Every day thousands of stimuli affect the brain and body. Stress occurs when the  nervous system trys to keep up but is unable to handle all the information it receives, causing disharmony and tension in our minds and bodies.  Click here for relaxation retreats.

It affects the way we think and feel about others and can build up to cause anxiety and emotional upsets and even affect our work.  Stress can build up during any working day and even lead to time out, more coffee breaks, trips outside for a cigarette and in more severe cases, time off. All due to an inability to deal with the cumulative effects of stress on the various physiological systems in the body. Stress hormones can build up and the immune system can be compromised.

Continuous exposure to stressful situations can cause a marked increases the secretion of glucocorticoids in the brain. These are the hormones that increase the heart rate, decrease the digestive process, and increase adrenalin. This is the classical “Fight or Flight” syndrome. 

Constant stress destroys brain cells, particularly the Glucocorticoid sensitive neurones in the hippocampus, crucial in memory and in learning. With aging, there may be more difficulty and loss of memory function. The ability to deal with stress helps to retain intellectual clarity with age and maintain a better quality of life. Discomfort can be caused by mental tension, poor posture, poor reading practices, computer related eye strain and repetitive strain injuries, accumulated muscular and nervous tension.    The Somnologix relaxation CD is available here.