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Does it ever seem like your shoulders start to creep up toward your ears whenever you’re feeling stressed? Or does a tough day at work always seem to end with a nagging tension headache? If so, then you’re definitely not alone. Neck and shoulder pain is quite common in the general population, especially among people who experience high levels of stress.

It’s no wonder that expressions like “carrying the weight of the world on your shoulders” came to be, or people tend to describe challenging situations or difficult people as “pain in the necks.” Many of us carry our stress directly in our necks and shoulders, which can lead to muscle tension, pain, and headaches.

The Stress Response

Why does mental and emotional stress tend to show up in the head and neck? To understand how stress is linked to neck and shoulder pain, it can be helpful to consider something called “the stress response.”

When we are under pressure, our bodies experience a series of reactions designed to help keep us safe. But it’s those same reactions that often lead to problems with muscle tension, poor posture, and chronic discomfort.

In essence, our neurological and hormonal systems are activated when we experience stress in life—whether work stress, relationship stress, money stress, stress about the state of the world, or other common contributors. Hormones like adrenaline and cortisol is released, causing a cascade of physical symptoms.

Stress Response Symptoms

Everyone experiences physical manifestations of stress differently, but stress can affect almost all of our bodily systems. For example, the stress reaction can cause:

• Rapid heartbeat
• Increased blood pressure
• Tense and labored breathing
• Gastrointestinal distress
• Trembling

Symptoms of Shoulder and Neck Stress

Stress manifesting in your neck and shoulders can cause a number of uncomfortable and disruptive symptoms. Again, each person will experience these symptoms in unique ways, but some of the possible symptoms include:

• An achy, tense feeling in the neck and/or shoulders
• A stiff neck
• Discomfort when the neck and shoulders are touched or when you turn your head
• A feeling of tightening in your neck or shoulders
• Jaw clenching or tension is also possible, as is back pain

Tension in the neck and shoulders can also contribute to headache symptoms. People with stress that goes to their neck and shoulders are prone to tension headaches and migraines.

Tips for Relieving Stress in Shoulders and Neck

Stress in the shoulders and neck can lead to serious pain, so managing your stress is one of the most powerful ways to decrease your symptoms. Thankfully, there are many effective ways to reduce stress in life. Let’s look at a few.

Physical Exercise

Physical exercise of any kind is known to reduce stress. Regular exercisers may have lower heart rates than sedentary individuals and often have more balanced, stable moods.

Studies have shown that yoga specifically can decrease stress levels. As a bonus, many yoga poses allow you to stretch your neck and shoulder muscles to release tension.

Meditation

Practicing mindfulness and meditation can help you learn to recognize stressful thoughts so that you can let them go and not let them dominate your life. This, in turn, can reduce stress in your body, and reduce stress-related symptoms like neck and shoulder pain.

Research backs up the power of meditation on stress relief. For example, a 2021-study found that people who participated in a 6-week mindfulness program experienced decreased levels of perceived stress, as well as increased engagement at work.

Getting Enough Sleep

You are probably aware that getting enough sleep increases your energy levels and ability to concentrate. You are also probably cognizant of the fact that increased stress levels can make it difficult to fall asleep and stay asleep. But what you may not know is that lack of sleep in and of itself can contribute to elevated levels of stress.

So, simply making it a strong habit to go to sleep on time can blunt some of the stress in your life.

Therapy

Therapy can help you deal with serious mental health conditions and help you work through traumas. But it can also help you better manage the common life stresses that all of us experience.

Most types of therapy that help you manage stress work by making you become more mindful of your thoughts and how they affect your feelings and physical reactions to stress.

When You Need Immediate Relief

As you wait for your stress levels to decrease, you might be looking for more immediate pain relief. Besides managing your stress levels, you can speak to your healthcare provider for medication options for relieving neck and shoulder pain.

You can also consider using hot or cold packs to provide relief. Gentle neck stretching can also be helpful. But for some people, resting the neck and shoulders and decreasing physical activity for a few days works best.

When to Call Your Healthcare Provider

It’s important to distinguish between neck and shoulder pain or tension related to stress and symptoms that may be signs of a serious medical condition.

