Stress and the Body

            This blog post is much overdue for many reasons… It’s late in my normal “schedule” because “life happened”, but also many of us struggle with the effects of stress and don’t even realize it’s happening, so the acknowledgement of this topic is something we can all relate to and should have known about long ago. I come to you in the throes of one of the most stressful seasons I’ve ever faced, that ultimately, I cannot control, so this is also a very personal post. In the last 8 weeks I have been confronted with 2 of the main men in my life falling from grace due to their own poor self-control (won’t go into that), I am in the midst of unexpected divorce, I moved, I changed jobs, and I am learning ALL new routines and lifestyles, while trying to be a strong role model for my girls. This is not to receive pity, but to create an awareness that we all go through stressful situations. We need to learn how to cope and heal from our experiences, so they don’t store in the body and cause long term damage. Out of all the “negative” things in this season I have, also, learned so many valuable lessons. I have learned to sit in pain, which results in healing, prioritize slowing down, focus on growing in my faith, and learning to control my own reactions and not try to control the actions of others. The last one is HUGE, often we stress/worry about the actions of others as if we can control what they are doing. We must stop doing that, it is probably one of the largest types of perceived stress, or stress we create ourselves, that is unnecessary and preventable. First and foremost, improving our stress is learning to control our reactions but knowing we are not responsible or able to change someone else’s behaviors. So, first, create an inventory of your relationships, events, and daily tasks and see what gives and what takes energy away. This will give you an area to focus as we talk more later. This does not mean I want you to throw those items away, but instead they may need to be a focus of healing so they can grow for the better.

            Now, let’s talk about the types of stress in our lives. There are two main types, tangible and perceived. Tangible stressors are the active or past events that touch our lives, childbirth, marriage, divorce, illness/death, family issues, jobs, friends, childhood trauma, ect.  Perceived stress can be anything from fear of the future to trying to anticipate the stress of someone else. While these seem real, they are not an event actively affecting us, and we kind of “make up a story” in our own minds, the “what ifs”. We all do it, but we need to see it and learn to quiet it. Both types of stress need to be acknowledged and processed. Therapy, counseling, spiritual guidance, community, ect can all help work through these, but that is not the point of this post. We will discuss WHY we need to pursue these types of healing modalities, due to the effects of unmanaged stress on the body.

            Let’s talk about the stress pathway, meaning what happens in our bodies when a stressful event occurs. Please remember, there is a threshold of stress our body should handle and over that level, through large events or an accumulation of small events, the body kind of “gets stuck” in this pathway. This often occurs when we don’t (or can’t) stop to allow our bodies to get the healing pathway, “rest and digest”. This can occur by our own doing from holding too busy of a schedule or by others, through trauma, death of a loved one, or illness. When a stressful event, of any kind occurs, our brain sees the threat and switches to “fight or flight” mode. Meaning are we standing to fight this head on or are we running away, this is a normal physiological response. It is needed to protect us, but in modern society we are not commonly running from bears, but our body does not know the difference in a that kind of stress and the stress that comes from lack of sleep or emotional events. This why some people get aggressive when they are stressed, and some are anxious or panicky. The longer this goes on the brain will start to signal the production of the stress hormone, cortisol (and others), which helps the body make physical changes like increased heart rate and blood pressure. This is a great response if you need to stand and run from a bear, but the longer it goes on due to less intense but long standing stressors, like fear of a boss or partner, holding too busy of a schedule and constantly being in a hurry, ect, can cause damage to the body from this system being turned on and not getting to the healing setting of “rest and digest”.

            While this is going on there is another pathway that is activated simultaneously, that prepares the body to use energy from storage and regulate our immune system. This pathway tells our body that we don’t need to worry about the “rest and digest” setting because there is a bigger threat that needs addressed. So, our immune system slows down, our gut slows down, and we switch to using our energy in storage, thanks to the secretion of the hormone, cortisol. Just like the other pathway when used for a sudden and short-lived threat, it is beneficial, but when this system is turned on for too long, because of things we do or that are done to us, we can accumulate negative side effects.

            If you noticed in both pathways we have the increased secretion of cortisol. This in the short term is very beneficial, but over time this prioritization causes imbalances. When we prioritize cortisol production, we have symptoms because of the way that system shifts the bodies focus. We start to have symptoms of any or all of the following: high blood pressure, racing heart, anxiety, weight gain, slow digestion, low immune response, imbalanced hormones-specifically testosterone because cortisol and testosterone are made in the same gland, thyroid disorders, insulin resistance, ect.

So how do we stop it? Unfortunately, in functional medicine there is not a “magic wand” or pill to stop this process. We need to target the root…. Chronic stress. This occurs when we prioritize stopping the constant insult. My favorite way to describe this is something Dr. Mindy Pelz says in one of her books, “The rushing woman’s syndrome”. This is not to say it doesn’t occur to men, but thought is the same. We, “do it all myself” kinds of people, struggle here. Now this is not to cast shade on the ones that can’t prevent this lifestyle but even when our circumstances put us in this mode, we need still to prioritize rest and healing. So, let’s talk about how to start healing.

1)    Start saying no. This might mean you take less things on and focus on only things that “fill your cup”. So if the PTA asks you to make 100 cupcakes for the bake sale…. Say no. (merely an example) Or if a stressful person in your life wants to call and “vent” their stress on you…. You might have to say no or put a hold on that relationship.

2)    Prioritize rest. This is not only sleep but true rest. Take time for solitude, relaxation, and healing. This can be in therapy, massage, prayer or meditation, Epsom salt baths, red light therapy, and getting solid restful sleep.

3)    Nourish your body. Eat real food and hydrate. This means even though our stressed-out bodies crave sugar, carbs, and take out…. Find a way to prioritize whole foods, lots of protein, and veggies/fruits.

4)    Add supplements that take the body out of the stress cycle or help detox cortisol and other stress hormones. Here are a few: a methylated Multivitamin, Adrenal complex, functional mushrooms, electrolytes, stress complexes with herbals (ashawaganda, ginger, ginseng, Astragalus ect).

5)    Seek medical advice. Many of us live in a situation that is far from our control, and while we are not responsible for the actions of others, it is fully our responsibly to handle how we react and what we do with the pieces they leave us with. That might mean leaving those relationships, getting medical help, and learning our bodies total health, and learning to let go of the things we cannot control, I am speaking to myself as much as you friend.

6)    This might be the most important. I don’t know your situation, as you don’t fully know mine, but I want you to know something. I want you to sit with this. It will hurt. But we need to feel the pain to heal whatever is going on in your life.

IT IS OKAY…. NOT TO BE OKAY. Stop telling yourself your fine when you’re not. Ask for help. Let things go. And find a community that will lift you up, not tear you down. It will hurt for the short term but gain in the long term.

As always, we need to learn that true health is about more than just surviving. It’s time to thrive love.