Stress, more than just a feeling?

By Tracy Webster

Stress has become an epidemic.  More than half of the population experience regular physical symptoms caused by stress. Just over a third feel like they are living with extreme stress and 48 percent feel their stress has increased over the past five years. Stress is more than just a feeling; it served as an important evolutionary function for our prehistoric ancestors. As humans, it’s perfectly normal to experience mild stress and it has a positive short-term benefit because it does release a hormone called cortisol. This stress hormone can give a “quick burst of energy, heighten memory, increase heart rate and a lower sensitivity to pain”, which can be advantageous in high stake situations.

As humans evolved, the challenges we face have shifted from acute stress (like an animal attack) to constant stress. Many people experience high levels of both internal and external stress. Stress overload alone can produce serious mental disorders. Sources of stress overload vary, depending on individual circumstances. Medical problems, socio-economic situations, job stress, interpersonal crises, and other sources can lead to or contribute to stress overload. Stress overload can have an impact on memory loss, weakened immune function, fat gain, muscle loss and anxiety.  Stress overload can also contribute to opioid and other substance abuse. That is why it’s crucial that we measure and learn how internal and external stress overload can affect lives.

Metabolic Syndrome and Stress

Metabolic Syndrome is an insidious precursor to chronic disease condition. It is self-manageable with conscious alterations in lifestyle, however, our ability to manage it is affected by stress, worry, and anxiety.  Obesity is a large factor in developing metabolic syndrome. Stress can cause people to turn to food for comfort.  Emotional eating occurs when people eat to deal with stressors, often overeating high-calorie sweet or fatty food. A recent study of over 1,000 subjects and their habits showed that stress/depression emotional eating can have an impact on obesity and that emotion/stress management may prove effective in obesity prevention.

Stress is hard enough to handle in small doses, but chronic stress can have complex, detrimental effects on your emotional health (which in turn, ends up impacting your overall health). While the benefits of maintaining good nutrition and managing your calories are well established, it is becoming clear that how you address the triggers of stress is just as important when you are constructing your diet plan.

Stress and Sleep

Sleep, both quantity and quality, also affect your health.  Stress can have a negative impact on your sleep. The average adult needs 7-9 hours of sleep per night, and about a third of adult’s report getting less than 6 hours of sleep every night. Chronic stress can make it harder to fall or stay asleep, resulting in an endless cycle.

Consider the findings of a study conducted by the University of Chicago’s Department of Medicine. The expressed purpose of the study was to determine the relationship between sleep loss and cortisol levels. The study concluded that when your body doesn’t get enough sleep, your cortisol levels can rise anywhere from 37-45%. The increased cortisol levels can seriously threaten your mental and physical health.  Even partial sleep loss is enough to raise your cortisol levels and bring on an entire host of problems that come along with it. Fortunately, there are plenty of tools you can utilize. Making sure you get enough sleep is crucial to managing both your stress levels and your mental health.

The fact that chronically elevated stress levels have a negative effect on humans is hardly a revelation these days. Corporations can benefit from understanding and measuring stress in each department so they can analyze the information and formulate plans to help their employees.  The more we study stress and try to understand how it specifically affects the human body, the more we realize that it might be one of the underlying issues holding us back in the pursuit of a healthier, happier more productive life.

Don’t let stress hold you back!