The Role of Emotions on your Health

You know all those pesky feelings you're having? I hope you are paying attention to them.

19 years ago, I began teaching people how our emotions impact our physical health. Many folks looked at me like it was utter nonsense. To be fair, I wasn't as skilled at communicating the biological mechanisms at play....and I'm always learning more.

It's not such a fringe concept anymore and even your regular ol' family doc may be talking about these connections nowadays. 

Here's a REALLY basic breakdown of the relationship between emotions and illness:

Emotions, especially the uncomfortable ones we may dismiss and/or suppress, like sadness, anger, fear and shame can cause feelings of distress in the body. You may or may not be conscious of those feelings but they impact your nervous system either way.

Our brain perceives this distress as a threat (especially if the feelings mimic ones we've had during past stressors) and then sends signals to the body to release hormones to respond to the stressor. This is an important step when we are under an acute threat, as it activates our fight/flight responses.

But over time, assuming we are not actually under acute threats, this important feedback loop can essentially go into overdrive, which throws the body off its game. In other words, we get "stuck" in a stress response.

The results are anything from inflammation to immune suppression, which can deplete the body, create mental and physical symptoms and potentially lead to life threatening diseases.

That's why addressing your emotional health and the underlying patterns that are leading to daily distress is crucial.

Doing so helps prevent disease, but it can also promote healing even if an illness or disease process is already in motion.

Of course, there are also genetic and environmental factors at play that can keep the body in a stress response, but all of these things are interconnected.

When I talk about "Unsticking your Story," it's to make your day to day life happier, healthier and more fulfilling. It's never too late to get to the root causes of what keeps you stuck---whether that's feeling stuck within a relationship or career, or your body being stuck in a stress response.

There's always a story underneath and I'll help you unstick it.