Stress- Facts, Management, and Lifestyle Tips

 

Stress! 

It’s something we seem to be constantly aware of these days, whether that means hearing about it, attempting to manage it, or simply experiencing it personally in our day to day lives. Stress is something we can’t live without but through healthy proactive measures, can manage and even use to become driven productive healthy members of our community. Much of this depends though on:

 Our own personal interpretation and perceived levels of what amount of stress we are under

 and

 How we respond emotionally to the effects it has on our bodies and mental well being as a whole.

There is actually more than one type of stress, but most often we experience it as mental or emotional stress, and physical stress. This can further be be broken down into perceived stress and physical measurable stress.

Perceived stress is often times how we view an event or stressor as it occurs. Our outlook on the event, how it will affect our daily routine, the tasks we are already juggling, and how much of an additional mental load it will put on us. Our outlook on these types of events influences how our body responds to these occurrences on a chemical level, depending on whether we have a positive or negative outlook, feel overwhelmed, upset, startled, or even depressed by the added load to what we are already carrying.

Another way to view these events is like this: 

When we are already busy or feel maxed out in terms of our day to day tasks, receiving an upsetting email from our boss, a bill we weren’t expecting, or being scheduled to work an additional shift that overlaps with an already planned event, can all create negative mental stimuli similar to what we would experience if we were actually threatened, lacking resources, or put in a position where we feel the need to escape a situation as a whole. 

The Autonomic Nervous System has 2 Sides: 

Fight or Flight & Rest and Digest 

also known as Sympathetic and Parasympathetic.

These two will definitely get an entire blog post of their own but for now consider them two sides on a seesaw. When we are in a state of "Fight or Flight" we are activating predominantly the Sympathetic Nervous System side. Our heart rate and blood pressure goes up, and with it blood clotting ability, (incase we are harmed in battle!) and digestion goes down, sorry no time for a pee break during war💩. In our brain the amygdala which controls much of our emotions (oh boy😅) and less of our logic thinking areas, sends a memo to the hypothalamus to tell the adrenals to release adrenaline, noradrenaline, and cortisol.  

So when these perceived stressors put our body in a fight or flight state, and regardless of the actual physical level of threat being fairly low from an email or an unplanned for bill, we feel threatened and respond in the same manner mentally and chemically making us emotional, exhausted, high blood pressure having, constipated bundles of no fun. As adrenaline is only meant to provide a short term boost of energy and runs its course, the body senses that this stressed state is becoming less short term and more chronic, and begins to dump cortisol in higher amounts causing chronic inflammation, weight retention, and hormonal and G.I. imbalances overall.

 Unfortunately, as we grow older our bodies tend to be put more and more into this state. This additionally, overlaps with other stressors like: environmental stressors such as toxins, unclean air supply, or even seasonal allergies, food intolerances, viral, gastrointestinal bacterial threats, and general physical daily activities overall. These physical stressors are very real and can even include activities we enjoy such as working out, dancing, and the occasional staying out late to attend a concert (memories). While we enjoy these events, they can add stress as well, especially if our perceived level of stress is already elevated.

When it comes to stress levels imagine we were to have a bucket containing all our stressors. If our perceived stressors have already filled the majority of the bucket, even enjoyable activities like a cross-fit class or dancing with the girls, will cause this bucket to overflow and with it create adverse side effects like a chronic inflammatory response or other responses from our immune system, long term damage to our cells themselves, or the body as a whole being unable to differentiate it’s own tissue as self or non-self-prolonging this stressed condition. 

Cortisol levels themselves will also be consistently high, taxing the system and for women in a peri or post-menopausal state, this can cause the body to begin to “rob” the body of the precursors it needs to create these sex hormones to create more as the demands and needs (especially for those past a general childbearing age) are shifted due  to this perceived high level of stress. This is one way our outlook overall, can play a much more involved roll in our health and stress levels in our day to day lives.

How do we help correct this though? 

We can't just skip out on work, filter all our bosses emails into the junk folder, and shred every bill that comes our way. We can't just neglect care for our loved ones, or shuck off all our obligations and duties. Sorry kids, can't pick you up from school mommy has to manage her stress levels. Can you please quit billing me, I'm trying to manage my stress... Yes I will still be using the phone.

