Desi Today Magazine
By Surbhi Gogia
Stress, anxiety and uncertainty had become part of our busy lifestyles even before Covid-19 stormed our world. But the pandemic made it worst and elevated the levels of stress in our lives by multiple times. It has taken an unprecedented toll on our mental health. Numerous recent studies have shown global increase in the prevalence and severity of depression and anxiety as well as an increase in post-traumatic stress disorder and substance abuse. These increases have likely stemmed from the changes to our daily lives due to job losses, social isolation, travel restrictions and uncertainty in general. There is no better time to get awareness about how stress and anxiety can affect our body, than now.
Meet Dr Bal Pawa, a uniquely qualified pharmacist and a medical doctor, who has recently launched her book The Mind Body Cure to spread more awareness about our the physical and mental health. Dr Pawa believes that there is an “undeniable connection between our mind and body.” She says numerous studies have proved that over 75 percent of our diseases can be traced back to chronic stress in our body. Our thoughts play a major role in keeping or not keeping the body healthy. According to Dr Pawa, we all still need doctors to cure our health related problems but de-stressing our body can cure and also help prevent many diseases.
Dr. Pawa was one of the pioneers in Vancouver, BC in Integrative Medicine with her focus being on the profound mind/body connection. She honed her skills with a primary interest on restoring health and wellness across a person’s lifespan. Dr Pawa stepped into mind body cure practice due to her own experience in life. She became a patient herself after a serious car accident. In her TED-talk she shared how this car accident took away 7 years of her life because the accident not only impacted her physical body but her emotional health too. She was in a state of anxiety and stress for so many years and even after trying all the cures, she could not get rid of her chronic pain. She realized that we all need medical system to cure diseases but some pieces of treatment were missing.
She started her journey to discover these missing pieces of the medical puzzle. She took a course and practiced those techniques on herself to cure her body from the pain. She realized the importance of spreading awareness about mind and body connection. She is on a mission to empower people to become their own doctors. She wants us to treat ourselves from enduring endless pain and protect ourselves from many lifestyle diseases by stress-proofing our bodies.
In an interview with Desi Today Magazine, Dr Pawa talks in detail about how stress leads to long-term problems and how we can become our own doctors to stress-proof our bodies.
What is stress and how does it effect our body?
Stress is the our body’s response to a perceived threat in the environment. It is extremely common and often shows up as physical symptoms in the body. It can be acute (short lived) or chronic ( long term). Acute stress can stem from obvious reasons like losing a job or a loved one, lack of money, toxic relations. These are overt stressors because they’re obvious stress producing circumstances.
We are biologically hardwired to deal with acute stress so we could escape from a Saber-tooth tiger. In just seconds we react to the external danger and run away from the tiger. It is called fight-or-flight reaction. The hormones of stress, cortisol and adrenalin make that escape possible. The body then returns to a normal state of “rest and repair” and balance is maintained.
But the stress hormones are not meant to be in our body all the time. If they are prolonged, these hormones can cause diseases. Chronic stress and anxiety are most common reasons behind giving these hormones a permanent place in our bodies.
When our thoughts alone can produce stress in the body in the absence of any real threat it is called anxiety. It is a feeling when you have stress that has not been processed. Just the thought of stress alone or the memory or forecasting a situation can cause the same stress. The problem is when you do not deal with these feelings of anxiety, they can turn into many other things such as chronic sleep problems, depression or obsessive and panic attacks. If we don’t learn to deal with anxiety and control it, the anxiety can control us. Controlling anxiety is a skill that we can all cultivate with awareness of our thoughts.
How does stress manifest in our bodies?
Many are surprised to hear of the various manifestations of stress in the human body Muscle tension, headaches, heartburn, insomnia, irritability, poor memory, racing heart, and even dizziness can all be attributed to chronic excessive stress. In fact over 75% of the symptoms that show up in a doctor’s office can be linked back to excessive stress hormones circulating in the body.
There is a very profound mind-body connection but most of us end up taking a different pill for every ill rather than look at the root cause of sickness. Each of us has a reaction to stress but not all of us have realized this connection. The faster you learn that you have a nervous system in your brain and that you can regulate it to turn off the stress hormones, the greater the benefits to your body and emotional well being.
What are some long-term effects of pandemic related stress?
Stress is pervasive.It is not going away. There will always be something to be stressed about. More recently the Covid-19 has affected our entire society. I speak to patients every day and they are complaining of many different stressors. It is showing up differently in different age groups.
Can you explain how it has affected kids and adults?
