Understanding and Coping with Stress

Our bodies have evolved to respond to stress in ways that once helped protect us in life-or-death situations.

A few million years ago, this stress response was essential for our ancestors when facing immediate threats like a hungry lion. When the danger passed, they could return to their baseline state and go about their daily lives. However, in our modern world, the threats we face are more subtle and less life-threatening. Despite this, our bodies still react to these stressors as if they were imminent attacks.

The primary stress hormone, cortisol, is released in response to stress, triggering a range of changes aimed at protecting us in the face of a threat. It mobilizes energy in the form of glucose, increases heart rate, blood pressure, respiration, muscle tension, and the availability of substances that repair tissue. It also temporarily alters the immune system and suppresses our digestive and reproductive systems, as these functions are not necessary for immediate survival (e.g., running from a predator).

In the short term, these changes are adaptive and beneficial for survival. Acute surges in cortisol can reduce inflammation, enhance memory, focus, decision-making, and efficiently boost metabolism to replenish our energy reserves. However, when we experience repeated stress over extended periods (various types of stressors will be discussed later), it can alter our sensitivity to stress.

Frequent stress can impair the ability of the hypothalamus to turn off our stress response, resulting in an accumulation of stress hormones that gradually wear down the brain and body. While our bodies are incredibly adaptable and can function under high stress levels for a considerable time, this comes at the expense of other regulatory functions.

Our immune system, digestive system, and reproductive system can become chronically downregulated, or even shut down entirely. Unfortunately, this process often unfolds slowly and subtly, with many symptoms not readily associated with stress.

Common Signs of Stress Overload:

1. Trouble falling or staying asleep.

2. Frequent nighttime awakenings. (In the absence of medical conditions, you should not wake up more than once or twice during the night.)

3. Dependence on coffee to get out of bed.

4. Fatigue.

5. Brain fog, difficulty concentrating, forgetfulness.

6. Light-headedness, dizziness, afternoon headaches.

7. Sleepiness in the mid-afternoon (around 2-4 p.m.).

8. Chronic inflammation, achy joints, water retention, puffiness.

9. High or low blood sugar, insulin resistance.

10. Anxiety (especially around bedtime, in the middle of the night, or upon waking).

11. Depression, lack of motivation, burnout.

12. Consistently feeling exhausted after exercising.

13. Low libido.

14. Irregular periods or amenorrhea (absence of periods).

15. Frequent illness, increased allergies or asthma symptoms.

16. Unexplained weight gain or difficulty losing weight (despite "doing everything right").

17. Bloating, gas, cramps, diarrhea, or constipation.

18. Loss of appetite.

Chances are, you've experienced at least one or two of these symptoms in the past month. While they may be common, they are not necessarily healthy. You should not accept them as everyday aspects of life.

Your body is attempting to communicate that it needs support, and you are fully capable of providing that support with some awareness. However, stress is an unavoidable part of life. You won't magically wake up stress-free, so the first step is to identify unnecessary stress triggers and learn how to manage them.

Stress Reduction

A helpful way to understand your body's capacity to handle stress is through the analogy of a bucket. Imagine you have a bucket representing yourself. Each stress event is like water poured into the bucket. Most buckets can hold some water, but if the water keeps pouring in, the bucket will overflow.

This overflow is your breaking point, and as the water level nears the top, you begin to experience symptoms of chronic stress. Fortunately, your bucket has a tap at the bottom, representing coping techniques and strategies to reduce the impact of stressors. The more effectively you can open the tap, the easier it is to maintain an optimal stress level.

Next, you need to identify what's filling your bucket. Remember, stress isn't confined to daily demands like workload, deadlines, relationships, and finances. Stress comes in various forms, and our bodies are constantly bombarded by stressors, adding to the bucket drop by drop.

Here are some common "sneaky" sources of stress:

1. Positive or exciting life events.

2. Lack of sleep or disrupted sleep.

3. Mental or emotional stress.

4. Diet.

5. Over-exercising.

6. Dehydration.

7. Gut imbalances or chronic infections.

8. Food sensitivities.

9. Environmental toxins.

One of the most effective ways to empty your stress bucket is through proper sleep. Stress and sleep are closely intertwined and can even have an inverse relationship – stress disrupts sleep, and poor sleep causes more stress. Here's how you can regain control over these stress triggers and others.

Mental or Emotional Stress

Mental and emotional stress is a major factor that keeps you in a fight-or-flight state. Fortunately, with practice, you can control it. Emotional stress can arise from various factors, such as overextending yourself, striving for perfection, comparing yourself to others, rumination, worry, a lack of purpose, unresolved trauma, or isolation. For now, let's focus on one specific behavior: negative self-talk.

