taming the stress monster
It is one of the largest reasons people go to the doctor: stress. Between 75% and 90% of every doctor’s visit is said to be related to stress. Did you know that those that have chronic stress have a 50% higher risk of early mortality? It’s true. Those that are more prone to chronic stress are also at a 20% higher risk of heart disease. Perhaps that’s because of all the ways stress can effect our overall health. So, what are those effects? Let’s first dive into what stress is, and then look into practical things you can do to lessen and manage your stress levels.
What is stress?
Stress is defined as a physical or emotional reaction to a life experience. Everyone does experience stress in their lives. There are even good forms of stress called eustress. This type of stress is labeled as good because it leads to a positive response to the life experience, although it is typically a short term response.
However, most of the stress that leads to trips to the doctors’ offices is one of distress. This response is also frequently known as the “fight or flight” response. Your nervous system kicks into high gear to protect you from any threat that it deems as imminent. The physical and emotional reactions can take several forms in the human body, such as: headaches, insomnia, heartburn, digestive issues, high blood pressure, erratic heart rate, and much more.
how does the body react to stress
Understanding how the body works when a stress is triggered is half the battle. So, what happens when one experiences a stressor. The amygdala perceives a threat to your overall wellbeing. It then signals to the hypothalamus to begin the stress reaction process. The hypothalamus is responsible for your body’s heart rate, body temperature, and regulates the autonomic nervous system, which we talked about above as your “fight or flight” response. It sends a signal to the pituitary gland that hormones need to be released into the blood stream. Those hormones are adrenaline and cortisol. Your body will react differently than someone else when you feel stressed; although the same mechanism is seen in human physiology. For instance, someone else may have rapid heart beats, breathing, and nervousness; while you may experience more muscle tension and headaches when it comes to stressful situations.
Once your body perceives that the threat is gone, then it will lessen those said hormones and your body will go back into the parasympathetic state (relaxed state). However, with today’s society, more and more people are remaining in a chronically stressed state of mind, which in turn increases the use of the hormones and slows down your body because it never gets out of the “fight or flight” response.
Tips on how to lessen or manage stress
Managing stress is easier said than done. Everyone has something that works better for them than what works for their friends or co-workers. It’s important to try different methods of stress management to find which one works best for you.
Breathwork: This is one of the most suggested ways of managing stress because it is something a person can do immediately in response to a stressful situation. It also provides quick stress relief. For instance, the “4 Square” method is often suggested because it’s the easiest to explain and do for those that aren’t familiar with breathwork. The 4 Square consists of breathing for 4 seconds on the inhale, holding for 4 seconds, exhale for 4 seconds, and then holding again for 4 seconds. If you look at it closely, it resembles the 4 sides of a square. It makes it easy for people to emulate and brings there stress down into a calmer state. A good rule of thumb is to do about 3-5 minutes of breathwork to help bring your stress levels down.
Exercise: Physically moving is a great way to relieve stress. Remember that your body released those extra hormones to conquer your stressful situation. Helping your body handle all that extra floating around in your bloodstream is a great way to alleviate stress.
Meditation: Bringing your mind into focus on something other than the stressor is a great way to relieve stress. Meditation may take some getting used to because it requires you to really focus on something else; however, it is a very powerful tool when it comes to taming the stress monster.
For more tips on how to tame the stress monster, be sure to join me Sunday night, April 23 through April 26 at 7:30 each night for an hour or less to learn about stress and how it effects our overall health. You can register at this link.