You’ve got a big presentation for tomorrow and the parents of your new daughter-in-law are coming over for dinner. You’ve hardly had a chance to prepare for either. Your work team is sending you urgent e-mails resulting in another peak of anxiety. Now you can’t find your phone, the presentation handouts and the menu for dinner.

Your life is full of time pressure and frustration. It is stressful. Racing against deadlines, sitting in traffic, arguing with your spouse — these are what make your body react as if you were facing a brown bear in spring. However, this is the reaction that helped the species survive giving them energy to fight aggressors or run from predators.
Today, instead of protecting you, however, the reaction when constantly activated makes you more vulnerable to life-threatening health problems. Fortunately, though, you can develop skills to avoid some stressors and limit the effects of others. The payoff includes less fatigue, more peace of mind and — perhaps — a longer, healthier life.
What is the stress response?
This “fight-or-flight” reaction, the stress response, takes place automatically when you feel threatened. Your pituitary gland, located at the base of your brain, responds to a perceived or real threat by stepping up its release of adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH). That’s the hormone which signals other glands to produce additional hormones. When the pituitary sends out a burst of ACTH it tells your adrenal glands, situated atop your kidneys, to release a flood of stress hormones into your bloodstream. These hormones — including cortisol and adrenaline — focus your concentration, speed your reaction time, and increase your strength and agility.

 
How stress affects your body
After you’ve fought or escaped your stressful event, the levels of cortisol and adrenaline in your bloodstream decline. That’s when your heart rate and blood pressure return to normal and your digestion and metabolism resume a regular pace. However, if stressful situations keep happening, your body has no chance to recover. Now your stress is long term. This long-term activation of the stress-response system increases your risk of obesity, insomnia, digestive complaints, heart disease and depression.
 Digestive system.

It’s common to have a stomachache or diarrhea when you’re stressed. This happens because stress hormones slow the release of stomach acid and the emptying of the stomach. The same hormones also stimulate the colon, which speeds the passage of its contents. That’s why so many people have diarrhea before a tennis match or the club golf championship.

 
 Chronic stress can also lead to continuously high levels of cortisol. This hormone can increase appetite and cause weight gain.

 
Immune system. Chronic stress also tends to weaken your immune system, making you more susceptible to colds and other infections. Typically, your immune system responds to infection by releasing several substances that cause inflammation. In response, the adrenal glands produce cortisol, which switches off the immune and inflammatory responses once the infection is cleared. However, prolonged stress keeps your cortisol levels continuously elevated, so your immune system remains suppressed.

 
In some cases, stress can have the opposite effect, making your immune system overactive. The result is an increased risk of autoimmune diseases, in which your immune system attacks your body’s own cells. Stress can also worsen the symptoms of autoimmune diseases. For example, stress is one of the triggers for the sporadic flare-ups of symptoms in lupus.

 
Nervous system. If your fight-or-flight response never shuts off, stress hormones produce persistent feelings of anxiety, helplessness and fear. Oversensitivity to stress has been linked with severe depression, interestingly the byproducts of cortisol act as sedatives, which contribute to the overall feeling of depression. On the other hand excessive amounts of cortisol can cause sleep disturbances, loss of sex drive and loss of appetite.

 
Cardiovascular system. High levels of cortisol can also raise your heart rate and increase your blood pressure and blood lipid (cholesterol and triglyceride) levels. These are risk factors for both heart attacks and strokes. Cortisol levels also appear to play a role in the accumulation of abdominal fat, which gives some people an “apple” shape. People with apple body shapes have a higher risk of heart disease and diabetes than do people with “pear” body shapes, where weight is more concentrated in the hips.

 
 Other systems. Stress often worsens skin conditions such as psoriasis, eczema, hives and acne. It can be a trigger for asthma attacks.
Often the problem is not the stress but too little time for recovery. It is obvious that to maintain a healthy life style you need to pay more attention  to recuperation on your personal and occupational levels.

Much success in maintaining a safe stress level.

Ruthan

Ruthan Brodsky
Copywriter and Content Creator
Freelance health writer
Freelance business writer

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Filed under: Stress

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