Stress Is Your Body’s Worst Houseguest
Imagine you’re enjoying a peaceful evening at home when, suddenly, a knock on the door reveals an old acquaintance — stress. In small doses, stress isn’t so bad, in fact, it can even add some excitement to your life. However, when stress enjoys your company so much that it decides to move in, it’s like an uninvited houseguest who overstays their welcome, uses up all your toilet paper, and then breaks the handle off your microwave.
Stress is a nightmare. So let’s dig into what it is, why it’s damaging, and more importantly, what you can do about it!
Rest-and-Digest Versus Fight-or-Flight
The nervous system has two, distinct modes called the Sympathetic and Parasympathetic Nervous Systems.
When the Parasympathetic Nervous System is activated, the body performs maintenance functions. This mode of the nervous system is sometimes called “Rest-and-Digest” but a better description is “Detox, Digest, Repair and Rest.” When you are in a Parasympathetic state, you digest your meals really well, your body clears out toxins from your blood and tissues, and damage that your body undergoes every day is repaired. You are also able to process complex thoughts more clearly, and your immune system is stronger.
Alternatively, when the Sympathetic Nervous System (the “Fight-or-Flight” System) is engaged, it shuts down all the Parasympathetic functions. Instead of sending blood to the liver to cleanse toxins, or to your stomach to digest, it sends all of that blood to your muscles, your lungs and your heart. Why? Because when you are running from a lion, the lowest priority is detoxing, digesting, repairing… you need to run from that lion or fight him to survive! So it sends all the blood to your heart, lungs and muscles, so your heart pumps faster, you breathe harder, and your muscles tense up more. You also become more alert to motion, but less capable of complex thought.
And that system has worked for tens of thousands of years to keep the species alive, quickly switching from Rest-and-Digest to Fight-or-Flight just long enough to deal with some danger, and then switching easily back to Rest-and-Digest once the danger has passed. But in modern times, we find a flaw in the system: the nervous system doesn’t know the difference between normal life stresses that we encounter everyday, and being chased by a lion. To the nervous system, getting in a fight with the spouse, dealing with the angry boss, and watching a startling news story, are all exactly the same as being chased by a lion… The nervous system views all these as life-threatening events.
When stress first arrives, your body activates the Fight-or-Flight response, releasing stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline. This is akin to quickly tidying up your house for an unexpected visitor. While this response is beneficial in short-term situations, chronic activation is like having a messy houseguest – you spend so much time cleaning up after them that your normal chores don’t get done and you wind up backlogged and exhausted.
Stress Makes You A Fatty
You know earlier when we talked about how the Fight-or-Flight response releases stress hormones, one of which was cortisol? Well, cortisol triggers the breakdown of stored fats in areas like the arms and legs through a process called lipolysis, releasing those fats into the bloodstream. The body does this to provide energy so a person can do something very physically demanding — fight, or run away (flight). Unless these free-floating fats are used for intense exercise at that moment, they are likely to be re-deposited as fat, particularly in the abdomen (belly). So the stress hormone cortisol will literally transport fat from your arms and legs, and if you don’t immediately intensively exercise, it will drop that fat off in your belly. Nice, huh?
Additionally, cortisol can increase your appetite and cravings for high-calorie, sugary foods, leading you to consume more than you normally would. Again, the idea is that you will need that fuel for some impending threat; you might wind up with no food or you will need to engage in some vigorous exercise — unfortunately almost no one actually fasts or exercises immediately following a stressful event.
This is like an unwanted houseguest who decides to rearrange your living room as a gift because they took on online course in feng shui once. So they move everything around, and even pull out a bunch of furniture they found in your storage shed. Well, now the room is so full, you have to jump over a broken nightstand and then side-shimmy your way just to sit on the couch which is now covered in old blankets that smell like moth balls.
Stress Breaks Your Heart
Well, kinda. Those same stress hormones mentioned above make your blood pressure rise. They also can trigger inflammation, which over time, can damage your arteries, causing them to build-up plaque (hardening of the arteries). When you have hard arteries, it makes your heart have to work harder to pump blood everywhere it needs to go. And if someone already has heart issues, those stress hormones, along with the high blood pressure, can actually cause a stroke or heart attack. Very, very not good.
Stress Makes You Sick – Literally!
Now let’s talk about the immune system. The immune system is one of the Rest-and-Digest systems that gets shut down when the Fight-or-Flight system gets triggered. Here’s how that works: Chronic stress keeps the stress hormone cortisol elevated, which can reduce the production and efficacy of lymphocytes (white blood cells) that fight off infections. High cortisol can also shrink the thymus gland, where T-cells (another important immune cell) become fully functional. Additionally, stress hormones decrease natural killer (NK) cell activity, which is vital for combating viruses and cancer.
