Is Stress Making You A Mess?
What is stress?
It’s a term that was created by researcher Dr. Hans Seyle in the 1930s to define the body’s response to “stressors” or triggers. Stressors can be mental or physical and can come into play in many aspects of our lives such as work, home, family, school, spiritual, and finances. So how do you know if stress is making you a mess? Some stressors have an immediate impact on us; you might start to feel overwhelmed, upset to your stomach, or even develop a headache. Other times stress sneaks up on you and leaves you feeling tired during the day and wired at night. But what’s important to know is that although stress can have a significant impact on many aspects of your health, there are equally many ways to deal with stress that don’t require hours of meditating.
How does stress affect your body?
Your body’s stress response is primarily controlled by cortisol, affectionately known as your stress hormone. Cortisol is produced by your adrenal glands, which are small organs which sit on top of your kidneys. One of its main purposes is to keep you alert. In fact, this hormone is responsible for waking you up in the morning! It levels are highest in the morning and lowest at night. And when you experience a stressful situation, your adrenal glands secret cortisol so that you can cope with the stressor. This is known as your “Fight or Flight” response. This response includes the following changes in your body:
Secrets sugar into the blood
Turns off digestion
Hyper-focuses
Increases its heart rate
Produces more stress hormone
These are fast responses that allow you take quick and decisive action. The increase in blood sugar levels gives your brain and muscles fuel to work better. Blood flow is diverted away from your digestive system towards your muscles to preferentially provide your muscles with an increased amount of nutrients improved performance. Your heart-rate increases so that you can circulate blood more quickly to your muscles for any necessary action.
Your body is amazing! It knows exactly what to do and how to override your body’s usual processes in record time to prepare you for any situation. This is a natural and necessary response, but the issue lies when your body constantly has to go into “Fight or Flight” mode all day, every day.
For many of us, there is a notion that we thrive under pressure. And there’s definitely truth to it – our response to stress leaves us alert, hyper-focused, and primed to take action. However, the reality of it is that our cortisol levels are meant to cycle each day and not stay constant. It’s an “in case of emergency” reserve for that extra get up and get it done, and not a primary fuel source. And that level of constant hyper-focus can leave you with an anxious brain that won’t shut off at night when you’re trying to get to sleep.
Long-Term Effects of chronically elevated cortisol levels include:
Exhaustion
Sleep difficulties
High blood sugar levels
Elevated blood pressure
Depleted micronutrients
Low thyroid hormone function
Imbalanced sex hormones aka crazy PMS and irregular periods
Mental health issues – anxiety and depression
Dealing with Stress
So how do you deal with stress? I mean it’s not like quitting your job, running off to a deserted beach island with only your favourite people and your favourite flavour of the week serving you your favourite drink while never gaining weight and never getting a hangover is an option, right?! Right?? Well, at least not for most of us. So what can you do?
The actual steps that you will need to take will depend on you and your situation. For example, for someone going for a run might be a great stress reliever and for someone else it might be the worst idea. Or for some people meditation is amazing, while for others it causes their eyes to gloss over. So instead of giving you things to try, here are some key concepts to help you better manage your stress:
Identify your triggers – Knowing is half the battle. Be honest with yourself. Maybe your partner does things that set you off easily. Or your work environment is toxic. Maybe your finances are stressing you out. Whatever the triggers are, identify them and ask yourself these two questions:
“What would it look if those situation were ideal?” and “What can I do to ameliorate the situation?”
This could look like asking for help, having an honest and vulnerable conversation, or setting better personal boundaries. Often times we look for others to accommodate us when in reality no one can read our minds and you may not be at the top of somebody else’s priority list, just saying. The responsibility for your health and happiness is on you. Take care and take action.
Take care of yourself
Stress isn’t just something that happens to you. When you don’t take care of yourself, you are creating an additional stress for your body to deal with. Like skipping on sleep, skipping that meal, sitting for hours without moving or stretching, yup you guessed it, your body produces cortisol to give you an energy boost, raise your low blood sugar levels, and keep you alert. Self-care is not a luxury, it’s the key to a healthy mind, body, and life!
Plan it
One of the biggest that stress-inducers is not knowing, aka fear. Having a plan helps you to decide in advance what your priorities are and when you will make time to take action on those things.
Is stress making you a mess?
I work with my patients to determine the impact that stress is having on their health and create a holistic plan to help them improve their energy levels, their emotional stability, sense of calm, and overall sense of wellbeing.
If you’d like to address your stress, book a free 15 minute consultation to find out how we can get started.