What happens when we are stressed? When you feel stressed, an alarm in your brain is set off and it then sends a message to the body for defensive action. Now your nervous system is aroused and hormones are released to sharpen senses, quicken the pulse, and deepen respiration while tensing muscles. This response is often referred to as the ‘fight or flight’ response. Sound familiar? Sure, we have all felt it. When those stressful situations go unresolved, the body remains in a state of constant activation which increases the wear and tear of the biological systems and results in fatigue, depression and damage. It’s in this state when the risk of injury and disease are escalated and is often seen in workplace injuries. You have to understand what the symptoms of stress are and then realize what your stressors are. Some of the typical symptoms of stress that may occur individually or combined with other symptoms are: Physical symptoms: headaches, grinding teeth, chest pain, shortness of breath, pounding heart, high blood pressure, diarrhea or constipation, muscle aches, fatigue, insomnia, frequent illness. Psychosocial: anxiety, irritability, sadness, defensiveness, anger, mood swings, apathy, depression, slowed thinking, or racing thoughts, feeling helpless, hopeless or maybe trapped. Behavioral: overeating, under eating, impatience, procrastination, increased use of alcohol or drugs, increased smoking, withdrawal from social networks. It’s interesting that what has always remained a mystery are the mechanisms through which stress causes disease. A team at the Laboratories for Integrative Neuroscience and Endocrinology recently demonstrated how events that happened to you around the time of your birth, or even before you were born, may have effects on you later in life. This means that the genes are not actually affected, however, the way they function is. What they are suggesting in this study is if your childhood was very stressful it may have long-lasting influences throughout your whole life. Now there is some food for thought. When they studied adult stress they found that, when adult stress is superimposed on a stressful childhood, the stress hormone, cortisol, is dramatically increased. When these levels remain elevated chronically for a long period of time, illnesses, diseases and addictions increase. Another study, a 20-year landmark study, was conducted by the University of London and it was concluded that stress was linked to the six leading causes of death – heart disease, cancer, lung ailments, accidents, cirrhosis of the liver and even suicide. They found that unmanaged reactions to stress were a more dangerous risk factor for cancer and heart disease than either cigarette smoking or high cholesterol. Emotions have a powerful impact on your body. Now that we can clearly see that stress which is not managed properly is a real concern for all of us, what can we do about it? There are things that you can do, starting today, that can make dramatic changes in your wellbeing:
- Become aware of what your stressors are.
- Practice meditation daily.
- Have regular Reiki sessions to help clear and balance your energy.
- Learn yoga.
- Change your diet to healthy foods.
- Take steps to let go of your addictions, and sometimes that can include negative relationships.
- Start a gratitude journal. There is something to be grateful for every day.
- Surround yourself with positive people and laugh more.
- Don’t exclude getting professional help if you are still having difficulty with handling stress.
- Drink lots of water to hydrate and refuel your body.
- Keep your thoughts positive.
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