people talk a lot about stress but what
does it actually mean stress is
something that's very much personal to
us and we experience it in different
ways
stress is essentially on a situation
pressure or change exceeds our coping
abilities take a roller coaster ride for
example you might have two people that
go on a roller coaster together one
person may take a genuine enjoyment out
of that experience other people might
take a genuine sense of fear and anxiety
the roller coaster itself doesn't change
but our perceptions of it will differ
the same can be said for other stressful
situations ultimately depends on your
perception of that situation that
determines whether or not you see it as
a stressor of course the roller coaster
example is an example of short-term
stress which in isolation may not cause
any harm whatsoever it's only when
stress accumulates beyond your coping
abilities and without adequate recovery
the stress can become a problem stress
is likely to occur after an accumulation
of life change events those events can
be both positive and negative
they might include a business
realignment a promotion at work or even
something enjoyable such as a holiday or
a Christmas break what matters is
there's a change to your normal routine
when a number of changes to your life
happen within a short space of time
that's when it can have an impact on
your resilience and your stress we all
know the stress can make us feel under
pressure
annotated and sometimes overwhelmed the
question is how to stress affect our
body and our mind and what can we do
about it
within the body you have the central
nervous system which is made up of the
brain and the spinal cord within the
central nervous system you have the
autonomic nervous system which is
regulating things that are outside of
your control things like blinking
breathing and your heartbeat within the
autonomic nervous system you have two
particular branches one is the
sympathetic nervous system that's known
as the fight-or-flight system the other
is the parasympathetic nervous system
that is the rest and digest system and
although they interact with each other
they both have different roles
the sympathetic nervous system is
responsible for increasing heart rates
increasing blood pressure and increase
in blood sugar to help you to perform
when stress hits the rest and digest
system is responsible for suppressing
heart rate and bringing it back down to
what's known as homeostasis DHEA is an
immune system boosting hormone which
means it helps to stave off the
development of lifestyle related
diseases the problem here is that DHEA
and cortisol release from the same area
of the body the adrenal gland this means
that when someone is exposed to chronic
stress without the ability to recover
and adapt to that stress the DHEA is not
being released this means that the risk
of disease is increased excess cortisol
and chronic stress can increase the risk
of strokes and heart attacks happening
the reason being as a when called salt
is released equation in flunk she was
sponsored in the arterial lining that
information could then lead to an
increased cholesterol if that collateral
becomes unstable and breaks off and
travels down to the smaller arteries of
the heart of the brain that could result
in the stroke or the heart attack
stress can also have an effect on the
way the brain functions normally when
you experience a situation or a stimulus
it goes via the thalamus and then into
the cerebral cortex the outer part of
the brain is responsible for high-level
thinking such as strategy executive
decision-making and creativity
the problem is when we're under stress
that whole system is bypassed and it
goes via the amygdala the amygdala is
very closely linked to your
fight-or-flight response therefore when
you're under stress the amygdala will
result in your fight or flight response
engaging more rapidly and therefore you
don't have the outer human thinking that
you would normally have as a result you
might act in a way that you would later
regret now that we know a bit more about
stress the question is what can we do to
improve our resilience to improve our
ability to deal with pressure when it
comes to effective stress management
it's important to focus on the factors
that within your perceived control one
factor that's particularly useful to
improve is sleep quality sleep
deprivation can lead to increased
activation of the amygdala which is of
course responsible for increasing the
fight-or-flight reaction by improving
your sleep quality you helped to reduce
the activation of the amygdala which of
course is linked to the fight-or-flight
response
furthermore an improved sleep
architecture can help improve the
regulation of cortisol low to moderate
exercise can be very useful for stress
management exercises the place of focus
on muscle tension and deep breathing
such as yoga for example very good
because they drive at the activation of
the parasympathetic nervous system and
like high-intensity exercise which
drives with the activation of the
fight-or-flight system therefore going
from lights to brisk walk before bedtime
can be a more effective stress relief
than going for a high-intensity run
furthermore performing regular exercise
can be a good distraction from the
stresses in your life there are other
lifestyle factors to consider too
nicotine caffeine and alcohol are often
used as the stress techniques however
they actually drive up the activation of
the sympathetic nervous system and in
doing so exacerbate stress more than
they help it therefore the casual cup of
tea or the occasional glass of wine to
help de-stress after a long day might
not be as effective as we once thought
taking these factors on board and
modifying your behavior will help you to
improve your ability to prepare for
react to and recover from stressors in
your life ultimately improving your
resilience