Chronic stress can also lead to an imbalance of cytokines (crucial part of the immune system’s communication between cells) which promotes inflammation and disrupts normal immune regulation.
With a strong immune system, a person fights off dozens of infectious invasions without even noticing. With chronic stress, every person that passes by with even the slightest sniffle becomes a potential death grenade flying by your head. Ok, slight exaggeration, but being sick is no fun and can eventually cause real problems.
Stress Makes You Old
Newer studies have found that aging may correlate to the length of something called cellular telomeres. Telomeres are like endcaps that protect the DNA in your cells. Basically, every time a cell is too damaged and dies off (for any reason), other body cells will split into two identical cells to replace the lost cells. Every time a cell splits, the telomeres shorten until the cell can’t split anymore which means that there eventually is too much damage and not enough splitting cells to fix. This is aging.
Well, guess what? Stress shortens telomeres! The good news is that it appears that regular exercise may prevent that side effect. Here’s a study all about that: Exercise May Prevent Impact of Stress on Telomeres, A Measure of Cell Health
It’s like the unwanted houseguest who constantly opens every window during the worst allergy-season (stress), but if you close the windows, dust and vacuum regularly (exercise), it at least stops you from wheezing and sneezing every 5 seconds.
By the way, we have an article that goes into more detail about how cellular aging occurs and how to slow it: What is Aging and How to Slow It Down (Spoiler Alert: Reducing stress is one of the most important things a person can do to slow aging!)
Basically, Stress Hurts Everything….
Every normal function of the body is impaired by stress. With chronic stress, there is no detoxing, no healing, no immune function, no digestion…. it’s a serious problem as this is what causes disease!
Scientists have wondered why some people can smoke their whole lives and never get lung cancer. One theory is that those people just don’t have the stresses that those who do get cancer have (despite similar lifestyles, diets, etc.). There are probably a lot of factors, but in study after study, life stress is a massive contributing factor to health outcomes.
Here’s What You Can Do About It
If you don’t want to be sick, fat, old, and on the verge of a heart attack, you better start getting healthy, and you can’t get healthy without managing your stress. Below are some strategies. Try them out and see what works for you!
Exercise – We’ve already mentioned that exercise mitigates the damage to telomeres caused by stress, so that’s a good place to start! When you engage your muscles, you actually use up circulating stress hormones faster, calming the feeling of being stressed and reducing the negative effects of those hormones on your body. That’s why it’s a great idea to go on a jog, do some push-ups or some other intense exercise immediately after an upset or conflict. The feeling of stress is an indication that those harmful stress hormones are running wild in your blood. Immediate exercise will bring them down quickly.
Regular exercise also makes you happier by increasing the production of endorphins, which are the brain’s natural mood elevators and painkillers. Additionally, it protects the brain as you age, improves brain function, and may even stimulate the production of new brain cells! Oh! And exercise improves energy (as long as you don’t overdo it) and sleep patterns!
Look at something green – Multiple studies around the world have accessed the stress-reducing effects of various colors and they found that green actually works, whether it’s a walk in nature, green paint on walls, or potted plants. Consider putting a nice green plant on either side of your computer, adding green artwork to your work space, and take speed-walks on your lunch break (in places with green trees, grass, etc.).
Sounds of nature – Just like seeing greenery (trees, grass, etc.) calms stress responses, so do the sounds of nature. There are lots of streaming options on platforms like YouTube, Spotify and others where you can play soothing music accompanied by birdsongs, river/stream sounds, crickets, rustling leaves, frogs, gentle rain, and everything else. These are generally easy to play in the background while you are working, doing housework, etc. In fact, even just wearing earplugs to drown out the sounds of the world around you can help bring your stress down!
Make plans that put you in control – One of the most stressful things can be feeling that your life is out of your control. Find ways that you can be in control, even if it’s small things. For example, if you are worried about money, think of 5 realistic ways you can increase your income within the next year. And if you feel compelled, start working toward one of them. If can be little things that just make you feel like you have any degree of control.
Strike a Power Pose – Did you know that the way you hold your body may actually effect your confidence and stress? The old saying about, “Force yourself to smile and you’ll soon find something to smile about,” has some truth in it! When you are feeling down, strike a power pose for just 2 minutes, and see how you feel. Or if you are about to do something nerve-racking, try a power pose for 2 minutes and before you do it. (My favorite power pose is hands over the head in a V-shape, like the Rocky Balboa statue.)
