Stress is affecting your body every day. It is a major problem that I see the majority of my clients suffering from and is the biggest cause of gastrointestinal health issues.
Now I know what you’re thinking –
“Yeah, yeah Helen, I’ve heard it all before – I open a bottle of wine and relax every night. LOL”.
But seriously, stress is affecting us all much more than it ever was 20 years ago. So much more that I think we have become blind to the symptoms every day until it’s too late and they are debilitating. A nervous breakdown is often the result of this overload on our systems.
This is what ongoing stress does to your body.
Our bodies are set up to react to stresses in a simple way – fight or flight. We release adrenalin, our blood pressure rises, our breathing rate increases and the blood flow moves away from all non-essential processes. All so that we are ready to either fight or run away fast from this emergency (flight).
In an ideal healthy world, you would have peaks and troughs of this and the body would be able to handle the changes, as they are infrequent and have time to go back to normal again.
BUT when we are under constant stress (however small), our bodies react in the same way, but this time it doesn’t go back to normal. It stays at that elevated level for longer, waiting for you to relax. But you don’t.
Stress affects your body in ways such as:
- You turn proteins and fats into glucose so that you have more blood sugars available for energy (which of course you don’t use). This puts you at risk of type 2 diabetes over time. It also means you struggle to lose weight, or put more weight on even though you appear to be eating healthily.
- Your heart pumps faster and harder for longer to deliver blood to the organs so that you can run away quicker (which of course you don’t), putting extra pressure on the heart, which can put you at an increased risk of a heart attack. Not good.
- Your stomach increases it’s production of stomach acids, which leads to more heartburn, or makes it worse leading to the possibility of stomach ulcers.
- Your muscles tense up ready for action (which you don’t do), which can then lead to tension related headaches, backaches, stomach ache etc. from being tense all the time.
- The prolonged stress affects the way food moves through your body affecting your digestive system and can lead to symptoms such as constipation, diarrhoea, nausea or vomiting.
OMG! Does stress really affect my body so much?!
Yes, it’s a bit shocking really isn’t it that stress can affect your body in so many ways.
Now I’ll give you the good news.
There ARE some easy ways to let your body RELAX and go back to normal and rest.
- Eat frequent small nutritious meals and cut down on stimulants like caffeine and alcohol to feed your system. Vitamin C helps to clear cortisol (the stress hormone) out of your body quicker.
- Add supplements into your diet to help your body to manage the stress – magnesium, B-complex, omega 3 for starters to support your adrenal function.
- Do some exercise regularly – even if this is just walking around the block in your lunch hour, to get out and allow your body to relax and calm down. Think about a relaxing exercise that you could incorporate into your week – yoga or something else that you enjoy. Exercise is great for releasing all that tension and energy that’s stored in our bodies, also allowing the digestive system to move more freely.
- Download an app to encourage you to do deep breathing to help calm and centre you and teach you how to switch off the brain (Headspace is a good free one) or some other relaxation recording if you like to listen to this sort of thing.
- Allow yourself a good night’s sleep. Try to get 8 hours of sleep and again, allow your body to relax and rest. Healthy circadian rhythms also help your bowels relax into a good routine.
- Set boundaries for working – not in the evening, not at the weekend. Switch off your phone. Make time for your body to recharge without stress affecting you.
Our lives are so crazy and we all live such “busy” lives, but just be aware that we are not built to live in a constant state of adrenalin.
If you’ve read this and can identify with some of the symptoms and want to have a chat about how I can help you, please do get in contact and book an appointment. I offer many holistic treatments that can help to reduce stress and can also help with any digestive issues you may be experiencing.
Add in the changes now and you’ll quickly see the results.
Learn to slow down and breathe, so that your body can too.