Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is effective in assisting people with stress related problems because it has recognised the effect of emotions on physical health for a long time. Part of the TCM paradigm is the idea that it is  normal and healthy to feel all of the emotions in more or less even measures and to be calm in between.

In TCM even joy should have it’s limits, it is great to feel happy but it doesn’t teach humility and acceptance like grief does, nor teach us courage like fear does and it doesn’t make us question ourselves like anger does.

The not-so-pleasant emotions can be energising when they are consciously channeled, fear, anger and anxiety are a part of life, it is up to us what we do with these feelings.

Anger and aggression can be positively channelled into sport and exercise, making us physically fitter in the process. Anger can be defined as the fear of not having control and it can be a fuel for us to take back control of our own lives, it can also impel us to fight for the rights of others who cannot fight for themselves. A person who is habitually angry certainly does not need more of it but a person who is timid or lacking in confidence could benefit greatly by channeling aggression into assertiveness.

The healthy expression of anger need not be confined to physical exercise, it can be positively expressed in dance, music, writing or visual arts through colour, words and sounds, it does not need to be “good” art, just an honest expression of yourself. Sometimes having a good shout with your windows up driving around the block can help too.

Fear can be energising, getting a sense of your own mortality can be a real wake up call, it is hard for anybody to appreciate what they have without the fear at some stage that he may lose it all. A close call to disaster whether it is real or imagined can give us the necessary impetus to get a healthier life style and pay closer attention to the relationships that matter most to us. Surviving a scary situation can certainly break the monotony of a dull existance and make us more interesting people with compelling stories to tell.

Perhaps more than any emotion, grief can make us recognise how deep we can love another person, knowing grief makes us more compassionate and appreciate just how precious life is. Like the other emotions grief should be expressed and given some purpose, some truly moving writing, music and art have been inspired by it- experiencing such inspired art can help you to  do your own overdue grieving. There is something cleansing about grief, sharing grief with another can help us forget our petty differences with them and help us focus on what we have in common with them.

Having a rich mixture of emotional experiences makes us adaptable and keeps life interesting, all the things that make us better people are never easy when they are happening.

TCM has some very interesting perspectives on not only how emotions can effect us but also on how we can use and change them.

Our stress hormones (catecholamines) are there to protect us because they facilitate the fight and flight response. When adrenaline predominates we get scared and run and when our noradrenaline predominates we get angry then stand and fight. In either case there is a cascade of physical reactions.

Our pulse quickens, more blood is pumped into our arms and legs, our breathing gets shallow and rapid, pupils dialate, physical senses become more alert, the muscles in your neck go into a rigid guarding mode, fine motor skills diminish and some times we become scared stiff like a statue. In the short term stress hormones enhance our immunity and are physically energising.

In the longer term our catecholamines don’t serve us as well, long term heightened stress hormone levels weaken our immunity to disease, raises blood pressure, causes neck tension, create relationship conflicts and makes you tired. High sustained levels of the stress hormones  can also fatten you, keep you awake at night, make you emotionally over react and deplete your libido.  High stress levels can trigger heart attacks, strokes and platelet clots in our blood stream

Moderate stress levels are a normal response to a foreign situation and it can help us learn new things and can even be exciting. Stress becomes problematic when we are unable or unwilling to calm down properly, it’s like over-revving your car’s engine, it will wear out and break down sooner than it otherwise should. In yoga it is believed that the body has a finite number of breaths and heart beats, the sooner they are used up the quicker you die.

Some of the ways we attempt to cope with stress can become part of the problem- smoking, gambling, drinking, drug taking and other forms of risk-taking behavior might make us happier in the short term but long term it further compounds health risks.The challenge for us is to only use our stress hormones when necessary.

The feel good hormones like serotinen, oxytocin (the cuddling hormone) and dopamine on the other hand make us feel relaxed, loved and happy. It is basically a balancing act between fear and love.

Exercise, massage, acupuncture, aromatherapy, hugs, patting a dog, singing, laughter, meditation, slowing your breathing, the colour green, being creative, anti depressants, being creative and breathing deionized air (as found at waterfalls and at the sea side) all help to lower high stress levels. There are actually many things we can do to calm down and lighten up. 

Stress can be strangely addictive though, in acute work environments like hospital casualty wards, accident rescue, combat and policing a hyper-realism can make ordinary and safe work boring and uninteresting. We call these people adrenaline junkies, they almost seem to be that way out of choice at times.

The stress that comes with job insecurity, homelessness, financial pressure, poor health, family breakdown and the death of a loved one is much harder to enjoy (even for an adrenaline junkie) but cope we must particularly for our children and grand children. No matter how difficult life gets if we don’t use coping strategies like those above we have even more to stress about.