Product Info

Coping with a Stressed Nervous System
By Dr Kenneth Hambly & Alice Muir - a Sheldon Press Book

When your nervous system can't cope with the many stimuli of modem life, you can become unwell and begin to suffer from a range of symptoms including tightness in the chest, panic attacks, headaches and feelings of hopelessness and depression. You go to the doctor, who can't help you because there is nothing clinically wrong with you. Does this sound familiar? If it does, you could have autonomic overload, a potentially serious and disabling condition that can affect body and mind.

The good news is that we can do much to heal a stressed nervous system ourselves. In this book, Dr Kenneth Hambly and chartered psychologist Alice Muir describe tried and tested techniques to help banish autonomic overload, heal body and mind and keep your nervous system in balance.

Topics covered include:

• why and how the nervous system becomes stressed and overloaded
• relaxation and breathing techniques
• lifestyle changes
• coping with panic attacks
• how changing the way you think may help

Autonomic overload is a silent and unrecognized epidemic. If you're wondering what is wrong with you, and your doctor can't help, this may be just the book for you.

ContentsContents

• Introduction
• The Background*
• Autonomic Overload — How It Works
• How Do You Feel Today?
• Psychological Symptoms
• Physical Symptoms
• Some Reasons for Feeling the Way You Do
• You and Your Doctor
• Making Changes
• Coping Techniques — Relaxation
• Coping Techniques — Breathing
• Coping with Panic Attacks
• Helpful Thinking
• Assertiveness
• Changing Your Lifestyle
• Coping with Stress at Work
• Conclusion: First Aid Summary and Diary
• Useful Resources
• Index

* In Chapter 1, Dr Hambly explains how he became concerned with autonomic overload, and how Alice Muir became involved with his work. Thereafter, for convenience, this book uses the first person plural.

Extra Info

 

This book is about a stress-related condition from which practically no one is immune. We've called it 'stress overload' but it would be more precise to call it autonomic overload, or, autonomic nervous system overload — when a person becomes unwell because their nervous system just can't cope with all the stimuli it receives on a daily basis. There are plenty of books about stress, but, as far as we know, none on the potentially serious and disabling condition that underlies it, which can affect our entire nervous system and all the workings of our body and mind.

So what is autonomic overload? Autonomic means self-regulating and refers to the part of our nervous system that — usually — more or less looks after itself, governing heart rate, breathing and many other functions of which we are not usually aware. In autonomic overload, our automatic or self-regulating nervous system is overwhelmed by the sheer weight of incoming messages. Perhaps we're dreading a meeting where we have to make a speech, or have a potentially awkward customer to deal with; maybe we have to drive in fast and dangerous traffic; confront a school teacher to talk about an issue with a child; deal with bullying at work. Even meeting friends for a meal out might be a source of stress if, as often happens with stress overload, we end up exhausted before we've even started; or if we're worried that irritable bowel problems will embarrass us. Asking the boss for a favour, getting the kids from school to judo class in time, entertaining our partner's work colleagues — the list is endless, and we're all very familiar with it. This 'chatter' of incoming messages is twenty-first-century life. But, too often, our systems literally cannot cope 'with it all. We just weren't designed for this level of stimulus. The result: a stressed nervous system that cannot function properly. Physical and psychological symptoms quickly develop, as do changes in the way we behave.

Here are some facts for you to consider:

• Everyone suffers from autonomic overload at some time.
• Autonomic overload makes you ill.
• Autonomic overload in the long term can ruin your life.
• Autonomic overload can make you less successful and less happy than you could be.

We all have problems. No one gets a free pass. Life isn't supposed to be easy and for most people it can be very difficult on occasions. Have a look at the following symptoms associated with overload:

• Feeling tired all the time
• Feeling really exhausted
• Waking up feeling tired
• Experiencing pains, often in the neck and shoulders
• Muscle and joint pains
• Headaches
• Terrible head pain like a band round your head
• Pain behind your eyes
• Stomach upsets such as indigestion, colicky pain and diarrhoea
• A tremor
• A general feeling of shakiness
• Tightness in the chest
• Difficulty getting a breath
• Bladder problems
• Feeling anxious and apprehensive
• Feeling unable to cope
• Having problems concentrating
• Feeling depressed
• Feeling tearful in some situations
• Feeling hopeless much of the time
• Panic attacks
• Avoiding situations you dislike
• Indecision at work or at home
• Anger in inappropriate situations
• Eating or alcohol problems
• Other changes in your usual behaviour
• Lack of assertiveness.

 

Put like that, it all sounds pretty insurmountable, doesn't it? Yet, we can help you deal with all of these problems. We can also help you deal with your everyday life in a more satisfactory way, even if you have no problems at the moment. That's a promise.

How can we make such a promise? We can do so because all of the above symptoms are different aspects of the same condition — they are all interrelated. This is the condition we call autonomic overload.

If we help you deal with your autonomic overload, all of your other problems fade away like the early morning mist on a meadow. How do we know we can do that? We know because we have been doing it successfully using the system outlined in this book for many years, and we have had a lifelong interest in the problem.

If you want to feel better and enjoy life more — read on!

About the authors
Dr Kenneth Hambly was educated at The Queen's University of Belfast. He is married with three daughters. After working briefly in Canada, he returned to the UK where he went into general practice. He has always been involved in medical teaching with a particular interest in communication skills, consultation skills and stress management. Dr Hambly has written extensively on these subjects over many years.

Alice Muir is an experienced trainer, Chartered Psychologist and Life Coach. She is married with a grown-up family. Alice is the youngest of eight children, and spent her childhood in the Ayrshire countryside, before training at Glasgow and Stirling Universities. She is a member of the British Psychological Society, the General Teaching Council, the International Stress Management Association and the Association for Coaching. Alice has a long-standing interest in personal development, and has been writing and training on the subject, as well as coaching groups and individuals, for the past 25 years.