Control your thoughts – There is some evidence that your waking thoughts (literally the first things you think and feel when you wake up) can influence your whole day. Many people wake and dread the day, thinking of all the horrible things and people they will have to deal with. That may actually program your thoughts for the whole day! Try focusing on calming, peaceful, happy thoughts: “I have the best pet/spouse/kids. The people I love are healthy. I’m excited to watch the latest episode of _______ when I get home from work tonight. Etc.” Here is a great article on this subject: https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/your-wise-brain/202204/reflect-good-when-you-first-wake
Find things that bring you joy – Life is not just about avoiding pain; it is about being happy, playing games, and having meaningful personal connections with others. Finding healthy things that bring you joy will increase your tolerance of stressful things in your life. That may mean volunteering for community activities, getting a puppy, joining a weekend sports team, going out on the weekends to the beach or forest, or having a weekly date night. You need to actively seek out things that bring you joy in a meaningful way — just as long as it doesn’t add too much to your to-do list so that it winds up causing you more stress than joy.
Remove stressful elements – I know this sounds obvious, but people sometimes unconsciously add stress to their lives. For instance, people who are chronically late, and then have a stressful drive darting through traffic. Or for many people, social media or watching the news has become incredibly stressful. Another common problem is the person who takes on too many problems; the person takes on project after project, or tries to fix everyone else’s problems. While this is a noble impulse, it leads to one person taking on the stress of a dozen people, which leads to stress-overload.
Even silly personal relationship issues, like if your spouse has asked you do do blank or stop doing blank, and you keep arguing about it, even though it’s a stupid little thing. Well, if you just train yourself to do blank, the nagging stops and you can get on with your life. Or if you are the one who is always upset because your spouse doesn’t blank. Is it that important? Maybe just let it be left undone, or do it yourself quickly. It doesn’t always work out that way, but try to choose the least stressful option.
Another example is trying to share your life with people who don’t support your decisions. You wouldn’t believe how common it is for a person to have a spouse or parents or friends who don’t understand what they are going through. They don’t believe you are sick, or don’t understand why you eat the way you eat, or think you should just quit your job, or…. Those conversations are unnecessary stress. Don’t try to convince them! Just don’t talk to them about those areas of your life! Find support groups online, or find friends you can mutually complain to (while simultaneously uplifting). People sometimes think they have to defend their positions to those who don’t understand or agree with them. Nope! Just tell them you appreciate their input and move onto another subject. Then go complain to someone who actually uplifts you (and make sure you reciprocate and uplift them, so no one because the trash heap you throw all your junk onto).
The point is, for many people, there are changes that they can make which will reduce their stress triggers — at least to some degree.
In serious cases, you may have to find another job – The relationship between social hierarchies, stress, and health outcomes has been extensively documented. Notably, Sir Michael Marmot’s “Whitehall Studies” conducted in the 1960s and continued from the 1980s to today, have examined almost 28,000 British civil servants over many years and uncovered that individuals in lower-grade positions had significantly higher rates of heart disease and all-cause mortality than those in senior positions. Marmot’s work demonstrated that reduced job control led to chronic stress, which in turn resulted in poorer health outcomes. One key finding is that a lack of autonomy (freedom to make decisions) or security (“Will I lose my job?”) at work greatly contributes to stress, which then results in poor health.
Yes, you need to make money, so you probably need a job. But not all jobs, not all bosses, and not all co-workers, cause the same emotional stress. You can try going to HR, or asking your boss if there can be rules like “No politics in the office,” or whatever else you can do to reduce work stress. But in the end, no job is worth being miserable the whole way to an early grave.
FOR THOSE WHO LIKE DOCUMENTARIES, there is a wonderful, free documentary that highlights the Whitehall Studies: National Geographic’s – Stress: Profile of a Killer (2008)
Get healthier! Stressed people becomes unhealthy, and unhealthy people are easily stressed.
Our final houseguest analogy: Having healthy cells with lots of nutrient and energy reserves is like having an unwanted houseguest but also having a domineering, full-time housekeeper who immediately restocks the fridge and gives the houseguest that special glare that makes them instantaneously reverse their decision to put that drink down without a coaster. Yes, the houseguest is annoying, but you can live with them temporarily without wanting to resort to a cleverly devised murder that you’re pretty sure you could get away with.
A properly administered hair test is the absolute best way of evaluating what stage of stress your body is chronically in. It also shows your body’s adaptive energy and how it adapts to stress. When you then apply a full Nutritional Balancing protocol (outlined here: Nutritional Balancing Program Overview), it allows your body to start really healing. The more energy and mineral reserves your cells have, the less emotional stress you experience. Add the above strategies with a Nutrition Balancing Program and you have magic!