After reading this article, you should see the need to adjust your lifestyle to lower stress level.
It may sound harsh, but the truth is that we have seen a trend that people are not seeing. People collapse and die and some think it is just spiritual attack.
Stroke attacks are increasing while others have pancreas, colorectal and liver cancers and even heart diseases. All these could be the effects of high level of stress hidden to their knowledge.
You may not care, but an adage in Nigeria says ‘Wahala no dey finish’ (challengers are entwined in life’s journey).
Sadly, you could be having a deluge of stress, riding you daily to endless troubles ahead, and you still think you are just stretching to get results.
You could even think you are in control of the situation, not knowing you are laying a strong foundation for a fight in future.
Stress is not a thing to joke with. It is everywhere. In your workplace, at home and in your relationships. It is in your mobile phone even now.
In your kitchen, without care, stress is there waiting for you and sitting in your meals. Yes! Your meals could be a source of stress and not enjoyment.
What Then Is Stress?
Stress is any intrinsic or extrinsic stimulus that evokes a biological response. Also, stress is the effects of anything that seriously threatens any self-regulating process by which you maintain stability (1) (2).
According to Claude Bernard, the “maintenance of life is critically dependent on keeping our internal milieu constant in the face of a changing environment”.
Stress is one thing that should be given so much attention, especially because of its negative impact.
You may think you are absorbing the stress level you face, but then, it is building up inside.
It could take years before it shows up. When it does, it does present different health issues.
Fortunately, the health issues it presents are the reason we are writing this article.
Causes
There is a range of causes and they continue to increase daily as you engage more stressors.
Basic in the causes is lack of adequate rest. If you are not getting enough sleep, your stress level could be high.
It could be psychological when a person is depressed, facing financial issues. Your phone and things you see online could cause stress.
Your food could further increase the effect of stress.
It can be as a result of consistent power failure for someone in Nigeria for instance. Other annoying things that you complain about daily could be stressors.
But the good news is that you can do something about it. You can reduce your reactions to stress, by feeling your heart with joy and activating happy hormones.
There are a few other stress management techniques that we shared here.
Symptoms To Watch Out For
Basically, many people are battling stress while they think they are just stretching the body.
Here are a few signs to guide you. Once you notice them, identify the stressors and adjust.
Constant tiredness, spare tyre around the middle and constant craving for sweet drinks, bread or pasta.
It could show up as immense slump in the middle of the day, cravings for salt, mood swings, anger, irritation and feeling of bloatedness after meal.
Stress also shows up as you being jumpy, restless, or even indigestion, flatulence and insomnia.
Watch out for these and others that you could notice. Just listen to your body.
Issues With Stress
You see, your brain is an important organ that should be at optimum level for proper functioning of the body system.
Unfortunately, stress can gain access into Central Nervous System (CNS). And like a rat in an electrical circuit could disrupt normal flow of wires, it could disrupt the activities of the CNS.
According to a 2017 study, “stress has many effects on the human nervous system and can cause structural changes in different parts of the brain.
Furthermore, chronic stress can lead to atrophy of the brain mass and decrease its weight (3).
Effect On Memory
A study says when the intensity of stress passes beyond a predetermined threshold (which is different in each individual), it causes cognitive disorders, especially in memory and judgment (4).
According to the study, the disruption to memory and judgment is due to the effects of stress on the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex.
How Does Your Immune System Respond To Stress?
Here is the main trouble with this condition that we all face everyday.
The earlier study we cited says stress can lead to harmful cells when it suppresses your immune system.
“In fact, stress can decrease the activity of cytotoxic T lymphocytes and natural killer cells and lead to growth of malignant cells, genetic instability, and tumor expansion,” the study reads.
What this means is that when the immune system is down, as a result of stressors, cells begin to malfunction.
This affects all organs of the body since your immune system is what helps hold sway, warding off malicious activities.
When stressors hit, catecholamines and opioids are released. These contain immune-suppressing properties.
Stress And Your Heart
This condition does not just affect your immune system, but it appears to be a thing that could crash other organs.