As repetitive and even too simple to be true as it may seem, there are some key lifestyle and mindset changes that can help. Through active stress management and adopting an intentional positive outlook, we can begin to shift these stressors more towards something positive we use as daily motivation, and less of a perceived threat to our well-being.

Scarcity Vs. Abundance: Why it Matters.

Often times when stressed, we begin to behave as though we are running out. Running out the door, running out of resources, running out of food, water, clothes, and hours in the day in general. This creates a constant stressed state or puts us in what is commonly referred to as a "Scarcity Mindset". It can present itself as a lack of confidence at work, rushing to speak for others, discrediting ourselves, or being hurried and flustered. We lack self value because we feel we are losing value not just in ourselves but in what resources we need to sustain overall. This again can put us in a state of "Fight or Flight". By creating an abundance mentality, we over time can allow the body to begin to shut off the consistent state of feeling threatened, lacking of resources, and even help with appetite as we don’t feel the need to "resource harbor" and acquire additional calories to make it through the long hall. 

How we perceive our personal levels of Scarcity or Abundance can manifest in many ways, from how we perceive wealth, blessings, material possessions, time obligations, how much food we have, and even how much we feel those around us value or love us as an individual. This can go deeper as for some, this state began as a child depending on their relationship with either a parent, what sort of attention the did or didn't receive, and how economically or emotionally sound their caregivers were during their younger years. For some, sexual abuse, assault, or other long term damaging scenarios can also effect how people perceive their needs being met in adulthood, and may take more work to relearn than others. While this may call for more inner work for some than others, shifting out of a scarcity mindset will help with maintaining perceived levels of stress overall, and in doing so can help calm and sooth our inner hunter gatherer and let them know "hey girl, it's cool the cookies and the sunshine will both be there tomorrow if we need them to be." 

Slow, intentional walks, yoga, and mediation, and breathwork, are all additional ways of shifting the body to operate less in a sympathetic and more of a parasympathetic state or shifting from “Fight or Flight” into “Rest and Digest”.

Additionally, for many as this has gone on for longer than the body can sustain, adrenal levels are taxed, and the circadian rhythm may be affected as well. Utilizing a magnesium, GABA, and melatonin sleep aid, and supplementing mood support with 5-HTP, or L-theanine, can all help support appropriate neurotransmitter timing and output, as well as help support a healthy mood in general. This can additionally help to correct healthy cortisol levels as we do at times need a small amount in our lives, just not the entire day 24/7. Ideally, cortisol levels should be elevated in the early morning, tapering off in the evening, allowing for a restful night’s sleep. By addressing sleep cycle and positive mood boosting neurotransmitter output timing, we can help our cortisol levels correctly line up as well, as everything works based on the timing release of other hormones and neurotransmitters as an overall.

What the gut are you talking about, I thought we were talking about stress?

Well yea, but still you've made it this far reading my rambling so why quit now! This could be the biggest takeaway for you yet, you don't know! So, that being said, one additional tip for many is additional fiber consumption and here's why. As cortisol levels heighten, they can throw off estrogen and progesterone levels as well, as all 3 utilize cholesterol as a base precursor. When this happens estrogen levels may dip. Estrogen also though, can be reabsorbed in the gut lining, and if a diet is already low in fiber, this will create a false representation of how much estrogen the body realistically needs to create to be most optimal, encouraging cortisol to increase production amounts instead.

 This can create a situation of estrogen dominance, but with low production, (false high low scenario) causing progesterone levels to dip as well as the body uses estrogen levels as a determinant in the amount of progesterone to be produced.  Fiber will help to carry this estrogen out of the body and allow levels to accurately begin producing what the body needs as cortisol levels are also lowered via stress management methods mentioned above. When properly controlled or utilized, a healthy perceived stress level, and stress management tools can help keep us healthy, happy, motivated, proactive, as well as allow us to still have room in our lives for the activities we thrive at and enjoy(!), without overflowing our stress level bucket. By utilizing stress management tools and addressing our mental outlook on life as  whole, we make room to fill it with passion projects, hobbies, and events until our cup runneth over, but with good things, instead of just the day to day stuff that stresses us (and our bodies) out. 😉