Continued...

Traditional Chinese Medicine

A TCM practitioner aims to restore balance to the body. When the body's energy is flowing properly to all tissues of the body, a person is better able to deal with stress and its effects.

Stress induced disorders include:

• Emotional: anxiety, depression, irritability, impatient, panic attacks
• Digestive: heartburn, poor apatite, indigestion, constipation, diarrhea, gastroenteritis, stomach ulcers, abdominal pain, flatulence, bloating
• Sleeping: insomnia which include unable to fall asleep, frequent interrupted sleep, unable to fall back asleep, wake up early, dreamy, restless

The TCM practitioner will analyze and diagnose the effects of stress on the different body systems. The TCM parctitioner may recommend an herbal medicine if necessary or acupuncture one to two times per week.

Case Study: Man 40s, smoker and occasional drinker, complains fatigue, severe heartburn, headache, alternative diarrhea and constipation.
Anomalies diagnosed: Stagnate Liver Qi attacking Stomach; Deficient Spleen Qi
Treatment orientation: Disperse Liver Qi and tonify Spleen Qi
Therapy chosen: Acupuncture and herbal medicine, life style consultation
Result: Significant improvement after 2 treatment

Excess stress and anger are the leading causes of a condition known as liver-function disorder. Although it is impossible to completely eliminate stress and anger from your life, you can find healthy ways of dealing with these emotions.

Here are four interesting tips based on the principles of Traditional Chinese Medicine:

1. Take Breaks

Most of us spend our days dashing from one hectic environment to the next. Rushing into a stressful situation when you're already stressed out takes a tremendous toll on your energy. That's why it's so important to interrupt this pattern by taking a few short breaks throughout the day.

Give yourself two minutes to relax as often as you can. Just close your eyes and take a few slow, deep breaths. Don't worry about how much work you have to do. The two minutes you invest will more than make up for itself in increased productivity. Whatever it is you're about to do, you'll do it faster and better if you're relaxed.

A good time to do this is whenever you change tasks, for example, before starting your car, before turning on your computer, or before cooking a meal. (You can even try it now, before you read the next tip.)

2. Just be angry

All of us have been angry at some point in our lives, but for the most part we don't know what it feels like to be angry. Instead of just feeling angry, we're busy thinking of a snappy comeback or some other form of retaliation. We never give ourselves the opportunity to allow the emotion to fully run its course.

The next time you get angry, pay attention to your body. Feel what it's like to be angry. It's that simple. Don't try to suppress the anger, just feel it. Give yourself the opportunity to fully process the anger, so when it's done, it's really done.

3. Scream

This is an easy one. Just scream. Scream as loud as you want. Scream however you want. Really let loose.

Don't be self-conscious when you scream. The goal is to let it all go, and you won't be able to do that if you're worried about what others are thinking about you. If you can't find a private place to scream, ask those around you to join in. You never know: They may have been looking for a safe place to scream, too.

4. Hurl eggs

This may sound odd, but it works. You'll want to hurl at least a dozen, preferably two dozen. A good place to do this is the shower lined with a trash bag. Or throw the eggs into your compost pile. This technique has been used in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) for centuries to relieve anger and stress.

Although hurling eggs may seem similar to other stress-relief techniques such as hitting a pillow or punching a bag, TCM does not recommend hitting anything to relieve stress. As Newton's third law of physics states, "Every action has an equal and opposite reaction." When you hit something out of anger, you get just as much anger directed back at you.

Bibliography

TCM:A Woman's Guide to Healing from Breast Cancer, by Dr. Nan Lu
http://healingdeva.com/DrRoss_2.htm
Healing Stress Induced Emotional, Digestive and Sleeping Disorders With Traditional Chinese Medicine, by Aina Zhang and James Wang, 2003
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stress_management