Do you feel stressful very often? Have you noticed any changes in your body that you are under stress?
In many cases that I have been working with, clients reported feelings of anxiety and worry, getting angry easily, craving for certain kind of snack or drinks such as chocolate and alcohol, physically tired and muscle pain, sleep problems, some even have stomach acid reflux, and more. These are some of the signals of stress.
Many of us experience stress, but probably not all of us are coping with it effectively. Some clients said they know exercising will help to relieve stress but they don’t have time for it and some don’t enjoy exercising. However, if we let stress accumulate in long term, it will damage our physical health - cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure, kidney issues, gastrointestinal disorders, even cancer, etc, as well as mental health such as depression and anxiety.
Do you know stress also affects our appearance? Under stress, our adrenal glands release a few hormones - norepinephrine, adrenaline, and cortisol. Cortisol is a steroid hormone, if there is too much cortisol, one of the results is fat deposition around the middle part of the body (belly), people usually think it is just ageing “therefore” weight gain, but actually cortisol level being too high could be one of the causes; some people have acne on the face, some have fragile skin, etc.
Cortisol at certain extent is a good thing. Our body has evolved to help us fight with threats. Sympathetic Nervous System is activated when we face immediate danger, the hormones mentioned above are released, so that our senses are sharpened, heart beat goes up, muscles tighten to prepare you for actions such as fighting and running away. Sometimes we also find ourselves handling challenging situation in short term more efficiently under stress, for example completing a task with pressing deadline, the satisfaction of overcoming a challenging makes the stressful experience a positive one.
So there are positive and negative sides of stress, the key is to manage it. We will discuss that in the next article.
References:
Swart, T., Chisholm, K., & Brown, P. (2015). Neuroscience for leadership: Harnessing the brain gain advantage. Springer.
Harvard Health Publishing Online Learning: Stress Management
www.healthdirect.gov.au
About the author Yvonne Lee
Experienced and result-oriented well-being facilitator, focuses on enhancing individuals’ resilience at work and balance in mental health. Combining over two decades of business background and counselling experience, Yvonne applies various therapeutic approaches to work with youth and adult individuals to achieve improvements and rebalance.
https://www.rebalance.asia/talk-to-a-listener
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