Concerning symptoms may include:

• A stiff neck and headache accompanied by a fever, which could be a sign of meningitis
• Neck or shoulder pain, along with loss of bladder or bowel control, indicating possible pressure on your spinal cord
• Signs of a physical injury, such as instability in your joints, or an unusual ability to move your head back and forth more than expected
• Neck pain along with swollen neck glands, indicating a possible infection or tumor
• Neck pain accompanied by chest pain or pressure, which are possible signs of a heart attack

Takeaways

Experiencing neck and shoulder pain due to stress can be extremely uncomfortable and even debilitating at times. The good news is that neck and shoulder pain due to stress responds well to basic stress management techniques such as exercise, therapy, and meditation. You’ve got this.

Alcohol is often seen as a quick fix when you can’t sleep. Many people think a nightcap can take the edge off and help ease the mind into sleep. The problem is that while it might sometimes help you fall asleep faster, the long-term relationship between alcohol and sleep is a lot more complicated.

Many people with alcohol use disorders also have sleep problems. If you drink to excess, even occasionally, you have probably experienced sleep problems.

Such problems can persist for some time even after you decide to quit drinking. Difficulty sleeping is one of the most common alcohol withdrawal symptoms and one that causes many to relapse. Alcohol can create havoc when it comes to getting a good night’s rest by disrupting sleep cycles and increasing your risk for insomnia.

Types of Alcohol-Related Sleep Problems

Studies estimate that 36% to 91% of people with alcohol use disorder experience sleep troubles. The more prevalent, disruptive effects include:

• More frequent awakenings
• Worse sleep quality
• Reduction of deep sleep
• Earlier-than-usual waking times

The result? People often feel like they didn’t get enough sleep. They wake up exhausted and then drag through the day with daytime sleepiness, reduced concentration, irritability, and other symptoms.

Studies have found that sleep problems can last for weeks, months, or even years after quitting drinking. In many cases, people recovering from alcohol use typically have more problems with sleep onset than with sleep maintenance. In other words, while they can often stay asleep all night, they have significant problems actually falling asleep.

Unfortunately, recovery and abstinence are more challenging if you aren’t able to get enough good-quality sleep. Difficulty sleeping, particularly when a person feels that they can’t sleep sober, may increase the risk that they will relapse.

Alcohol and Non-Restorative Sleep

People in alcohol recovery take a long time to fall asleep, have problems sleeping through the night, and feel that their sleep is not restorative.

Sleep problems are often viewed as one of the last things to improve among people in alcohol recovery. It is also a symptom that poses a significant risk for relapse.

In fact, 12-step recovery programs often refer to the factors that increase a person’s risk for relapse as HALT, standing for Hungry, Angry, Lonely, or Tired. Sleep disruptions may increase the risk that a person will feel tired, which might cause a person to reach for a drink if they feel like they can sleep sober.

Alcohol and Insomnia

Insomnia is a common problem for many adults, but it is not uncommon to experience it in the short term and long term after quitting drinking. It is characterized by difficulty falling or staying asleep, which can lead to daytime drowsiness, trouble concentrating, and other negative health effects.

Insomnia is also common among people who have an alcohol use disorder, but the problem can persist or even begin during recovery. However, it is also important to note that many people experiencing insomnia during withdrawal and recovery also had insomnia before they became dependent on alcohol.

Treatment for Insomnia

The first treatment for insomnia in recovery is sobriety, and many patients will see improvement. For the specific treatment of insomnia, behavioral therapies are the preferred treatment (rather than medications), as they are effective and they won’t interfere with sobriety.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I)

The goal of cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) is to change sleep habits as well as any misconceptions about sleep and insomnia that may perpetuate sleep difficulties.

Sleep Restriction

This type of behavioral therapy works to improve your sleep efficiency, or the time you spend asleep divided by the time you spend in bed. The idea behind sleep restriction is that by limiting the amount of time you allow yourself to sleep and stay in bed, you’ll increase your desire to sleep (called sleep drive) and sleep less fitfully and more efficiently.

