11 Categories of Stress
Stress can be placed in 11 categories — these categories should not be placed in any special order. Their effect on the individual is dependent upon factors such as age, gender and innate energy of that individual.
The Categories Are:
- Infections
- Surgery
- Injury
- Immunological reactions to drugs
- Inoculations
- Allergies
- Overexertion
- Strong emotions – death, divorce, loss of a job, etc.
- Malnutrition — poor diet &/or poor digestion
- Pregnancy
- Exposure to extremes – hot or cold
- Gravity
When stress goes beyond the elastic limits of the body it causes many problems. If a muscle or group of muscles is overworked, they become tense and too exhausted to relax and rest. This state we refer to as strain. Strain or tense muscles cause problems in the body because they squeeze down on capillaries and impede blood flow. These tense muscles also interfere with normal lymphatic function and trap lactic acids, or metabolic wastes, in cell spaces. This tension on nerves can cause pain as well as trapped body toxins.
Strain also interferes with normal muscle function, thus making the muscle weaker. As we try to perform our usual tasks with muscle strain, the muscles fatigue more quickly. As fatigue sets in, it causes more muscle strain. As the process continues, muscle groups become strained and fatigued. The body then becomes distorted and more strain and compensating distortion is manifest.
This process, if allowed to continue, soon results in exhaustion of these muscle groups. This state also affects organs and glands. Exhaustion is synonymous with pain and disease. We refer to disease as dis-ease — the body against itself.
Stress, when it goes beyond our limits, causes fatigue. If we continue pushing past fatigue by refusing to take the time to rest, we cause permanent tension — or strain. This strain is a permanent shortening of important postural muscles. Of course, a permanent shortening of a postural muscle always causes a pulling of the skeletal structure from its normal position — distortion.
Distortion is the body twisted from a normal postural position. If the body is pulled from its normal postural position it becomes twisted out of its center of gravity. When this occurs, the body would fall to the ground unless opposing muscles tightened and twisted the body back over its center of gravity. Thus, the body will remain balanced over its center of gravity and has overcome the distortion that would make it fall. Now however, we have another distortion process – compensating distortion. This means that in order to remain erect, the body must compensate for the original distortion. Both of these distortion processes increase the fatigue syndrome. This then, increases until exhaustion sets in. Exhaustion means exactly what the word implies – the energies of the muscle groups involved have become exhausted to the point that there is no energy left for them to function properly. Exhaustion is synonymous with pain and dis-ease. Disease means that the body is against itself. Processes have been set in place within the body that allow disease and illness to begin, that cause chronic pain and dramatically impede normal function of the body. In fact, research is showing more and more evidence that virtually all disease syndromes can be traced to a causative factor — that factor is stress that has gone far beyond the body’s elastic limit for a prolonged period of time.
It is when muscle strain occurs that the body can get into trouble. Muscle tension keeps blood from circulating normally into the tissues and won’t allow normal lymphatic function. Thus, metabolic wastes remain trapped in the muscle. These wastes are toxic to the tissue and cause pain. In the strained condition, the muscle is left tense, filled with trapped waste and unable to accept a fresh supply of oxygenated blood. The lack of oxygen causes pain and the lack of proper nutrients in the tissue causes the cells of the muscle to degenerate. Degeneration simply implies that, instead of continuing to regenerate and remain strong, the tissues are degenerating and becoming weaker. Thus the disease process is begun.
That’s the reason that the massage therapist/body worker is so effective when working on clients with any type of overwork or injury. Our specialty is working on muscle tissue, carefully bringing about relaxation. With relaxation come the true qualities of healing. When the muscle tissue is relaxed, blood is allowed to flow unimpeded to those tissues. If our diet has been carefully planned, that blood will be filled with all of the nutrients necessary for healing and regeneration of body tissues. And, of course, the blood stream will also be carrying with it oxygen. Oxygen is necessary for utilization of nutrients at the cellular level.