Your Body Reacts to Stress

Cortisol the stress hormone, was designed by nature to protect us and served us well when we needed it for “fight or flight”. But habitual stress from every day annoyances has our body in a chronic state of releasing cortistol that can cause damage to our adrenal glands and the rest of our hormonal and other body systems.
Cortisol impairs memory and learning. Think about how you perform under stress when taking a test that’s really important versus talking about the same information in a non-threatening environment.
Higher and more prolonged levels of cortisol in the bloodstream (like those associated with chronic stress) have been shown to have negative effects, such as:
- Impaired cognitive performance
- Suppressed thyroid function
- Overweight! (It’s a symptom of stress – not a cause!)
- Blood sugar imbalances such as hyperglycemia & Diabetes
- Digestive problems
- Decreased bone density
- Decrease in muscle tissue
- Higher blood pressure
- Lowered immunity and inflammatory responses in the body, slowed wound healing, and other health consequences
- Cardiovascular Disease – High Blood Pressure
- Stroke
Increased abdominal fat, (belly fat) which is associated with a greater amount of health problems than fat deposited in other areas of the body. Some of the health problems associated with increased stomach fat are heart attacks, strokes, the development of metabolic syndrome, higher levels of “bad” cholesterol (LDL) and lower levels of “good” cholesterol (HDL), which can lead to other health problems!
Some diseases that are highly correlated to feelings of stress are asthma, hypertension, skin rashes, lowered immunity.
But just remember, everyone is different. Some people get stress headaches; others have reactions in their muscles, others may have digestive issues. YOU are the best judge of where your body is reacting to stress.
Your body is the “canary in the coal mine” giving you the early warning symptoms that something is wrong. PAY ATTENTION!
STRESS CAN BE A GIFT
Remember: Your body is trying to communicate with you.
Our mind and body are one entity. When you are sick, your body is trying to communicate with you. It is telling you to pay attention to your emotions. When we have negative feelings, it effects us physically! If you ignore those feelings, or react with anxiety, worry or depression and sadness, your body is going respond as well. If you don’t address your emotions, your body is going to make you feel a lot worse with symptoms that can become illnesses.
Or you may find yourself having difficulty sleeping, concentrating, feeling moody… Yes, stress may not only effect your emotions, but it can make you “sick with worry”. You may think “I’m sick, it’s not stress!” After all, the doctor or health practitioner just gave you medication to deal with your breathing problem, your headache or some other symptom.
It’s not like you chose to make yourself sick deliberately. Your illness may very likely be caused by a continual stress in your life that has become a literal pain in your ______ (you can fill in the blank with the place where your pain resides). Your doctor or health practitioner may even have given you a pill to help you relax along with the other medications for your symptoms.
Doctors oftentimes don’t tell you that your stress has gotten you sick, or is possibly making your illness worse. They don’t want to add to your anxiety, or make you think that they think you’re a hypochondriac. They may tell you that if you relax, you’ll feel better, and indeed you may feel better for a short time. But if you go back to ignoring your feeling, your stress symptoms in your body will return.
Stress is your body’s gift. It is telling you an important message about what is going on in your body. Deal with the cause, the reason you are feeling stressed.Your anxiety, worry, tension, fear, agitation, depression, pain in the neck, headache, panic attacks, chest tightness and many other possible symptoms are telling you there’s a disconnect between the way you are living your life, and the way you WANT to be living your life!
Until you start paying attention to your body’s warnings, you may spend a lot more money going to other doctors to try to figure out why you’re getting more and more symptoms!
The first step to learning how to manage stress in your life is becoming aware of it. If you pay attention to how you’re feeling in your body, you’ll understand a lot more about your emotional stress level.
Only you can manage your stress and get control of your life. However, when you’ve been habitually responding to something the same way, sometimes it’s too close for you to see it for yourself! That where I come in. I will show you how to pay attention to what you already know in your heart and put it into action! Heartfelt Stress Relief Programs are specifically designed to deal with the type of stress YOU are dealing with:
- Health Issues
- Anger, Depression, Anxiety
- Personal Relationships
- Sports Performance
- BurnoutWhy wait until stress takes a huge toll on your life and health? Let’s get started right away! Contact me for a strategy session to determine the best program for you! Sessions can be conducted on the phone/skype or ichat.