The Powerful Effects of Stress

That sudden rush of blood to your head, that overwhelming feeling of being out of control, that inability to look at any one thing clearly, that drop in confidence, that feeling of panic and sometimes anger that arises. Stress can feel yucky and it can be different for everyone. One thing we can all agree on is, too much stress is in no way conducive to a happy working, or personal life. 

“Our stresses, anxieties, pains, and problems arise because we do not see the world, others, or even ourselves as worthy of love.”

Prem Prakash, The Yoga of Spiritual Devotion A Modern Translation of the Narada Bhakti Sutras

Stress is a natural, expected human response to challenging or dangerous situations. Much like anxiety, stress was essential to survival as we progressed through evolution. In fact, sometimes it can be difficult to tell the difference between stress and anxiety. 

Stress is a short term, trigger-like response to a situation that can, in small doses, be motivating and can keep us moving forward. But when it tips over too much, it can be debilitating. 

Anxiety, on the other hand, is a sustained mental health disorder that can be triggered by stress. Anxiety doesn’t fade into the distance once the threat is mediated. Anxiety hangs around for the long haul and can cause significant impairment in social, occupational, and other important areas of functioning.

Aside from the effect stress can have on our minds, stress seems to have an impact on almost all of our physical systems. These are some of the major effects stress can have on our bodies:

Headaches

As stress moves into the body, muscles tense up. Muscle tension is almost a reflex reaction to stress – the body’s way of guarding against injury and pain. With sudden onset stress, the muscles tense up all at once. When the muscles around the neck and scalp tense up, it can cause tension headaches. 

They may occur at any age but are most common in adults and older teens. It is slightly more common in women and tends to run in families.

Aches and Pains

In the same way that the neck and scalp muscles tense up and cause headaches, chronic stress can cause the muscles in the body to be in a more or less constant state of guardedness. When muscles are taut and tense for long periods of time, this may trigger other reactions of the body and even promote stress-related disorders. 

For example, musculoskeletal pain in the low back and upper extremities has also been linked to stress, especially job stress.

Sleep Disturbance

For us humans, stress can cause the autonomic nervous system (ANS) to release hormones, such as adrenaline and cortisol. These hormones raise the heart rate to circulate blood to vital organs and muscles more efficiently, preparing the body to take immediate action if necessary. 

And of course, when our bodies are in this guarded state, it can’t relax and we find it harder to get to sleep. 

I spoke in my blog post about Sleep and Stress earlier around the seemingly vicious cycle; poor quality sleep = heightened propensity for stress and high stress = trouble getting good sleep.

Fatigue

Stress Causes fatigue by throwing off neurotransmitters in the brain, by decreasing thyroid hormones, by making us hungry and crave sugar, by causing inflammation and suppressing our immune systems and much more.

All of these factors, plus our bodies being at alert all of the time is conducive to some pretty serious tiredness. And if we are not sleeping well? Just the icing on the cake. 

Stomach Problems.

The brain and the gut are connected and constantly in communication. In fact, more neurons reside in the gut than in the entire spinal cord, according to research published in the book Neuroscience.

When presented with a potentially threatening situation, the sympathetic nervous system – a part of the body’s autonomic nervous system, which regulates bodily functions like the heartbeat, breathing, and blood pressure – responds by triggering a “fight-or-flight response,” releasing the stress hormone cortisol to make the body alert and prepared to face the threat.

When stress activates the fight-or-flight response in your central nervous system, it has been said to affect your digestive system, causing our esophagus to go into spasms, increasing the acid in our stomachs, which results in indigestion, making us feel nauseous and giving us diarrhea or constipation.

In serious cases, stress may cause a decrease in blood flow and oxygen to the stomach, which could lead to cramping, inflammation, or an imbalance of gut bacteria. It can also exacerbate gastrointestinal disorders, including irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), peptic ulcers, gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD).

“I promise you nothing is as chaotic as it seems. Nothing is worth diminishing your health. Nothing is worth poisoning yourself into stress, anxiety, and fear.”

Steve Maraboli, Unapologetically You: Reflections on Life and the Human Experience

Changes to Libido

When we experience fight or flight response, we experience an increase in heart rate, blood pressure, and breathing rate while non-essential functions, like sex drive, are acutely diminished. 

This response can also cause the release of hormones, such as cortisol and epinephrine, which in high levels can cause decreased sex drive. 

Along with the psychological aspects of stress affecting sex drive, stress is a recipe for disaster in the bedroom.

So what can we do to cope better during stressful situations?

Like any struggles with our mental health, if you feel your stress levels are becoming out of your control, I recommend you go and see your GP. If you could just use some help with coping with day-to-day stress, making a few changes could be the difference for you.

Learning to cope with stress can require some trial and error. What works for someone else might not work for you. It’s important to build your own stress reduction plan so that you have more than one strategy to implement when you need some relief.

Some of my tips are:

Breath

One of the most helpful tools we can use when under stress is to engage in deep breathing. Practice this strategy when you’re calm so that you know how to use it when you’re under pressure. Inhale for a count of four, hold for four, and exhale for four. Repeat.

Practice mindfulness

Check out my Simple Mindfulness Technique here or download one of the many guided mindfulness apps out there. 

One recommended way to practice mindfulness is to disconnect from the digital world and reconnect with the natural world for a specific period of time each day. You could even take a walk outside and use the opportunity to notice your surroundings using all of your senses.

Get Moving

Exercise in almost any form can act as a stress reliever. Being active can boost our feel-good endorphins and distract us from daily worries.

Keep a Journal

Journaling can be a great stress reducer through organizing our thoughts, clearing our minds and facilitating problem-solving.

Listen to Calming Music

Listening to slow, relaxing music can decrease our stress response (just as fast-paced music pumps you up for a run.)
This article by Music Oomph highlights the positive effects music can have on our mental and physical health.