Stress

You live in prehistoric times; survival depends on your swift response to predators. As you hunt, looking for food for your family, you are suddenly faced with saber tooth tiger that spots you from the distance. You don’t really “think”, you run. What helps you is the flight or fight reaction also known as the stress response. The rapid release of adrenalin and cortisol into your blood stream cause changes within your body and mind in the blink of an eye that are designed to save your life.

The Stress Response

• Blood sugar rises to fuel your brain with energy to help you think your way out of danger.

• Cholesterol and fat are released into your blood to provide you with nutrients.

• Blood clots more readily to reduce hemorrhage, in case you are injured.

• Long term memory shuts down, but short term memory is enhanced; you are very focused.

• Heart rate and blood pressure increase to pump more oxygen to your lungs

• Blood is shunted to the large muscles of your body, like your thighs, to help you run.

• Digestive and reproductive systems shut down, because they are not key to your survival at the moment.

It’s an Emergency

All of these responses reflect the fact that you are in an emergency. Everything going on in your body and mind is designed to get you through a short term crisis. When the crisis subsides, your body and all of its systems return to normal, within minutes to hours.

We don’t typically face tigers as predators these days, but the stress response helps us in modern day situations as well. For example, it often comes into play during public speaking or when an emergency room physician works to save a patient’s life or when an athlete performs in an athletic event or when a student takes an important exam. We have all experienced the feeling that results from the “right” amount of stress: we feel challenged, clear, energetic, prepared, and ready to perform at our best. This is what we might call good stress: our bodies and minds are up to the challenge we’re about to face.

What happens when the stress response is triggered due to psychological or social threats, rather than physical ones What if we do not feel able to take charge of? What if we cannot change a threatening situation but we cannot fight it or flee from it? What if we do not feel up to the challenge that we have to face?

Chronic Stress

Some examples might be:

• You’re in the same traffic jam you endure daily, to get to and from a job where you feel unappreciated.

• You’re watching news reports of terrorist threats and war casualties.

• You’re on an endless phone “menu”, unable to get information you need.

• Your children are fighting and you cannot get them to listen to you.

• You and your spouse disagree about how to manage your finances.

You can think of many of your own challenges, I’m sure. It has been estimated that many of us experience the stress response as many as fifty times a day. When the stress response is triggered frequently by challenges that overwhelm us on a daily basis like work, interpersonal relationships, illness or death of a loved one, major life changes, the release of adrenalin and cortisol, along with the physical changes they cause, are no longer helpful. These situations trigger a stress response that does not resolve in minutes or hours but instead, may take weeks, months or years.

What is intended to save your life in the short term can actually make you sick in the long term. This is not the helpful kind of stress response that gets you out of danger; it is a prolonged state that we call chronic stress. Remember that what is so wonderfully adaptive about the stress response for emergency situations is that it goes away and things get back to normal pretty quickly. But if your “stressors” are constant, you never get a break from the stress hormones and the effects they have.

Think about it: each aspect of the stress response listed above is potentially hazardous to your health: increased blood sugar, cholesterol and fats; short term memory favored over long term memory; a hyper-alert state; high blood pressure, elevated heart rate, digestive and reproductive shut down. It is no wonder that the long term consequences of chronic stress can include:

• Diabetes

• High cholesterol and triglycerides

• Blood clots

• Impaired memory

• Sleep disorders

• Hypertension and heart disease

• Digestive and reproductive disorders

• Loss of libido

Many of these can put you at risk for heart disease and stroke. Moreover, immunity can be decreased, depression can result and medical problems that you have may worsened.

It’s personal

People have unique personalities and react to stress differently. We all know people who let everything role off their backs and others who are bothered by almost everything. Some of that difference is thought to be genetic, but much of it is learned. Also, we each are different in what we find stressful. While there are certain situations that we would all agree would be stressful, there are many others that would be personal to you. So remember, it does not matter what would stress your husband or your best friend; what stresses you, stresses you.

Taking control

The fact is that stress is here to stay. So, we need to learn how to manage our response to the stressful situations and events in our lives. Cutting edge medical research is constantly revealing new ways to defend against the damaging effects of chronic stress; you can learn what they are. More than your genes, the lifestyle choices you make determine your health as you age. You’ll be amazed at the changes you can make and how your outlook and health can improve.