The truth about stress is eye-opening. Our environments are becoming increasingly stressful because of cultural trends like sleep-less-play-more, excessive sugar consumption, too much time sitting, and the increased toxins in our air, water, and food.

Then there are the stressful psychological effects of a pandemic, social media, the world in crisis, and the unhealthy expectation of being available 24/7. All these triggers have negative effects on our bodies. They disrupt naturally robust biorhythms designed to regulate stress, making it harder for our bodies to function.

According to The American Institute of Stress: About 33 percent of people report feeling extreme stress. 77 percent of people experience stress that affects their physical health. 73 percent of people have stress that impacts their mental health. Source: The American Institute of Stress, October 2021 https://www.stress.org

Because of all of this (and so much more) it’s very likely that your built-in stress response system (a.k.a. cortisol) and adrenaline is in overdrive and so is your body. You can feel it, and I can feel it too.

In my new book, Master Your Stress, Reset Your Health, I help you understand how stress causes chronic health issues, how to uncover your unique stress type, and when to use my proven Stress Recovery Protocol so that you can feel good again. You can order my book now, right here: https://doctordoni.com/msrh/

While you are waiting for your book to arrive, I’ve pulled together 6 Truths to Help You Stop Stressing About Stress:

Truth About Stress #1:
STRESS IS A CHOICE

It’s tempting to blow off the effects of stress. Patients often ask me whether their stress is such a big deal. After all, we all have stress in our lives. True. But that doesn’t mean our bodies are able to handle it.

A second problem with this line of thinking is that it implies that those whose bodies become sick from stress are less capable or inferior at dealing with life. This perpetuates patterns of bullying and negative self-talk. And, you guessed it, that creates more stress.

Despite the stress you’re under, it’s possible to take a deep breath, stand back, look around, and realize that we are the ones who choose to be the hamster on the hamster wheel. As much as it may seem that you’re destined to experience burnout based on the relationships, jobs, commitments, deadlines, and beliefs you hold in a modern, busy world, your current situation isn’t your only option.

As you gain awareness, you’ll see that you’re repeating patterns that lead to an unhealthy body, mind, and spirit – and that, in fact, you can make decisions to change these. After all, you can change jobs, relationships, homes, food, routines, and even your sleep schedule.

Truth About Stress #2:
YOU ARE NOT SUPERHUMAN

That’s right. You might think you can do it all… perfectly while letting every stressful encounter roll off your back, but I warn patients that this way of thinking simply delays the inevitable point at which their body will collapse under the pressure of too much stress. This may present as a heart attack out of nowhere, or intractable insomnia after years of pushing through unrelenting stress, or exhaustion and lightheadedness that make it hard to get through the day.

Only by accepting the ways your body responds to stress as real and natural, and then understanding that the symptoms you experience are signals from within to make changes, can you realize that your stress response has become dramatically out of balance. Only then, after gaining the clarity of sight needed to heal, can you learn how to harness stress to empower yourself.

Truth About Stress #3:
YOU ARE NOT LAZY, HYSTERICAL, OR A HYPOCHONDRIAC

We must be careful about misunderstanding the ramifications of stress.

First off, there’s a stigma associated with stress and anxiety. You are not “hysterical,” nor are you “lazy”—the anxiety and fatigue that you’re experiencing are actually symptoms of adrenal distress.

Rather than judge others or ourselves for having physical and emotional responses to stress, what if we were to see them as signs that the person is being negatively affected by stress and in need of help to recover? In fact, shifting our view of stress to one of acceptance could break the cycle of stress and decrease both minor and major health issues.

Truth About Stress #4:
YOU CAN’T ELIMINATE STRESS

Even when medical practitioners acknowledge stress as the underlying cause of an illness, they often then leave patients alone with the weight of that information, wondering whether there’s anything they can do to prevent future worries.

There’s no simple way to eliminate all stress. In fact, we wouldn’t want to because stress is an essential part of life. We can make choices to dial it down a bit, and in my book, I’ll be guiding you on strategic ways to do that. But we also need to learn how to support our bodies when we are under stress, to recover.

Listen to my podcast, episode #96, to learn more about Self-Love and Stress Recovery.

What I’ve found—and this is especially true for people who are willing to make diet and lifestyle changes and want to solve their health issues to feel better, improve their quality of life, and potentially extend the length of their lives—is that it is not just about managing stress but about mastering stress.

