins.

There are multiple reasons for telling your doctor of your anxiety symptoms. Besides treating you according to their expertise, they can guide you in regards to the supplements you may need and refer you for mind-body therapies as well as behavioral therapy if that's what you want.

Another reason to inform your doctor about anxiety is that chronic stress can lead to worsening of many chronic conditions including heart disease, hypertension, and autoimmune diseases, just to name a few. This way, your doctor knows to keep a closer eye on these issues in case they arise; or if you already have these health issues, they can monitor you more closely.

Use the anxiety feeling as a signal that your body is not liking the situation you are in. Use your anxiety as a tool to help you figure out which situations are going to have a negative impact on your health and well-being. If the anxiety symptoms are too overwhelming, you can turn to your doctor for guidance to help you manage your symptoms and make sure a healthy, normal reaction to stress stays healthy.

Ultimately, the question I like to ask my patients is this: Would you drive your car across the country without any rest? Of course not. So, why would you drive your body at high levels of constant stress without doing something about it?

The human body is a powerful, magnificent machine, and we should treat it with all the gentleness and care that it deserves so each of it can continue to "drive" it for many more years to come.

Five Tips To Ease Anxiety:
1) Music. Use all of your senses to help you de-stress. If music brings you joy, incorporate that into your relaxation time. If certain scents help you relax, then relax in an environment where that scent predominates. Your senses can help you to maximize your de-stressing time!

2) Stretching. Make sure to take a few minutes every 1-3 hours to stretch, relax, and calm your mind. You can't run at top speed all day long every day, so remember to take time to slow down your mind and body. Your body will thank you for it!

3) Diet. Eat an anti-inflammatory diet full of vegetables, low sugar foods, omega-3's, and plant-based proteins like nuts. Eating at regular intervals with these healthy foods will help to keep your mood stable.

4) Exercise. Exercise raises endorphins in the body and is a great way to de-stress. So, put on your athletic shoes and go for a walk around the block even if you can't make it to the gym. Any exercise, even in short intervals several times per day, is beneficial to your mind and will help to calm anxiety feelings.

 5) Sleep. Sleep is essential for our body to achieve a state of balance and to avoid feeling stressed. Our body likes rhythm; that's why regular sleep hours and regular eating times are helpful in keeping the body running smoothly. Help your body achieve that feeling of equilibrium by making time to rest and eat regularly.

Our World Today

Our world today ... what is wrong with it? Are we drifting, or are we plunging into moral and political decay? Are debt, high prices, and extended credit upsetting our whole economy? Are we headed for an economic breakdown and moral decline worse than the world has ever before known? It can be disturbing to give thought of the future. I believe it's appalling as there seems to be an unknown void facing the young and old alike. What elements are available to give us hope?

We in the United States are supposed to have political and social economic stability equaled by none. We are considered a Judeo-Christian nation, But what about it? Consider all the scandals in Washington over the years, Watergate, Benghazi and the IRS, and all the corruption, without culpability. With the leaders involved, what kind of light is to be shed on the months and years ahead? No wonder doubts, fears, and anxieties are facing each and every one of us. Has anyone, or any party, the vision or hope required to save this great nation? Where there is no vision, "the people perish", says the Bible. Rome had its rise and fall. Other nations have followed suit in time. Is our nation destined to follow the same bleak trail? The situation is enough to give credible concern.

And, what about the moral reaction? How about drug addicts in the young and old? The young because they crave excitement and are facing a destiny that is not encouraging; the old because time is running out, and the younger set is giving them concern. Crime is growing, and often worry is causing nervous breakdowns. Is it not enough to cause concern?

What about medical and hospital services with their high costs and the side effects of drugs and medication that often leave the victim worse than the disease confronting him or her in the first place? No wonder Abby,  Landers, Dr. Phil and others are being pressed for answers in every phase of life, with things that appear to be growing worse.

On a more positive note, there is a light ahead in the healing arts. Have you ever considered Chiropractic as a mode of healing, minus the drugs and needless surgery?

Your body, sometimes called a house of clay, is made up of bones, muscles, glands, organs, blood vessels, and nerves. All of these are arranged in systems that normally maintain health in its many forms without drugs, tranquilizers, and/or pain killers.

Your body is "fearfully and wonderfully made", says Psalm, and so it is. The skeletal system consists of long, short, and irregular shaped bones to which major muscles are attached giving activity and function to the rest of the body.

In this anatomical arrangement, the spinal column is the strength and support of the body, but it has added functions. The spine supports the head that houses the brain. It also encases the spinal cord and provides openings between the vertebrae through which bundles of trunk nerves emit forming a direct medium of contact from brain cells to tissue cells.

Through this medium sensation is flashed to the brain where the message in interpreted, and responding mental impulses direct activity and function in a state of health.

Sometimes however, due to spinal shocks and strains, one or more vertebrae are displaced to a degree so that nerves are "pinched" resulting in dis-ease with it various symptoms.

The Stress of Life

"The Stress of Life" is a perennial bestseller by Hans Selye, written in 1956. Selye almost single-handedly introduced the notion of stress into the worldwide consciousness. By doing so, Selye changed the way we think about ourselves, our values, and how we conduct our lives.

