Everyday life is stressful! These days, all of us are such busy bees, running from one thing to another as we try to get through our to do list, meet deadlines or run around after our families and it can be really, really challenging.
But what actually is stress?
Stress is generally considered a negative thing but in certain situations it can protect us from deadly situations. I know I always refer to this story – but back in cave man days, we needed our stress response to kick in as we ran for our life away from a mauling bear.
Stress is a natural response of the body thinking it is under attack which can switch between two different responses – ‘parasympathetic’, where we are relaxed, and ‘sympathetic dominant’, where we are in a ‘fight or flight’ mode, a ‘survival’ state which releases a huge amount of adrenaline and other hormones to prepare us to get ready for some physical action. Our heart rate increases, we breathe faster and can start to sweat.
When our body is in the fight or flight mode, digestion and the reproductive system shuts down and all your energy gets put into your muscles ready to fight whatever your body feels it needs to attack. Therefore, if you are eating in a stressed out state, your digestion isn’t even switched on to work correctly! This is when indigestion and gut infections can set in, not forgetting missing/irregular periods, low thyroid function and even infertility.
Cortisol is the primary stress hormone which is released into the blood stream and prevents other systems working efficiently. Cortisol isn’t all bad, think of it like a see-saw where it should stay in balance to help with blood sugar balance management, auto-immunity management, inflammation and influencing memory function.
Ideally a healthy stress response should allow your cortisol and adrenaline to reduce back to a healthy level quickly once the ‘stress’ is finished. For example, you may get stressed at your child for dragging mud through the house, or because someone cut you up in a queue. These may seem like minimal things but they do affect us in the exact same way as bigger more important things with the only difference being that the stress response should last less time.
The problem is that most people are in a constant state of stress. So we constantly get irritated in situations as we run from A to B with very little headspace to just stop and breathe! When we are in this sympathetic state the majority of the day, blood flow reduces to the brain, we have an increase in blood pressure, our blood sugar increases and our body is in an inflammatory state.
Other stressors affecting our systems that you have possibly never even considered consist of
- Imbalance of gut bacteria (parasites/infection)
- Nutrient deficiencies
- Over exercising
- Food intolerances
- Inflammation
- Sleep disturbances
- Endocrine disrupting chemicals
- Under eating
Lifestyle is one way to go about improving how we respond to stress and this will differ from person to person. For the person who is stressed, dealing with that stress can be really hard to identify and tackle which is why having a health coach can be hugely beneficial. Being accountable to a coach can help you to put a plan in place to make changes to your everyday life. It could be something as simple as going to bed 30 minutes earlier after a warm bath or helping you balance your blood sugar.
Through the choices made and the change created, we can begin to have a biological and physiological effect on the nervous system which helps to leave a different expression.
Sometimes putting these things into practice just isn’t enough! That’s where testing comes in. The comprehensive hormone panel (DUTCH) test, the GI map or an Organic Acid Test can really help to delve deeper and see the bigger picture.
If you feel you need some help and guidance I’d love you to get in touch. Just fill in the questionnaire on my website and then if I feel we are a good match to work together we can schedule your FREE 15 minute phone consultation.
Health and happiness
Love Kate x