Why We Need to Control Chronic Stress And How To Do It

As a person who works in healthcare, I am the worst patient lol and that unfortunately means that I am no stranger to stress. Constant stress. Burnout. I try to recover. And cycles again.

And I’m sure a lot of people today feel the same way. When we perceive something as a threat or pressure, our bodies go into survival mode to try to protect us. Now, this doesn’t seem like a bad thing when you initially hear it. And it’s not! But there is an issue.

The Problem

Our bodies cannot tell the difference between physical stress and psychological stress. So whether we’re being chased by a wild animal or we’re feeling pressured because we have a deadline coming up at work, our bodies will react in the same way.

When we start to panic, our sympathetic nervous system, or SNS, is activated and signals the “fight or flight” response. Your brain triggers the release of stress hormones, such as adrenaline and cortisol. This would be helpful if we were being chased or attacked so that we could run or fight but a lot of the time we aren’t moving and utilizing this fuel that is building up. Our pulse and blood pressure rises and so do our blood sugars. We also start to breathe faster, and may even get warm and sweat.

What This Does

After this initial stress response, our bodies try to return to its resting or stable state. But what if the stress is chronic or ongoing? Your body remains in “fight or flight” mode. Many of us are constantly in fight or flight mode. We live here. Which means that the stress hormones are constantly communicating to our body that we are in danger.

Not only does this reduce your tolerance to deal with continuous stressors, it also affects your overall health. Irritability, low energy, sleep issues, increase blood pressure, tension, stomach upset, and so much more can be contributed to continuous stress. Ultimately, your body will use up all of its emergency resources and the body will start to shut down. This is what we know as burn out. But what can we do about it?

And Then A Hero Comes Along…

Lucky for us, we don’t have to live in fight or flight mode all of the time. By activating our parasympathetic nervous system, or PNS, we enter “rest and digest” mode. Here and only here can we heal and repair. Our society does not make it easy for us to enter this state of rest and repair but chronic stress disrupts the natural balance that we need to have for optimal health.

Supporting your nervous system with a diet rich in nutrients and finding ways to activate your PNS are critical. The easiest way to enter rest and digest mode is to simply breathe. From the belly!

Diaphragmatic breathing activates the parasympathetic nervous system via the vagus nerve. This also communicates to every cell in our body that we are safe.

There’s More!

Improving our vagal tone and making this stronger so that we have better stress response is key. And there are just so many ways to activate the vagus nerve. Calming practices like meditation and yoga are beautiful ways to do this. Spending time in nature is another way. Whatever works for you, you do just that.

References:

Everly, G. S., Jr., & Lating, J. M. (2002). A clinical guide to the treatment of the human stress response (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers.

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