Truth About Stress #5:
YOU CAN CONTROL WHAT’S CAUSING YOU TO FEEL AWFUL

Chronic stress and subsequent adrenal distress, a condition marked by imbalances of the stress hormones adrenaline and cortisol, is likely the cause behind why you have trouble bouncing back and recovering from a stressful event. This imbalance results in burnout, anxiety, pain, fatigue, and just plain feeling awful.

You can get a better understanding of this imbalance by watching or listening to my podcast, How Humans Heal, Episode #90, Stress Reset, right here:

Healing from adrenal distress is as “simple” as correcting the imbalance, but since every person is different, what helps balance someone with overly high cortisol may be very detrimental for someone whose cortisol is chronically low. That’s why my book, Master Your Stress, Reset Your Health includes a Stress Type Quiz so that you can adopt diet, lifestyle adjustments, and supplements unique to your signature stress pattern and “stress type.”

A signature stress pattern, which is essentially how your body responds to stress in terms of whether your cortisol shifts to higher or lower levels earlier or later in the day, and whether your adrenaline goes higher or dips lower correlates with five different stress types.

Truth About Stress #6:
YOU DON’T HAVE TO LIVE WITH SYMPTOMS OF STRESS

Get help. You do not have to live with chronic fatigue, stress, and illnesses. I have the proven blueprint that can help you beat the ongoing conditions that diminish your quality of life. If you follow each step in my book, including the C.A.R.E. method, you will see a significant improvement and even a reversal of:

• Fatigue
• Anxiety
• Depression
• Brain Fog
• Chronic Pain
• Stomach Ulcers
• Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)
• Heartburn
• Bloating
• Constipation
• Frequent or Chronic Infections
• Allergies,
• Skin Rashes
• Autoimmunity
• Thyroid Conditions
• Menstrual-related Symptoms
• Fertility Issues
• Insomnia
• Headaches/Migraines
• Neuropathy

While you may have many of the symptoms mentioned in this bulleted list, it’s also quite likely that you are experiencing some symptoms more than others. This depends on your susceptibilities and how your cortisol and adrenaline respond to stress.

All in all, your body is trying to tell you it needs help. The fatigue, anxiety, stomach troubles, sleep issues, and brain fog are all a message. It’s your body telling you that it’s overstressed. At first, it may seem like a whisper. Little by little, as you understand how your body responds to stress, it will become clear that your body isn’t doing this “to you.” Stress is doing it to you. And it’s up to you to show up to help your body recover and heal.

Your Doctor Can’t Help You… Now What?

Unfortunately, it’s common for people to lump all the symptoms of adrenal distress together and feel overwhelmed by them, as well as by the tendency of practitioners to fail to diagnose patients properly.

Patients find themselves going to doctors’ offices, seeing specialists, and paying regular visits to the emergency room to find out what’s going on – all to no avail. They may be in pain, worried for their health and future, and unable to carry out their daily activities – yet their tests and imaging are all declared “normal.” And in many cases, people are given a diagnosis that leads to the prescription of pain medications, antibiotics, steroids, and/or benzodiazepines in an attempt to turn off the symptoms, when in fact it’s their adrenal distress that needs to be addressed.

Start by taking control of your health. Then with a clear understanding of what stress is doing to your body use the principles and protocols that I’m teaching to reset your health. It’s all in my book and I can’t wait to share it with you!

Read what my esteemed colleagues are saying about Master Your Stress, Reset Your Health!

“Our body has a tremendous ability to heal—if we just give it a chance. Unfortunately, the relentless environmental, emotional and life stress sabotages this ability. Thank you, Dr. Doni, for such an authoritative, but easily read and applied resource for everyone.”  

—Dr. Joe Pizzorno, ND, co-author of Encyclopedia of Natural Medicine and founding president of Bastyr University

“Outstanding! Master Your Stress, Reset Your Health is a game-changer in assessing and treating stress-related illness. The cutting-edge, personalized information in this book can help you recover your health with proven natural therapies.”

—Dr. Mark Stengler, bestselling author of Prescription for Natural Cures

“As an insightful clinician, I actively seek out to provide a blueprint for how to get our stress levels better managed and provide the solutions to get my patients’ health back on track . . . Master Your Stress, Reset Your Health is a must read!” 

—Cynthia Thurlow, Nurse practitioner, TEDx speaker, and author of Intermittent Fasting Transformation: IF45

Wellness wishes to you, always!

—Dr. Doni
14^th April 2022

Disclaimer: This specific article and all other Content, Products, and Services of this Website are NOT intended as, and must not be understood or construed as, medical care or advice, naturopathic medical care or advice, the practice of medicine, or the practice of counseling care, nor can it be understood or construed as providing any form of medical diagnosis, treatment, cure, or prevention of any disease.