How does Stress Affect Health and What Can You Do?
Before we can begin to talk about how stress impacts your body, and what we can do to be healthy in spite of it, we should probably decide what that really is.
What is stress?
Chances are that you are probably so accustomed to the stresses in your life bombarding you, that you may not remember what it was like to felt 'at ease.'
Can you buy it?
No, of course not. Who would buy it anyway? Yet we talk about it as if it abundant: I've got so much stress right now!
Do you have a box of stress in your home or at your job?
I think we can all imagine what that box would be filled with, yet we don't really have a box of stress anywhere.
Have you ever said, 'This (pile of paperwork, laundry...)is my biggest stress?'
Does stress have a color, taste, texture, scent or sound?
No, we can't really describe stress in this way either.
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So, just what is stress and does it really even exist?
Stress is the one syllable word we use that describes the wear and tear our bodies go through in response to everyday events and pressures.
Stress has become the number one problem in these days of our lives. Why? Because rarely stop or even slow down. When I say 'we' I am referring to most of us, AND you know who you are. Years ago a friend of mine gave me a stack of cards with daily thoughts specifically for women who do too much. I looked at them and wondered why she gave them to me. When I look back at that, I really just have to laugh. She was a good friend. I was (okay, still am!) definitely a woman who did too much. I'm working on that, but I'm also constantly working on how I can remain calm on the inside.
Why do we get so upset and stressed out instead of staying cool calm and collected?
Stress happens when reality doesn't match our expectations. Things don't go as planned and it sets us off balance. It
is our emotional response that throws us off. With such busy lifestyles as they are, when an unexpected event or thought or challenge or illness is thrown in, we get just fall right off the tightrope we walk everyday. Our bodies and our minds respond to the stress.
So what do you do? You accept that stressful events will happen AND you become resistant to the stress and keep on the tightrope. This is how you can experience stress, but not let the stress impact your health. Eventually, you'll become so calm that you will give up that tightrope completely! Your body will thank you because stress in your body can do serious damage. I've listed a few interesting Facts that might really surprise you.
Becoming Stress Resistant
You don't have to let stress affect your overall health. Thoughts, events, and situations that cause either positive
or negative feelings or responses is considered stress. Positive stress, you say? Yes, even wonderful, exciting
events can cause a stress response. Consider the stress associated with a wedding. By becoming stress resistant, you can handle just about anything with grace. It isn't just the stressful events that cause damage; it is how you feel aobut them that determines whether you are stressed out or not.
I remember when I was a new mother. I was fairly comfortable with babies because I had worked in a nursery as a nurse for a few years, but I was still struggling with the juggling act of parenthood and professional. I really wanted to be Mom and it was easy to put any career goals on hold-for a few years, anyway. However, my situation didn't allow me to do this. This is when I learned about becoming stress resistant. I saw women who seemed to handle the busy Mommy life with grace, and I saw some who kind of fell apart. Guess which one was the more loving and kind to their families? So, I wanted to be a graceful Mommy whether I was in the professional working Mommy mode or the working Mommy at home mode.
Stress Response
If you've ever felt the racing of your heart, facial flushing, sweating palms, or chaotic thoughts, you've experienced a stress response. Our stress response is the result of our perception about a situation.
Have you noticed how something can cause a great deal of 'stress' one day, but not another? That's right! The way you see or cope with a situation varies from time to time because so many factors are involved. Are you tired or well rested?
Are you being pulled in plenty of directions-too many directions? How you respond to stress can actually cause a
great deal of harm to your body, mind and spirit. In fact, your response to stress can make changes to your body, and
those changes can last a long time. This is part of the reason why it is important to really learn how you respond to stress and to take a close look at what causes you stress. That is the start of making some important changes to become stress-resistant. Afterall, you might be able to control some situations that cause you stress and lower the impact, but overall you'll always need to control your response to stressful events as a way to protect yourself.
So, let's take a look a few key questions:
How do you respond to stress? What happens when you get stressed out?
Do you get quiet on the outside and steam on the inside-maybe steam for a long time?
Do you lash out and then feel much better right away?
Do you eat more or eat less?
Do you sleep more or sleep less?
Do you get head-aches, diarrhea, high blood pressure, or fast heart beat?
Stop and think about how you generally handle stress.
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What causes you stress?
That long list of 'things to do' that never seems to really get whittled down?
Too many people or things demanding your attention?
Traffic, bad drivers?
The emotional tensions and pressures that happen in response to the little pressures of our lives do the most damage to our bodies.
What is your boiling point?
This is very personal because many of us are good at reaching our boiling point without ever showing it on the outside. This isn't healthy, of course, but we've all learned to do this so that we can seem to function. Most of us are fairly confident about our ability to hide our real feelings. So long as you've learned how to properly cope and release the negative feelings associated with stress (anger, fear, resentment, sadness and so on) you'll be okay. Is a layoff in your future or has it already happened. There is such a thing as layoff stress.
Many of us are still learning how to focus on positive feelings and let go of the bad ones. Some of us just love the drama, don't we?
Use your head to be happy, focus in on peak performance at your job, feel more satisfaction in your relationships, feel healthy and even stay young! Make the choice today. Learn a few simple steps to use your head, get rid of the stress in the body and achieve more than you ever imagined by learning about the relationship between stress and emotions.
I see patients almost every day as a family nurse practitioner. Did you know that the American Institute of Stress tells us that up to 90% of health problems are related to stress?
There is a lot of research that tells us that our thoughts and emotions have a strong impact on our health and feelings of overall well being. Did you really need the research to prove it to you? I doubt it. Most of us have been a victim of our response to stress whether it is a minor response such as a head-ache or a serious response such as high blood pressure.
Emotions/Responses that inhibit optimal natural health
Don’t wait for that serious illness to wake you up when it is so simple to start taking care of yourself or a loved one today! Begin to live an optimal holistic lifestyle today!
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