As Selye observed, stress is a double-edged sword. Many types of stress are good for people, both physiologically and personally. For example, Wolff's law states that bone will remodel (build more bone) along lines of mechanical stress. In other words, bone becomes stronger when it is subjected to physical loads. The physiological stress of weight-bearing exercise such as walking, running, and strength training helps prevent osteoporosis by making bone denser and more resilient. From a psychological perspective, the great German philosopher, Friedrich Nietzsche, famously stated in "Twilight of the Idols" (1888), "What does not destroy me, makes me stronger." Apparently, Nietzsche (writing in the 19th century) was far ahead of Selye in pointing to the benefits (and dangers) of stress.

Life is filled with "good" stresses. A new love relationship, a new job, or a new baby may all provide great personal happiness and the experience of fulfillment and satisfaction. But each circumstance may also place new demands on us, calling on us to be and do much more than that of which we had previously thought ourselves capable. A person may develop all sorts of adaptive responses in attempts to cope with life's new requirements, but most of these adaptations are themselves stress-producing. Over time the adaptations become habits, stress becomes a day-by-day experience, and a host of physiological and psychological disorders and syndromes may appear.1,2 High blood pressure, diabetes, overweight/obesity, arthritis, insomnia, and depression may all be considered as long-term maladaptive responses to stress.3

Muscular aches and pains, muscle spasms, and headaches are common physiological responses to ongoing stress. A vicious circle develops in which stress leads to muscle tightness, which constricts blood vessels, which leads to headaches, which leads to more muscle tightness, more pain, and even more stress. One's day seems to become filled with stress and stress reactions. The good news is that means of ending these vicious circles of stress are available. Present time consciousness, regular exercise and a healthy diet, sufficient rest, and regular chiropractic care comprise a powerful tool kit for restoring balance in one's life.

1Wu EL, et al: Increased risk of hypertension in patients with major depressive disorder: a population-based study. J Psychosom Res 73(3):169-174, 2012

2Hristova MG: Metabolic syndrome - From the neurotrophic hypothesis to a theory. Med Hypotheses 2013 July 27 [Epub ahead of print]

3Martocchia A, et al: Targets of anti-glucocorticoid therapy for stress-related diseases. Recent Pat CNS Drug Discov 8(1):79-87, 2013

What's the Problem with Stress?

We live in stressful times. The economy is tough, global conflicts rage, severe weather events are affecting people in every corner of the globe, and our numerous technological devices don't seem to be making things any easier. Of course, this is nothing new. Every generation thinks theirs is the best of times and the worst of times. But the result is that people everywhere have high levels of stress.

Sometimes stress is a good thing. Mechanical stress, such as exercise, causes your muscles and bones to become stronger and your nerve system to become smarter. Taking on a new assignment at work or taking a challenging class in school may be stressful, but the effort involved in achieving a successful result will cause you to grow and develop in ways that you might not have imagined. After all, the great philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche famously said "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger."

But chronic, ongoing physical and mental stress, the kind that affects us every day, is not good for us. Chronic stress causes real psychological and physical problems. People undergoing chronic stress may develop anxiety, which if not managed effectively may lead to depression. Chronic stress may lead to a variety of disorders and diseases, including arthritis, inflammatory conditions such as Crohn's disease, gastrointestinal problems such as peptic ulcer, diabetes,¹ high blood pressure,² and even heart attacks and stroke.³ As we are all subject to numerous stresses every day, both personal and work-related, it's very important for us to develop strategies that will be successful in helping us manage ongoing stresses.

The most important method for managing stress is to attempt to focus your point-of-view, your frame of reference, on the present moment. Our minds are constantly in motion, constantly at work creating new thoughts and new scenarios regarding some potentially stressful situation, or rehashing old conversations, old conflicts, and old problems. The result is that we're almost never at peace. When we try to sit down and relax for a bit, it's never too long before our minds start bringing up the exact things we'd like to be able to forget or ignore, at least for a little while. Most of us can't flip a metaphorical switch and shut off our incessant stream of mostly negative self-talk. But we can learn to remind ourselves to return to the present, to come back to this moment, the one that's happening now.

The best way to do this is to ask yourself, "is this [what I'm thinking about] happening right now?" If you can see that what's happening now is that you're sitting in a chair reading the newspaper, you have a good chance of being able to let go of what your mind is talking to you about. Say to yourself, "I'm right here, right now, and none of that other stuff is actually happening right now." This will help you create some distance from your self-talk, and the self-talk may even recede into the background for a while. The feeling of calm you might then experience is one you can build on. The more you practice returning to the moment, the more power you gain in being able to manage the stress in your life.

¹Bener A, et al: Association between psychological distress and gastrointestinal symptoms in diabetes mellitus. World J Diabetes 3(6):123-129, 2012

²van Dijk, AE, et al: The association between prenatal psychosocial stress and blood pressure in the child at age 5-7 years. PLoS One 7(8):e43548, 2012

³Pereira VH, et al: Stressed brain, diseased heart: A review on the pathophysiologic mechanisms of neurocardiology. Int J Cardiol 2012 Apr 20 [Epub ahead of print]