Stress – It’s Not A Good Look

I get it, stress is a thing. You experience it, your best friend, your mom, your neighbour - you name it. Stress is so common with our society now, many of us don't even realize we're experiencing it! Let's talk about it.

Stress; "a state of mental or emotional strain or tension resulting from adverse or very demanding circumstances." Does that sound about right? You might not see the symptoms right away but maybe it hits you when you start seeing the clumps of hair in the shower. Those breakouts you haven't had since you hit puberty decide to visit. Randomly getting crazy migraines or headaches. Or maybe, the one most of us don't realize is even a symptom at all - digestive issues?

You see, stress triggers hormones that you'd typically find in a fight or flight situation. Let's go with the all time classic example of coming nose to nose with a bear. Our eyes see it, our brain processes it, and our bodies either shift into fight mode to defend or you run for the hills. Here's the tricky part though, now we live in a world where bears are the least of our worries when we have bills to pay, exams to study for and I mean our social lives can be stressful too. This type of stress - although it feels different than a bear attack - is very much similar.

Our brains process all stress in a very similar fashion - without getting all science-y on you - the brain being a powerful and incredibly smart organ does not know the difference between a physical attack and your boss at work pushing you for that deadline. Our body responds the same way, fight or flight. The hormones present during a physical attack are identical when you experience an emotional or mental stress too. Our mind doesn't perceive the tight deadline vs. a bear attack and that just goes to show how important it is to practice healthy coping mechanisms to stay in our prime years for as long as possible.

So, remember how I said the digestive system takes a bit of a hit during stress? Well, here's the funny thing about our bodies, when our mind and body are stressed your brain will isolate and only send signals to body systems that are vital to survival. That pizza you had earlier? Doesn't matter. Your body will drive all digestive energy towards your extremities like your legs and arms to fight for your life or give you enough means to run. Your lungs will start to push for more air and you'll breathe a bit heavier, your heart will start pumping faster to get that blood to support the oxygen supply to your muscles and you may start to find yourself sweating. Sure sounds a lot like anxiety does it not? Look at you piecing all of this together!

Okay, so now what? You're a sweaty and anxious mess and you're feeling all kinds of gross and might not understand what is going on, further aggravating any unusual symptoms you're experiencing. Now, we talk about that instinctive response in a more normal every day type of way. There's that acute stress like running late for an appointment and then the chronic stress like that 5 classes, 40 hour a week job and keeping up with your social life and your crazy personal life type of stress. This kind of stress, in my opinion and possibly some other professional's opinion, is the worst type of stress.

It's a constant tension that your body has to deal with every single day. Imagine what that fight or flight feeling does to your body when it happens on a daily. Your body's natural responses get taxed and you burn out real quick. You see symptoms like migraines and headaches, bloating, gas, nausea, achy muscles, achy joints, sleepless nights and any other symptom you can think of. At this point in time, your body's reaction to acute stress starts to show up every day. This is not an ideal situation and it's really hard on your body to continue to deal with that 24/7. Although it is a great response system to have, it is not of much use when it's in drive in unnecessary situations.

What do you do now? Check out my blog on ways to soothe and calm your body and mind to get some tips on what you can do.