Our daily lives can be full of stress. Work, appointments, deadlines, running all over the place. It’s natural to have a little bit of stress but when it becomes too much, it can negatively impact our health. Let’s explore the physiological effects of stress and then we’ll provide 5 ways to help manage your stress. Are you ready?
How does stress effect my body?
When you continue to let stress eat away at you day after day it can build up to a breaking point. Once you’ve reached the breaking point it can literally make you sick or worse end with a trip to the hospital. Here’s what can happen to your body when stress overloads your body:
- Blood pressure becomes higher when levels of cortisol are raised.
- Your immune system weakens by reducing the release of chemicals, slowing wound healing and making you more likely to get colds and infections.
- You can gain weight. Cortisol makes you crave fats and carbohydrates, which can cause this weight gain. Cortisol also makes you more likely to put on weight in your abdominal area. Weight gain in this area raises your risk for heart disease and diabetes.
- Stress can also effect your mental health by increasing anxiety, depression and feeling tense.
Now it’s time to relax!
Managing your stress is good for your overall health including your heart health. Finding that time to do decompress and engage in activities that help relieve stress is very important and often very neglected.
Practicing a healthy lifestyle can be very beneficial in coping with stress and this includes:
- Exercising
- Maintaining a positive attitude
- Quit smoking or better yet DO NOT start
- Limit your coffee drinking and drink more water
- Enjoying a healthy diet and maintaining a healthy weight.
You may also want to try some breathing techniques. We posted on this topic before which you can check out here.
In addition, take some time for yourself to relax and spend time doing things you like to do, try to manage your time, even get a massage.
While it important to talk to your doctor if you need additional help, we can certainly help you manage your stress with an exercise program. Contact us for more details!
References:
- “How Stress Affects Your Health”. Accessed 5, January 2016. United Healthcare. http://www.uhc.com/health-and-wellness/health-topics/stress/stress-affects
- “Stress and Heart Health”. Accessed 5, January 2016. American Heart Association. http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/GettingHealthy/StressManagement/HowDoesStressAffectYou/Stress-and-Heart-Health_UCM_437370_Article.jsp#.VowU2_krLrd
- Image courtesy of tuelekza at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
