We all have heard on TV, magazines, the news and from friends that stress is bad. Stress makes you fat. Stress causes grey hair. The list goes on and on, but did you know that those are the least of the problems caused by stress?
Our society is almost proud of their collective high stress lives. At times it can feel as though everyone is in a contest to prove that they are the "most stressed".
Why?! My personal belief is that people take pride in being busy and stressed because it makes them feel as though they're accomplishing great things, even though they aren't at all.
Did your head just explode?
I know it's crazy!
Your body has two flavors of hormones to release, happy and stressed. When it's releasing one, the other is stopped.
Your body does this because it thinks it's under attack.
Your brain does not understand that your inability to pay bills is not the same as a bear chasing you. Your brain sees them both as a threat. Because of this, the body's reaction is the same and is designed to get you out of there. You are able to run faster, breathe more efficiently, use muscles more efficiently and heal faster.
Your body shuts down "nonessential" functions, like digestion and fat burning, among others. The way our bodies work is really awesome if we're in physical danger and under "stress", because we may have a fighting chance against that bear. The bummer is that our bodies were not designed to deal with financial stress, emotional stress, work stress, or the stress that rush hour traffic causes.
When you sit at a stressful job all day, fight traffic, deal with stress of raising a family, or relationship stress, your body believes it's under constant attack.
Sounds lovely doesn't it?
Remember there are two categories of hormones. Get your body to release the good ones, not the bad ones.
How?
Move your body.
Physical activity stimulates the release of Dopamine and Serotonin. These are hormones that affect sleep, mood and appetite.
When you deal with high stress for a long time, you begin to run low on Norepinephrine. Without Dopamine, your body can't make more.
The bottom line is stress, while trendy, causes all kinds of bad things to happen inside and outside of your body. Exercise, sleep, staying away from sugar and practicing relaxation are all ways to help to combat the effects. Our bodies are pretty incredible and they were built to withstand a storm. But if you put them through constant hurricanes, something will eventually give. It may just be your waistline, but it could end up being something more severe like a heart attack.
So get some exercise, some sleep and take a deep breath or two.
Try to avoid being constantly stressed and take care of that body of yours , it's your only one! (check out that blog and many others to help you create the best healthy lifestyle strategy for you.