How Stress Impacts Your Health and What To Do About It with Dr. Philip W. Faler, ND
Video Transcription
Dave: It’s the S word, stress. How does it show up physically in your patients?
Dr. Philip Faler: Stress along with inflammation. Inflammation bigger than stress, but stress is one of the biggest health deterrents there is. And we live in a pretty stressful time. People are trying to make ends meet and all sorts of things, working too hard, too much electronics. Showing up physically in their lives, it can show up as digestive issues. It can show up as cardiovascular issues long term. It can raise blood pressure. It can influence how likely someone is to have a heart attack or a stroke, Chronic stress. It can be life-threatening.
More subtly it can show up as, “I’m not sleeping well and I don’t know why.” Stress is a big one and lack of sleep, then that’s a ball rolling downhill as far as declining health, if you’re losing sleep due to stress. So, it shows up in a lot of ways. I think digestive is one of the earlier ones. It can show up as headaches. And then the bigger ones would be the cardiovascular stuff, all of a sudden somebody’s got high blood pressure. All of a sudden somebody’s more likely to be having a stroke or a heart attack due to… That’s chronic, five years into some very stressful job or life situation.
Dave: And so are you connecting the dots in the data that you find from blood work, for example, that say, “Oh, this points to stress, because there’s a lot of markers that seem to be out there for it.”
Dr. Philip Faler: Yeah. Inflammatory markers, a high sensitivity CRP, something like that. Those can be indicative of stress. But stress, I’m more looking at what the patient’s telling me. Where are they? Are they running at 60 miles an hour all the time? Are they in the middle of the visit trying to, “Uh huh, uh huh.” Which I’ve been there, I’m that guy once in a while.
Dave: Is there a misconception about stress that people have that’s totally off the reservation?
Dr. Philip Faler: Maybe that it’s outside their control. We all get in stressful situations, but the stress response, that sympathetic nervous system dominance, the stress response, with practice, with education, with intention, can be we can change how we respond to stress. And we can put up barriers such as having a hobby we really enjoy that brings joy, right? Or being in a relationship that brings us a lot of joy. Or being of service to other people, maybe it brings you a lot of joy. Anything that generates joy over stress is going to help to combat that.
And then looking at your life and saying, “Well, where can I organize more? Where can I streamline more so that things are less stressful?”
Dave: So, how does the holistic approach different than a traditional approach to solving stress, if that’s even possible?
Dr. Philip Faler: I think in a traditional medicine setting, they often don’t have the time per visit to address it. Even if they know that, even if they know it’s important, they don’t have the time to address it. And in more naturopathic or integrative medicine settings, it’s given more weight that, hey, this is something that really impacts health. Let’s take the time to sit down and let’s talk about… There’s supplements, L-theanine, ashwagandha, adaptogens that can help. But I’ve always said treating adrenal fatigue or stress, chronic stress, with supplements that’s pouring water into a bucket full of holes.
You’ve got to sit down and talk to your patient about, “When are you playing? When are you finding joy?” Which those things don’t get enough importance in modern society right now. It’s important that you go to work, and it’s important that you make money, and it’s important that you do this, but it’s important that you play.
Dave: But you can’t sell a pill to tell someone to go play.
Dr. Philip Faler: No, no, no. So you’ve got to take time, sit down, get to know your patient and ask them, “What do you…” I ask patients all the time, “What are you doing for fun? What are you doing to have a good time?”
Dave: Are these some of the ways you coach your patients, like, “Here are some options [inaudible 00:03:56] little bit.”
Dr. Philip Faler: And it’s fun because it’s not, “I need you to start working out five days a week for an hour.” Which sounds hard and a daunting task to a lot of people, “I want you to go play, whatever it is that brings you… Go build Legos if that brings you joy. Go serve food at a food kitchen if that brings you joy, go fishing.”
Dave: If stress is wearing you down, you’re not alone. Dr. Faler can help you build resilience and recovery. You can learn more right now at AntiAgingNorthwest.com, there’s also a direct link below this video.