WHAT HAPPENS WHEN WE ARE STRESSED?



Let me walk you through what happens when we are stressed: Think back to caveman days!

Our body is wired to deal with any and all stress in a physical way- The Fight or Flight response.  We were designed to deal with famine, storms, wild animals…...survival

Our heart rate increases so we can fight, our blood pressure increases so we can run fast, cortisol is released to heal any injuries that might happen during the fight, our thoughts turn to worst case scenarios so we are ready for anything, etc... our body prepares to run or fight.  And if we do have to run or fight, if our stress is truly physical stress, our body returns to normal after the exertion is done.  It is like this beautiful little circle of stress--activity--homeostasis….all is well again!

The issue in today’s world is our body has not evolved like our lives have evolved. Our stress is rarely physical in nature and almost always mental but our bodies continue to deal with it in a physical way (hormones released, blood pressure goes up,negative thought patterns, etc..) and when you don't have activity/exercise to immediately offset that response those hormones just hang in the body for an extended period of time and research shows we can even adapt to stress levels which is not a good thing. We have all seen and heard the research of what prolonged periods of stress can do to us...it is a silent killer.

So what can be done about this?? Try to offset stress in more physical ways if you can...get up and walk 5 mins, take some deep breaths to bring down your heart rate and blood pressure.  The best drug for stress is exercise! Often when we are stressed exercise is the first thing to be forgotten when really we need it the most during those difficult times. It naturally returns our body back to normal and releases hormones that counteract those fight or flight hormones.

You can’t always control what happens to you and what others do but you can control your reaction to it! Be mindful of your stress levels and keep those workouts routine and regular in your life!