This Is What Stress Really Feels Like

Can we all just release a collective sigh over how annoying stress is?

Beyond the inconvenience of feeling stressed out, regular bouts of anxiety can seriously mess with your health. Persistant, daily stress can lead to increased risk of chronic diseases, heart problems and changes in the brain. Workplace stress also results in approximately $125 billion to $190 billion in U.S. healthcare costs each year.

A little stress is inevitable -- and luckily there are ways to reduce it -- so we can all take solace in the fact that we're not alone in feeling this way. We asked our social community to explain what stress physically feels like for them and illustrated some of their responses. Although worrying is universal, the experience isn't exactly one-size-fits-all.

"Like a huge knot in my stomach." -- Norine Stauske (via Facebook)

"It feels like being caught in a tsunami; the rolling of the wave keeps you from figuring out which direction to swim." -- Larissa Valkyrie (via Facebook)

"I feel like a shark bit me in the stomach." -- Edu Gonzalez (via Facebook)

"For me stress is like a hazy fog that is so thick it literally slows me down." -- Melissa Petitt (via Facebook)

"It feels like the walls are closing in. A vice grip on my body." -- Carol Smitherman-Marques (via Facebook)

"A volcanic mountain close to eruption [with] lots of pressure building up. Everything is amplified around me." -- Rhonda DeEtte Dostal (via Facebook)

"Stress feels like carrying around a mental cinderblock. You can hold it for a few minutes and not get tired (an actual cinderblock weighs 28 pounds) but if you carry it around for an hour it will fatigue you, carry it around for a day it will hurt you, continue to carry it long term and it can literally kill you." -- John Brubaker (via email)

"I feel like I am an Egyptian mummy wrapped all over and the pyramid is put on top of me." -- TC Bahar Ergun Tunc (via Facebook)

"It feels like a weight on my shoulders, gravity pulling me down and a sense of dread." -- Cherrie L. Page (via Facebook)

"Stress is like being hugged by a giant." -- Monica Mercedes Perez Jimenez

What does stress physically feel like to you?


This article originally appeared on Huffington Post and was written by Lindsay Holmes and Alissa Scheller.

5 Things You Probably Don't Know About Acupuncture

Acupuncture has been around for at least 4,000 years in the East—but only widely known in the West for less than 50. Below are five facts about acupuncture you probably didn’t know.

1. A NYT Reporter Let the West Know About It. During a trip to China in 1971, a New York Times reporter underwent an emergency appendectomy. Afterward, doctors used acupuncture to relieve discomfort in his abdomen.  He wrote about the experience upon his return to the United States.  This sparked interest in the practice in the United States, and subsequently, the Western world.

2. It’s Backed by the World Health Organization. The World Health Organization endorses the use of acupuncture for over 100 symptoms and diseases, including low back pain, headaches, nausea and vomiting, allergies, depression, to relieve the side effects of radiation and chemotherapy, and for inducing labor.

 In 1997, the United States National Institutes of Health  approved acupuncture as an adjunct treatment for nausea and vomiting after surgery, pain in the mouth after dental surgery, and pregnancy related nausea.

3. Licensed Acupuncturists Have Masters Degrees. To become a licensed acupuncturist (L.Ac) one must attend a rigorous graduate-level training program for three to four years. After they are licensed, acupuncturists must maintain their licensure with continuing education.

Education to become an acupuncturist includes training in ethics, patient safety during treatments, how to gather their medical history, and how to recognize when a patient needs to be seen by other health care professionals.

Medical doctors can also practice acupuncture, but are required to do far less training. Those who do dry needling also often have much less training than licensed acupuncturists.

4. It’s Covered by Insurance More Than You’d Expect. There is a common misconception that insurance does not cover acupuncture, but this is not true for many plans. According to a report in Acupuncture Today, “As of 2004, nearly 50 percent of Americans who were enrolled in employer health insurance plans were covered for acupuncture treatment.” 

With some insurance, patients may be responsible for a copay, while other companies may cover a certain percentage of treatment. 

In New York state, most people involved in car accidents and workers injured on the job are by law eligible to have acupuncture treatments covered by insurance.

The Affordable Care Act also made seeking complementary treatments from licensed practitioners, which includes acupuncturists, more accessible.

5. If You’re Needle-Phobic, You Can Still Get Acupuncture. Acupuncture needles are actually less formidable than syringes. They have different widths and lengths, with some only as thick as a hair. They penetrate different depths from only the surface of the skin to about a half an inch below. The amount and type of pain experienced is different for each individual, so if you’re concerned, let your practitioner know and he or she can advise you on the right course of treatment and make sure you are as comfortable as possible during sessions.


This article originally appeared in the Epoch Times and was written by Paul Kerzner.