Are you stressed?  It seems like a simple question, but it may be more complicated than you might think.

When someone is asked, “Are you stressed?”, they may initially respond with a hesitant “no”. It’s sort of a stigma to feel stressed, not to mention you may only be in tuned with the superficial or outward stress we are so commonly used to feeling.

Lots of things can cause stress, from minor problems to major events like a divorce or death in the family.  Stress is inevitable, how we deal with it is what we can control.

There are actually 3 different types of stress the body experiences.  These are:

Acute

Episodic acute

Chronic

Acute stress is the most common, and tends to last just a short while.  It affects the typical person multiple times throughout the day.  Examples of this could be a traffic jam causing you to be late to work, or the alarm clock going off int he morning.

Episodic acute stress tends to have more triggers to cause it to occur.  This can be things like overscheduling your day, or if you are a “worry wort”.

Chronic stress is the one we must be most concerned about.  This is the stress that will wreak havoc on your system.  People may actually grow accustomed to this type of stress, leading it to go unnoticed for awhile.  It may even produce a negative mindset, whereas the person will actually begin to allow or seek out negative situations or people.  Or even making them more vulnerable to negative consequences of situations.

There can be “good” and “bad” stressors.  For instance, the first day or school, or your wedding day are instances of good stress.  

There can also be internal AND external stressors.  Internal stressors are things like negative self talk, constant worrying, or unrealistic expectations.  External stressors come from the outside, and are typically situational such as work, school, home expectations, finances.

BODY CONSEQUENCES:

You can experience physical symptoms of stress.  This can be in the form of:

• Headaches
• Insomnia
• High Blood Pressure
• Body aches
• Muscle tension
• Upset stomach (can be nausea or diarrhea)

When the body is under stress, this is the typical internal response:

1. The brain sends a signal to release glucose into the blood stream for instant energy.
2. Hormones like cortisol are released, causing the heart to beat more quickly.
3. The muscles get more oxygen from the increased blood flow, assisting with energy production. 
4. Once the threat is eliminated, the tension in the body settles. 
5. The body resumes its typical functioning as hormone levels return to normal.

Many systems are affected by stress, including the musculoskeletal system, the GI system, the nervous system, the endrocrine (hormones) system, just to name a few. So if all of these systems are affected by stress, then how do we begin to manage stress?

Managing stress:

1. Practice self care (developing routines that make time for yourself)
2. Exercise on a regular basis (can be as simple as a long walk)
3. Practice yoga 
4. Read a book
5. Getting Adequate sleep (recommended 7-9 hours each night)
6. Eating a nutritious diet
7. Listen to a podcast
8. Create a journal

The bottom line is that we cannot always remove external stressors, but we can learn to manage our stressors more effectively to offset the negative impact it will have on our body.  I encourage you to choose at least one of the above strategies to implement in your routine this week. Drop a comment below if you would like to share which one you’ll use!

If you are interested in learning more about stress, and how to best manage, this is one of my pillars in my Basically Nourished Body program.  Feel free to contact me for more information.