Don’t worry, be healthy!
Stress is a reaction to an event that we perceive as challenging. Short lived stress can actually be useful. It makes you alert and active in situations when you need to. It was quite useful when people had to run away from animals hundreds of years ago, and nowadays people can benefit from it before work meetings or while writing school papers. In the process, the nervous system pulls away blood flow from certain organs and makes sure the heart is pumping blood to the areas of your body that need it the most, which can be your legs when you are fleeing, or your brain when you must get a good grade at your test.
What is going on when you are stressing?
When you get worked up because you miss a bus or simply before you go to work, your heart is pumping blood constantly. It’s not only hard on your heart, but also your vessels are under constant pressure, which causes them to be inflamed. It gives a great place for plaque which together with higher heart rate can be the cause of cardiovascular diseases.
Since there is a certain amount of blood in the body, if it is all the time supplying only a couple of organs, the rest of them can be neglected and cause issues. For example the liver won’t able to regulate cholesterol levels in the blood. If you feel pain in your belly when stressed is because your digestion is being messed with.
When stressed, one of the hormones secreted is glucagon. It converts the storage of the body, the fat tissue, to energy that is usable right away. This is in the form of glucose in the blood. It would not be a problem in a real emergency when it would be needed and used up right away, but in everyday life if it happens often it simply is a risk factor for diabetes. Reproductive systems of both genders are affected as well. It can lead to erectile dysfunction since the blood is being pumped to other organs and in females it causes hormonal problems and it is harder to release eggs and develop them.
During this process stress, hormones adrenaline and cortisol are produced. Adrenalin increases the body’s reaction to the situation and cortisol helps to reorganize the energy use of the body and decreases the work of the immune system.
Furthermore, stress causes the overuse of the immune system too. Inflammation is a reaction of the body to stress. One issue is that the body starts attacking its own tissues over a prolonged time period, this can lead to arthritis for example. Chronic stress on the other hand can make the immune system adjusted to this stressed state and can ‘turn it off’. Meaning that the immune system is not going to work properly therefore being more prone to diseases.
But you can control it!
Accepting the different situations and not trying to change something that you cannot is a great start. Learning to work with everyday challenges, such as not minding taking the next bus, trying to take a different route when the road is closed or enjoying the music when stuck in traffic jam can be literally life-saving. Furthermore, there are practices that can help you cope with these emotions. Taking deep breaths can slow you down and you can have a clearer perception of the situation. If you regularly practice it.
