Under Pressure: How Chronic Stress Affects Our Well-being
Understanding the Body’s Alarm System
Have you ever found yourself in a heated debate, feeling your heartbeat quicken, palms dampen, and vision blur? Or perhaps you’ve been alone, reminiscing about a past event, only to notice your jaw clench and a wave of dizziness wash over you. These are signs of your body’s stress response system springing into action in the face of perceived danger.
The Science Behind Stress Responses
Our bodies are finely tuned to protect us from harm. Consider a hike in the wilderness where you suddenly encounter a towering grizzly bear. Instantly, your muscles stiffen, hands chill, head spins, and breaths shorten. This reaction is orchestrated by the release of stress hormones, priming your body for survival. Muscles become poised for action, blood flow shifts to support critical organs, and your lungs work overtime to fuel the increased demand for oxygen. Remarkably, this physiological upheaval occurs before your conscious mind has even decided on a course of action. Whether you choose to flee, find yourself paralyzed, or confront the bear, your body has already prepared itself for a fight-or-flight scenario.
When Perception Triggers Reality
Interestingly, stress hormones can surge even in the absence of actual peril. Our bodies may interpret a threat and react accordingly during everyday interactions—be it a challenging conversation with a colleague, an awkward first date, or a tense family dinner. Even recalling a vexing memory can trigger this response. When such perceptions of danger become frequent, stress hormone levels can accumulate, potentially sending our stress response system into overdrive. Various factors contribute to this heightened state, including personal life events, past traumas, cultural pressures, societal injustices, and family dynamics. Unfortunately, our bodies are not designed to handle a continuous onslaught of stress hormones without consequence.
The buildup of stress hormones in our body can have toxic effects.
This is what is known as toxic stress. Being in a state of chronic stress is like feeling like your life is chronically in danger. This toxic state of being has been linked to increase blood pressure and thus increase the risk of heart disease and stroke. There is also increased risk of endocrine diseases, gastrointestinal diseases, and cancer. Sleep can be disrupted, which can then start to affect mental health.
Chronic stress makes it difficult to cope in positive ways
Chronic stress can also be toxic to our lives if we do not cope in healthy ways. I don’t know about you, but when I’m not sleeping well, and my body feels tense, and I’m on high alert, my ability to positively cope becomes weak. In this state, feelings of fear, anger, sadness, grief, etc. can be stirred, and in desperation we can look for relief from our suffering in all sorts of venues. Some of the most destructive coping venues can include drug and alcohol use, sex, and excessive work. Other ways of problematic coping can include binging on food or video games or television, excessive worrying, withdrawing from social circles, perfectionistic tendencies leading to relational difficulties and shame, or various other irrational thinking.
The good news is that you do not need to let stress pollute your life.
There are concrete ways to learn to manage stress so its effect on your life is diminished. There are also ways to heal from traumatic emotional wounds, so that you no longer perceive threat when there is not an actual threat to your life. Both stress management and emotional healing can positively impact the amount of stress hormones being released in your body.
Reach Out
Counseling is a wonderful way to address stress in your life, and gain support as you learn what it takes for you personally to decrease toxic stress. This can be deeply personal and meaningful work. I would be honored to explore this with you.
If you’re struggling with stress, please consider reaching out to find a therapist today to get started, and let’s work together to help you find more calm and joy in your life.
Amie Bilson

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