Medication

There are many medications used to treat insomnia, including benzodiazepine and nonbenzodiazepine medications. If you’re in recovery, your healthcare provider will need to weigh the risks and benefits of prescribing these medications for insomnia. There are also some relapse-prevention medications that can help promote sleep.

Complementary Therapy

Numerous complementary therapies have been used to treat insomnia in people in recovery, including:

Coping With Alcohol-Related Sleep Problems

Working on your sleep hygiene is another way to help prevent or reduce insomnia. Sleep hygiene refers to healthy habits and changes you can make to your environment and routine to help promote sleep.

• Develop a relaxing bedtime routine. Whether you write in a journal, use a meditation app, or wind down with a warm bath, doing something calming before lights out will help set the tone for solid slumber.
• Keep your room dark, cool, and comfortable. Avoid using televisions, cell phones, computers, or e-readers in your bedroom. The blue light from these electronic devices can suppress the body’s sleep-inducing hormone melatonin and interfere with your internal body clock. The National Sleep Foundation recommends keeping your room cool (around 65 degrees Fahrenheit) and using light-blocking curtains, shades, or blinds to keep your bedroom dark.
• Keep a regular sleep/wake schedule. This will enable your body to get used to a certain bedtime and then be ready to sleep at that time.
• Avoid napping. Naps decrease your overall amount of sleep debt, making it more difficult to fall asleep again at night at the proper time. 
• Refrain from stimulants in the evening. Stimulants that disrupt sleep include caffeine (coffee, tea, soft drinks, chocolate) and nicotine. Research has found that people who smoke have more sleep problems, including sleep disordered breathing, sleep apnea, and worse sleep quality.

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Takeaways

Alcohol can have a detrimental impact on sleep, but these problems can also persist once you decide to stop drinking. Finding ways to cope with insomnia and other sleep issues is important since poor sleep can be a risk factor for alcohol relapse.

Fortunately, there are treatments and coping techniques that can help you get better rest, which can help you feel better during alcohol recovery. If you are experiencing sleep problems, be sure to talk to your doctor about your options.

Blood type personality is a Japanese concept called ketsueki-gata that posits that blood type shapes one’s temperament.

Ketsueki-gata is considered a pseudoscience, a body of thought that appears to be based on scientific principles but is not actually rooted in fact. Although there’s no real proof that blood type influences personality, the belief is widespread in Japan and other Asian nations. It is also increasingly garnering interest in Western countries such as the United States.

Become more familiar with the theory of ketsueki-gata with this overview of its history, principles, influence on society, and potential pitfalls.

History of Ketsueki-gata

In 1930, Japanese professor Tokeji Furukawa published a report in the Journal of Social Psychology called “A Study of Temperament and Blood-Groups.” In this paper, he argued that establishing a link between personality and blood type “might prove a useful basis for the objective study of temperament.”

He compared this effort to the ancient Greek physician Hipporcrates’ classification of temperaments as sanguine, phlegmatic, choleric, and melancholic, which stem from the concept known as humorist.

According to this concept, four bodily fluids influence personality and behavior, but Furukawa asserted that modern classifications of temperaments typically fell into two groups: physiological and psychological. The concept of blood type personality blends the two categories together, using physiology to explain the psyche.

In his paper, he included detailed charts to argue that blood type corresponds with temperament, but his research has been criticized for relying heavily on questionnaires and providing no empirical evidence. Other researchers began challenging Furukawa’s claims about blood type personality just six years after he published his report.

Despite these critiques, the concept of ketsueki-gata never disappeared, as multiple books on blood personality types hit the shelves in the 1970s. Together, they drew attention to the subject once more.

From 1984 to 1985, more than 200 publications printed papers on blood type personality, resulting in the concept’s enduring popularity in countries such as Japan, Korea, and Taiwan and milder interest outside Asia.

Is There Any Evidence for Blood Type Personality?

Studies about ketsueki-gata have continued well into the 21st century all over the world, including Australia, Taiwan, and the United States.

While there isn’t much research supporting the idea that blood type has a direct impact on personality, there has been some research that looks at how blood type may influence genetics. This may have an indirect impact on certain traits.