Stress shows up differently in people depending on their age. For example, a young five-year-old might have terrifying nightmares because they heard their parents talk about this virus and they think that their parents are going to die. Or they might feel that if they touch somebody or somebody coughed on them they’re going to die because they don’t have the capacity to process the information in a context. It’s very important for adults to gauge the information that children are listening to and also have open discussions with them. Create the time and space so that your children can ask the questions in a safe environment.You may not be aware what’s going on in their world.
Adults, on the other hand, are affected in many different ways. Women, especially, seem to be paying a higher price for some reason. They are now working from home, looking after the kids. They are cooking and cleaning more laundry than normal because everybody’s at home. So the burden of care and responsibility has heightened. A lot of the male executives and females that work outside the home are complaining about the uncertain future. They do not know what the future holds for them. Adults are complaining that their sleep is affected, their skin conditions or inflammatory bowel disease is worse when they think about their future.
The biggest stress is uncertainty. We are not certain whether this virus is going away, we are not certain if the vaccine will be effective, we are not certain when or whether we will be able to return to our old normal. However, we have to learn to embrace uncertainty and reframe the situation so it’s not based on fear but based on trust.
So how do we deal with the unknown, this uncertainty and fear?
First of all I want to say that life is uncertain there is no absolute certainty accept this very moment. So learning to be present in the moment is the key . To say — right now in this moment, I am safe I’m whole and everything’s going to be okay — is the only guarantee you have. The first thing you need to learn is mindfulness of being in the present moment and embracing uncertainty with trust not fear. The next thing is to take charge of your nervous system. It’s possible! When we take responsibility for our thoughts to better control the Autonomic Nervous System (ANS). By learning to regulate the ANS through conscious thought, it’s possible to turn off stress hormones and turn on healthy repair hormones that optimize our health.
Can you shed more light on this mind and body connection.
In order to de-code stress we must realize the vital connection between our thoughts and how they continually regulate the ANS in our brains. Although the ANS is an automatic system for the most part, our mind has dominance over the brain and can regulate the ANS to a great degree. Know that your thoughts are the language of the mind and your feelings are the language of the body. If you want to change how you’re feeling, it makes sense to change your thoughts. You can cultivate a mindset of resilience by being aware of your beliefs and internal thoughts about your health. By learning to challenge automatic thoughts, we will have thoughts rooted in consciousness and higher reasoning, which creates new neural thought patterns. New thought patterns lead to different choices in behavior, which then become traits and eventually turn into habits that form the basis of what becomes our health conscious personality. It’s the fundamental foundation for long-term physical health, vitality and longevity.
Please tell us something about your book?
I’ve been in practice for over 30 years as a physician and I see what’s happening with the medical system. It’s a wonderful system for intervention when you’re really sick. Sometimes you need surgery, or you need drugs , i.e you need all the intervention and diagnostic tests but many diseases can be prevented. My focus is to give people back the power and reclaim their health by taking charge of their bodies to prevent illness. Hippocrates, the father of medicine, said that the most natural forces that are within us are the biggest healers of our health. And I am here to remind people to take back their power and take charge of their health. I have been a physician, a patient, a pharmacist. I’ve been on every dimension of the healthcare system. What I see missing is that people are not part of the healthcare team. A lot of the healing comes from your own mindset. So I’ve taken it upon myself to get the message out there by writing this book. I wanted to create a self-help book that people could use with safe, effective and affordable tools.
Can you give us an example of the these self-help tools that you have discusses in your book.
First of all you have to be very aware of your breath. Deep, purposeful breathing is very important to put the brakes on your nervous system. Take a deep breath, hold for 5 seconds and then exhale fully while repeating a word silently in your head, you can pick a word ( Om, Amen or peace). Secondly, you have to calm your mind down and relax all your muscles that are tensed. It is very important to focus your mind on your deep breathing, all of those things are ways to relieve the constant thoughts that occupy your headspace. I call this technique BMW meditation ( Breath, Mind, Word) , when you do all three things together it causes the brain waves to slow down and release chemicals that heal and repair your body. This relaxation response is the opposite of the stress reaction which causes illness if it is prolonged. Remember, when your mind is calm you will feel better, more empowered and in control to make the best choices. You will make better decisions for your health and navigate emotional issues with greater skill. Take charge of your health now, you are your best doctor and you hold the key to your health. Learn the REFRAME toolkit at the back of the book and begin your journey to optimal health.
To learn more about BMW meditation by Dr. Pawa ,Ted Talk link:
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