The Impact of Stress
There will always be stress. Each of us gets to choose how we manage our stress. Within these blogs, I hope to leave with some strategies you can implement immediately! Are you going to use all your energy focusing on the past or the future or are you going to take control with the present? Today I want to start with the impact of stress with Part 1 of a 5 Part series on stress and your adrenals.
Stress is a physical response. We need it to alert our bodies! It’s normal for our bodies to behave this way in acute situations. When stressed, the body thinks it is under attack and switches to “fight or flight” mode. This is when the adrenals release a complex mix of hormones and chemicals such as adrenaline, cortisol, norepinephrine, and epinephrine to prepare the body for physical action.
What’s happening here? You are scared, right? You are scared you are going to get into an accident, fearful of death maybe? This causes a number of reactions, from blood being diverted to muscles to shutting down unnecessary bodily functions such as digestion. That heart pounding, fast breathing sensation is the adrenaline; as well as a boost of energy, it enables us to focus our attention so we can quickly respond to the situation.
In the modern world, the fight or flight mode can still help us survive dangerous situations, such as reacting swiftly to a person running in front of our car by slamming on the brakes.
The unknown mode of stress
Unknown by many, there is a third mode that stress can cause; “freeze.” The energy mobilized by the perceived threat gets “locked” into the nervous system and we freeze. This response sometimes reveals itself when we breathe. Holding our breath and shallow breathing are both forms of freeze.
The occasional deep sigh is the nervous system catching up on its oxygen intake also. How many of you have found yourselves sighing? Like in the middle of the work day I have.
When you think of your nervous system (NS) you have the sympathetic NS which helps with fight or flight and stress and is needed. Think of this like the gas pedal. You also have the parasympathetic nervous system which we need to rest and digest and relax, grow and develop. Think of this as the brake pedal. Ideally, these would be balanced not lopsided with stress, right?
There are different types of stress like slamming on your breaks or getting a shot, stress for 2 minutes, then it’s gone. These types of stresses believe it or not don’t impact our health as much as chronic stress.
We were designed to be able to handle these acute stressors (short term). That’s not the case with chronic stressors.
What if you have toxic relationships, maybe with a family member who isn’t going away…. or a long-term stress example of myself is that I went to grad school for years and starting/operating a business. Too much for too long, right. My nervous system literally said, “Enough.”
Or what about those living with chronic pain? That’s a huge daily stress on the body. Here is also where trauma come in, I don’t just mean past physical abuse either. Trauma could have been a major life-altering situation for your family, not necessarily abuse. These are all examples of chronic stressors that can impact our health.
I also believe chronic stimulation with our overuse of technology having cell phones, computers, TVs all around us, that electromagnetic stress ……….all fall into the bucket of CHRONIC STRESS.
Chronic Stress
Chronic stress is: repeated exposure to the same stressor.
This can really increase our stress levels when we realize that the stressor isn’t going away and we need to face it. We can’t fight or fight, we can’t run away.
We have to learn to manage our response and our circumstances and that’s really what Part 2 will be about.
Why is Stress Bad? How does Stress Impact Our Health?
- Impacts our ability to fight infection
- Weakens the immune system
- Robs our bodies of hormones
- High cortisol (initially with stress) can lead to high glucose, weight gain (which nobody wants) which increases our cardiovascular risk and risk for diabetes.
- If can cause insomnia and anxiety
These are all things we don’t want, right?
Learn more about the impact of stress on our hormones and how you can improve your body’s internal production of the hormones in Chapter 6 of my book Your Longevity Blueprint.
In summary, are you feeling stressed, looking for information and relief? Join us for this 5 part series where we will discuss the impact of stress. Watch my video now to learn more!
Wellness is waiting. Are you ready?
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*Always share with your medical provider what supplements you are taking*
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