HEALTHY BODY ยท JANUARY 2019
H OW
DOES
S T RE S S
REALLY AFFECT YOUR LIFE?
S
tress can wreak havoc on our lives, but did you
know that it can also wreak havoc on our minds and
bodies? Left unchecked, it could cause significant
damage to our vital organs and overall health.
Diseases like high blood pressure, heart disease,
obesity, and diabetes are major issues often associated with
high or continuously elevated stress levels. Health issues aren't
the cause rather the symptoms of stress.
When discussing the ill effects of stress, it's not only major
events that are to blame. Job loss and the ending of a dear
relationship no doubt are high stressors that cause adverse
effects on health, but there are countless smaller, more
trivial matters that can also play a major role, especially if
they occur on a daily basis.
For instance, being stuck in traffic or having an inept
co-worker on your team are never fun and if you're of
the personality that doesn't cope well with stress, even
slight inconveniences can turn into full-blown meltdowns
or cause significant responses such as headaches, rapid
breathing, and insomnia, among others.
What happens is your
HYPOTHALAMUS, the small
control center in your brain, sends out signals and orders
to the pituitary gland, which triggers the adrenal glands to release
epinephrine. This hormone triggers the body's natural reaction
of fight or flight, which rapidly increases heart rate, quickens
breathing, and tenses up muscles all to prepare the body to fight or
run in order to protect itself from the perceived threat.
That response is by design. It's there to protect us in an emergency situation,
but, you see, not all stressors are emergencies. This day in age, few people on
the planet have to hunt for their food and hope the enemy doesn't kill them in
the process, but our bodies, specifically the hypothalamus, don't know that. It
hasn't evolved with society. All it knows is to react quickly, lest fall prey to a wild
beast. The problem lies in how we recover from such a heightened reaction. If
the stress continues, the hypothalamus will continue firing signals, day after day,
and wreaking havoc on our overall comfort and putting our health at risk.
16 HEALTHY MAGAZINE