Furthermore, the 2017 study we are focusing on says, the existence of a positive association between stress and cardiovascular disease has been verified.
It says, whether acute or chronic, it has a deleterious effect on the function of the cardiovascular system (5).
Here is how this happens.
Indeed, there is a postulation that stress causes autonomic nervous system activation and indirectly affects the function of the cardiovascular system.
“If these effects occur upon activation of the sympathetic nervous system, then it mainly results in an increase in heart rate and strength of contraction.
Furthermore, this results in vasodilation in the arteries of skeletal muscles and a narrowing of the veins.
It also results in contraction of the arteries in the spleen and kidneys, and decreased sodium excretion by the kidneys.
All these could happen without the individual knowing stress is behind their occurrences.
Your Digestive System And Stress
Sometimes, when you have indigestion, or even ulcer, it could be an effect of a high level of stress.
In fact, studies say stress increases risk of ulcer (6). The study says whether you are using drugs, it may not count. Ulcer could still come.
Do you even know that the question of Jesus – “Who among you by worrying can add a single moment to your life?” is talking about stress?
One of the very things it does is deprive your other organs of nutrients. And life begins to dwindle.
A study says stress adversely affects the normal function of Gastrointestinal (GI) tract.
For instance, studies have shown that stress affects the absorption process, intestinal permeability, mucus and stomach acid secretion, function of ion channels, and GI inflammation (7).
Also, it increases the response of the GI system to inflammation. As a result, it may reactivate previous inflammation and accelerate the inflammation process by secretion of mediators.
When this happens, it could result in abnormal activities of cells, resulting in cancer.
Stress And The Endocrine System
Here is the crux of the matter for both males and females. You see, there is a broad and mutual relationship between stress and the endocrine system.
It can either activate, or change the activity of, many endocrine processes associated with some important glands.
Also, it has direct impact on the adrenergic system, gonads, thyroid, and the pancreas.
This is the reason it could cause pancreas cancer, for instance.
In fact, a study says there are suggestions that it is impossible to separate the response to stress from the functions of the endocrine system.
When this alterations happen, the hormones could go haywire and further cause troubles.
It is one of the major causes of hormonal imbalance in both sexes.
For a woman, it could make her express breast milk even when she is not pregnant or nursing a baby.
When this happens, she is unlikely to conceive.
For instance, my wife had high prolactin level and it was hard for pregnancy to happen.
Several medications failed, partly because you cannot treat high prolactin without effectively taking off stressors.
Stress, especially when it goes beyond the threshold, triggers the imbalance.
In fact, at some point, the gynecologist handling her case recommended a brain surgery.
At this point, we decided to try natural remedies, applying some techniques.
Her effectively hormone balancing technique works and it is available to everyone that wants to balance their hormones.
Steps In Beating Stress Level Down
You can beat down the level, but that is if you care to know what it takes.
It is not a difficult thing to do, but you must first identify your stressors.
First, do a daily routine of your activities and your sleep pattern. That is like your day and night life.
This will help you identify those stressors. Endeavour to add times where things didn’t work out as you desire. Also take note of your responses to such moments.
Please, Read Stress Management: Simple Techniques That Work
Proper capturing of these activities is the beginning of your escape from stress.
Listen to your body and it will help you make this findings easy.
The next thing will be to set up a strategy that you will use to roll back the stressors when they show up.
Further activities that you have to engage in is lifestyle modification, giving attention to your meal.
A study recommends that you should choose a healthy lifestyle. This ranges from drinking plenty of water every day to limiting in the amount of alcohol you consume (8).
Also eat lots of fruits and vegetables. They contain stress fighting enzymes.
Furthermore, the study recommends that you limit the amount of sugar and fat.
Above all, get 7-9 hours of sleep each night.
You can also explore meditation and deep breathing, ask for help, limit phone screen time, learn new skills, go for refreshing outings like swimming and exercise.
Vital in the new habits you must adopt is being able to say no where necessary.
People could easily offload their stress on you and if you don’t say no, you mount yours.
This puts your body at rsk.
We cannot overemphasise the impact of stress on your health. You have the power to cut it down.
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