One 2015 study suggested that there is a weak link between blood types and the personality trait persistence. This is likely due to a genetic link between blood type and a gene that influences the production of dopamine. Because dopamine impacts things like sensation-seeking and impulsivity, it can impact persistence. It’s important to note that this connection is small, and more research is needed.

What Ketsueki-gata Believers Think About Personality

Ketsueki-gata believers maintain that each of the four blood types corresponds with distinct personality traits, making different blood types more compatible with some than others. Here’s how the blood types purportedly break down by temperament. 

• People with type A blood is purportedly associated with positive traits such as creativity, cleverness, and cooperativeness, whereas their supposed negative traits include stubbornness and uptightness. Type A individuals are reportedly more common in Japan than people with other blood types.
• Individuals with type B blood are supposed to be strong, passionate, empathetic, and decisive, but they have also been associated with selfishness and erratic behavior. People with this blood type are said to clash with those with type A blood.
• The purported strengths of those with type AB blood include rationality and adaptability, but their weaknesses are indecision, criticalness, and forgetfulness. This blood type is primarily viewed as having the characteristics of type A and type B individuals. Because this blood type is rare, the people who have it are highly valued in Japan.
• Type O people have been linked to characteristics such as confidence, determination, resilience, and intuition, but they are also supposedly self-centered and unstable. They are said to appear selfish to individuals with Type A blood especially. 

Blood Type and Health Conditions

Meanwhile, in the U.S., blood type has not been linked to personality so much as it has been tied to specific diseases. One study suggested that blood types may be connected to as many as 49 different health conditions. For example:

• Type A individuals have been found to have an increased risk of stomach cancer and heart disease
• Type B people also have an increased risk of heart disease and ovarian cancer
• Type AB individuals have an increased risk of heart disease, and pregnant women with this type may be more likely to develop preeclampsia
• Type O individuals may be more likely to develop ulcers, attract mosquitoes, and have Achilles tendon injuries.

The Pitfalls of Blood Type Personality

Since blood type personality is widely accepted as reality in Japan, it does have some pitfalls. It has been linked to discrimination in both the workplace and in the singles scene. While positive and negative characteristics are associated with each blood type, some blood types are perceived to be better or worse than others.

On the other hand, type AB individuals enjoy workplace advantages. In 1990, Japanese newspaper The Asahi Daily reported that Mitsubishi Electronics hired a team composed mostly of type AB people because of their purported knack for planning.

In the dating scene, someone might reject a potential partner purely based on fears of incompatibility due to blood type. Fortunately, the question “Ketsuekigata nāni?” (血液型なあに? What’s your blood type?) is typically asked in the very early stages of dating, so no one is likely to truly get their heart broken over a purported blood type mismatch.

The Appeal of Blood Type Personality 

Although no legitimate scientific research linking blood type to personality has been published, people continue to believe in ketsueki-gata. Why? Psychologists have said that many simply enjoy the topic and use it as a way to break the ice with others. Moreover, in an uncertain world, the blood type personality theory can give people confidence about where they fit in and what their strengths and weaknesses are.

As with astrology, people often consult blood type personality because they believe it provides clues about their future. So, believers in ketsueki-gata aren’t primarily focused on what the science says about blood type personality, they’re largely focused on better understanding their own lives.

While you’ve probably heard about triggers, or those moments that generate feelings of anxiety and stress, you might be less familiar with glimmers. A glimmer is the exact opposite of a trigger—it is some kind of cue, either internal or external, that brings one back to a sense of joy, safety, or comfort.

A glimmer can be anything from catching a view of the skyline of your favorite city to seeing a picture of your pet. These are the things that help you feel OK. It might be the sun filtering through the branches outside your window or your favorite song playing on the radio. These glimmers are personal and can help shift you into a more relaxed state.

In our overstimulated worlds, glimmers can be the answer to regulating our overwhelmed nervous systems.

Origins of the Concept of Glimmers

The concept of glimmers is part of Polyvagal theory. Coined by behavioral neuroscientist Stephen Porges and introduced in 1995, the theory describes how our autonomic nervous system (which controls involuntary actions like breathing) is searching for and reading cues to determine if they are dangerous.

This process is called neuroception, and the vagus nerve, which regulates organ functions, is responsible for it.

