Run for your life..but what are the consequences?

Photo by Gabriel Matula on Unsplash

Photo by Aditya Wardhana

Lately, I have been reading about the side effects of stress on our body functions. Not only will constant stress increase our resting heart rate, stop us from getting a good night sleep and leave us angry at the little things, but a chronic state of stress leads to weight gain, muscle pains and general malaise.  This can make us feel like we are at the end of our rope.






Our stress response is stimulated by the sympathetic nervous system which is part of the autonomic nervous system. This is responsible for our fight or flight response. This is what diverts blood flow to our extremities and allows us to make those life or death situations when we don't want to think, but we just need to act. The parasympathetic system counterbalances the sympathetic with the rest and relax states. This is when digestion occurs, and what allows our heart rate and respiratory rate to return to a normal level after all that life or death stuff.

Cortisol is the hormone that regulates how our body reacts. When the brain senses a need to alarm the body, it sends out signals to the adrenal glands which in turn release cortisol and then activate the sympathetic nervous system. If our body never recognizes that the threat is gone, the cortisol remains high, and leads to all of those chronic stress problems.

There is growing research that ongoing stress in the body may contribute chronic pain. It may have to do with the increased tension we feel, or the inflammatory response that is created when cortisol is released.

Photo by Jesper Aggergaard

In our current world, we are always on the go. We are connected to the world 24/7 via internet and phone. We don't leave our jobs at the office anymore. We rarely sit down to dinner to have a relaxing meal and make connections with our family. We push ourselves to do better, do more and just do. I think it's even more important these days to schedule time to shut down and encourage our parasympathetic nervous system to be more active. We need to retrain our sympathetic nervous system to quiet down and allow a balance between the two systems.

I know first hand that removing some of our daily tasks is not possible. So I recommend trying to add. That's right...add activities that may promote paraspympathetic activity. Just fit them in during your day while you're driving,  getting gas or mowing the lawn. What are these crazy things that can help you find some de-stress time thru your day?  My top 5 suggestions are:

• Breathe! Work on increasing the length of your exhale
• Remember what makes you happy and visualize it
• Sing and dance while listening to your favorite song, or listen to something funny and laugh
• Walk away from your work/computer for 15 minutes and take a walk while enjoying the views
• Eat a meal at the table without electronics and share your day

If you have time, start to meditate and learn to quiet your brain. My current favorite app is Insight Timer. I like it because I can set however long I have, I can follow a guided meditation or I can just sit and it will tell me when time is up.

If you've been struggling with managing pain, have had a change in weight and energy levels or generally don't feel well and your MD has not provided a diagnosis (even if you have a diagnosis that can lead to these), I encourage you to add some relaxation and play into your life. It can have profound effects when you let some air out and just exhale.

Many thanks for the inspiration for this post and for more reading about how stress, food, mobility and rest can impact your life, and suggestions for how to make a change,  check out the book "How to Make Disease Disappear" by Dr. Rangan Chatterjee. (Publisher  HarperOne; 1 edition (May 1, 2018) )