Is stress the “black plague” of the 21st century?
“It’s not the load that breaks you down, it’s the way you carry it” - lou holtz
We all experience stress, there is no escaping it, whether it’s finances, relationships or work. What you may not realise is, in modern day life, a stress response can be triggered by events as simple as being late for work, standing in line and traffic jams. Even your lifestyle can have a negative impact on the level of stress that you perceive. An unhealthy diet, lack of sleep, and even recurring negative thoughts can all send stress signals to your body.
Harvard Medical School released some research suggesting that stress is related to upwards of 90% of all medical visits. The next shocking thing this study suggests, is that less than 3% of medical visits include counselling about stress. Scientists are calling it the black plague of our century. We know chronic stress is a major risk factor for a range of illnesses from heart disease to immune failures and more - I believe chronic stress is at the root of many modern day illnesses. The long-term hormonal effects of chronic stress down-regulate genes and create disease, therefore, stress management is an important part of our daily lives.
As humans, we have a large neo-cortex, which means, just by thought alone we can turn on the response to stress.
The definition of stress is when the body is knocked out of homeostasis (the state of steady internal conditions maintained by living things) - when the mind and body are not balanced. Stress is classified into two types – acute (short-term) and chronic (long-term). The stress response is your bodies attempt to get everything back in order. Evolutionarily, this is what lead us to be the number one species on earth. For most of primate history, we had things trying to kill us, hunt us, and fight us, whether animal, environmental or fellow human. Our bodily response to that stress is incredible - temporarily, our body shuts down all systems that are not essential to the necessary response. We switch off immune response, reproduction, growth and digestion processes in favour of muscular ability and cognitive performance. When threatened, we push all of our energetic resources to help us move well and think fast. Largely modulated by stress hormones like cortisol, adrenalin and norepinephrine.
If you’re driving down the road and someone cuts you off in traffic, you want a stress response to occur so you can swiftly swerve out of the way. Once this is over, and you’ve cursed the driver who cut you off, you want everything to return back to normal, as it should. But what if your stress is your co-worker, , husband, wife, kids, financial struggles, job security or social status - and you can’t turn it off? Now you are headed for disease, because no organism in nature was designed to live in the stress response for an extended period of time (chronic stress).
All organisms in nature are able to tolerate short-term stress. In fact, short-term stressors are not a bad thing, short-term stress for an hour when you go for a run, gym, swim or use sauna or cold exposure, is actually quite healthy for you.
So, we’ve got to put stress in perspective. It’s that chronic long-term stress. For example, say someone’s got a mortgage, they’re stressed for years, financial stress can go on for months or years, and that’s the problem, it causes the chronic stress. Our bodies are not able to distinguish serious threats from normal everyday challenges.
Symptoms that are related to a prolonged or chronic stress response
High blood pressure
Heart disease
Symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis
Symptoms of skin conditions such as psoriasis
Numerous autoimmune disorders
Sleep disorders
Chronic fatigue
Irritabel Bowel Syndrome (IBS)
Asthma
Diabetes
Obesity
The physical stress response mentioned earlier, comes in three waves. The first, the classic initial “fight-or-flight” response, releases one set of hormones that dissipate after 10 seconds if no threat is identified. If the “fight-or-flight” response continues, a second set is released. It lasts 15 minutes to an hour and releases the hormones that are linked to health problems. Long term elevated cortisol has devastating effects throughout your body including, loss of muscle mass, increased fat mass, reduced immune system, high blood pressure and more.
To fix the problems, we need simple strategies to reduce chronic long-term stress and tools to increase acute short-term, building stressors.
I help my clients by educating them in the below:
Steps to help you manage chronic stress
Relaxation and breathing techniques. Scientific studies have shown that controlling your breath can help to manage stress and stress-related conditions. Breath control is also used in practices such as yoga, tai chi and some forms of meditation.
Indulge in short-term stressors, such as exercise, cold exposure or sauna. Also known as acute stress, the stress from heat alteration such as extreme exposure to cold or heat is actually good for our health, athletic endurance, preventing muscle atrophy, increasing neurogenesis, improving learning and memory, and improving longevity. Cold showers can even be used to treat depression.
Eat a balanced, whole-foods diet. Increasing physical activity and eating healthy can do wonders for your ability to manage stress. Regular physical activity and a healthy diet can improve weight, energy levels, self-confidence, and overall health and well-being, making it much easier for you to handle daily stressors.
Avoiding situations that cause stress. There may be particular situations, people or events that make you feel nervous, anxious or fearful.
Alter your behaviour in stressful situations. Accept that you cannot control everything in life, especially the actions of other people. Instead of worrying about others, focus instead on how you respond to them.
Manage your time effectively. Learn to say no, and create clear boundaries. Without boundaries, you will invariably take on more than you can handle, which ultimately leads to stress.
Adapt to stressful events.
Accept that you cannot change everything. Try to adjust your expectations to a reasonable level. Always demanding perfect results is a major source of stress.
Get enough sleep. Sleep restores your body and your mind, and it helps you keep your mind clear and focused.
Increase intake of omega-3 fatty acids. Eating oily fish or supplementing with omega-3 has been shown to exert a possible protective effect against anxiety.