The term glimmer, however, was introduced in 2018 in the book The Polyvagal Theory in Therapy: Engaging the Rhythm of Regulation by licensed clinical social worker Deb Dana. It was popularized by a viral TikTok video in February 2022 by psychologist Dr. Justine Grosso, in a video that has nearly 100,000 likes.

Some Common Glimmers

If you’re still having trouble identifying what your own glimmers are, here are some common ones:

• Feeling the warmth of the sun
• Sensing the cool, salty ocean air 
• The smell of cut grass
• Seeing a rainbow
• Sunlight sparkling on water 
• Smelling lavender or some other relaxing scent 
• Petting a dog or cat
• Being in nature
• A stranger smiling at you in public
• The perfect cup of coffee

Understanding Triggers and Glimmers

Triggers and glimmers might seem like they are exact opposites, but it’s more like they are two sides of the same coin. Both act as cues that lead your nervous system to react to the world around you.

Let’s take a look at what causes a trigger and what leads to a glimmer.

When You’re Triggered

When the brain is triggered, it associates past traumatic events as if they’re happening right now, leading the brain and body to be on high alert. Symptoms like rapid heartbeat might occur within the body as the fight-or-flight response occurs.

This response helps the body prepare for physical danger. That’s helpful when a tiger is chasing you, but much less helpful when you’re being chased by your own memories.

When you’re in that state, your sympathetic nervous system, which regulates the body’s response to a stressful situation, is activated, increasing the heart rate, blood pressure, and pumping extra adrenaline into your body to prepare you for danger. If this system is activated too often or for too long, it can lead to health problems like chronic high blood pressure and insomnia.

When You Feel a Glimmer

The goal is to reach the “top” of the ladder—the ventral vagal state, which is connected with social engagement and safety. This activates the parasympathetic nervous system (also known as rest-and-digest) and puts the body in homeostasis. Spending more time in this state reduces the risk of disease.

How Glimmers Work

The term “glimmer” was popularized by Deb Dana, LCSW. Triggers are cues—accurate or not—that move the body into those fight-or-flight or freeze states. Glimmers are also cues, but they are cues that move the body into that feeling of safety and connection and into the ventral vagal state.

For example, something like breathing deeply can move you from fight or flight into the ventral vagal state and begin to down-regulate you. However, if you are in the dorsal (frozen) state, you need to first be moved into fight-or-flight before moving into the ventral vagal state.

How to Find More Glimmers

You can probably identify triggers in your life relatively quickly, but glimmers might be harder for you to access. It can be helpful to practice mindfulness or some kind of grounding activity before you attempt to discover your glimmers.

Just as triggers can be both internal and external—from a thought of a traumatic situation that spontaneously comes up to a song that triggers intense feelings associated with a situation—so can glimmers. In fact, one person’s trigger might be another person’s glimmer.

How to Identify Your Glimmers

It can be helpful to keep track of your glimmers, just as you might keep track of triggers or other negative thoughts. You can do this in a journal or in a notes app on your phone. If you need help beginning to identify them, try these exercises below:

1. Close your eyes and picture a moment of peace. This can be anything from a place you’ve been to, to somewhere you’ve only seen pictures of, to a place you’ve only seen in your imagination. You might want to go spend time there, have a picture of it readily available, or create a picture of it yourself.
2. Think of what made you feel safe and cared for as a child. If there is a way you can access that as an adult. If you didn’t feel safe and cared for as a child, think of what you can do that you wish you had then. Is there someone who can give you a hug, or can you give yourself that hugging sensation by hugging yourself or snuggling under a weighted blanket?
3. Think of a loved one. Picture someone you can just fully relax and be yourself around. If not, picture what having someone in your life like that might feel like. If it’s someone you know, spend time with them if you can or give them a call. If it’s not someone you know, watch a movie or listen to a song that reminds you of someone with these characteristics. 

Takeaways

Glimmers might be small, but they can have a big impact on your mental health and well-being. By paying attention to the things that bring you joy, you can start to shift your focus away from feelings of stress and toward a greater sense of relaxation. The more you tune into these moments, the better you’ll be able to latch on to those feelings of safety and connection as you go about your day.