Did you know that the way you talk to yourself can trigger a stress response similar to encountering a bear? Negative self-talk includes thoughts like "I am an idiot," "I can't do this," "I always mess up," "I have no self-control," "everyone hates me," and "this is my fault." However, negative self-talk can manifest in several forms, such as perfectionism, filtering, mind-reading, self-guessing, personalizing/blaming, and catastrophizing. It often mimics the voice of a parent, friend, or partner who has hurt our feelings.

You can start turning this around by simply acknowledging what you are saying to yourself and labeling the thought as negative or positive. This will give you an idea of when and how often you engage in negative self-talk, providing an opportunity to halt this thought process.

If you notice that you consistently have negative thoughts in specific situations, like at work, take a short movement break during that time to interrupt the cycle. Stand up, stretch, breathe, or step outside for a 10-minute walk. Pay attention to your surroundings – the sky, passing cars, trees – but leave those negative thoughts behind. This break will give your nervous system a breather

When you encounter negative thoughts, especially recurring ones, challenge their accuracy. For example, if you think "I'm never going to get better at this," recall a time when you surprised yourself and improved in a similar situation.

Challenge yourself to counter negative thoughts with positive ones, and express these positive thoughts in the third person (e.g., "you are strong"). Research has shown that speaking to yourself in the third person provides psychological distance from the experience, helping you regulate your emotions. Each time you do this, a little stress leaves your bucket.

Diet

Anything that disrupts your body's homeostasis, or balance, is considered a stressor. When you consume a poor diet high in processed foods, sodium, saturated fats, and sugar, you overload your organ systems, such as your liver and kidneys, which filter out unnecessary substances. All your organ systems work together, so if your liver and kidneys can't efficiently perform their tasks, other bodily functions struggle as well. Achieving homeostasis becomes challenging, and your body sounds the alarm to stay alive.

It's essential to recognize that everything you eat conveys information to your body. Each molecule of food provides a unique set of instructions about which hormones to produce, which proteins to express, and whether genes should be activated or deactivated. If your diet is unbalanced, the messages your body receives may be confusing.

At homeostasis, hormonal signaling in your brain and body should be precisely regulated. But if you consistently experience dramatic hormone level fluctuations in response to the foods you eat, this balance is disrupted. This type of stress is like a leaky faucet dripping into your stress bucket. Initially, the slow drops aren't much of a concern, but over time, the accumulation of water can cause significant damage.

Moreover, chronic under-eating, especially when you restrict calories below your basal metabolic rate, can elevate cortisol levels. When you don't consume enough, your body may lack the resources to carry out basic functions, putting your body in crisis mode. Your brain then activates a stress response to downregulate metabolism and sustain your body with adrenaline and cortisol.

Your diet can either be your worst enemy or your greatest ally. Remember that cortisol can cause changes in appetite, making you crave carbs and sugar intensely to replenish energy. However, if you don't truly need that extra energy (because you're not fleeing a predator), consuming these foods can lead to significant blood sugar fluctuations, perpetuating your stressed state.

You can acknowledge that your body is attempting to protect you and provide it with the nutrients it needs to support your organs, gut, and brain. Achieve this by eating balanced meals that include healthy fats, complex carbs, and high-quality protein. Stress places additional physiological demands on your body, increasing the need for specific nutrients like vitamin B, vitamin C, selenium, and magnesium.

Incorporate plenty of vegetables and construct meals that feature three to five different colors. The unique nutrients in vegetables are responsible for their distinct colors, ensuring that your body receives a wide range of resources.

Over-Exercising

In general, your workouts should energize you. It's normal to need 10-20 minutes to recover after a challenging workout, but if you consistently hit a wall during exercise or leave the gym feeling exhausted, you may be overloading your system.

This can be a difficult concept to accept, especially if you use exercise as a means of stress relief. It's essential to understand that exercise, in itself, triggers a substantial stress response in the body. We derive numerous benefits from the acute adaptive changes in response to this stress, such as increased energy, improved mood, and a metabolism boost. A healthy body can easily return to normal functioning after exercise. However, if your stress bucket is nearing its limit, a high-intensity workout can push you over the edge.

If you're struggling with stress, consider incorporating more rest days between workouts and opt for lower-intensity exercises like strength training, yoga, walking, or hiking. You can still enjoy your CrossFit workout, but consider reducing the intensity – scale the repetitions, decrease the weight, or focus on moving your body without pushing your limits. This might require you to leave your ego at the door, which will also help reduce stress in the long run.

Finding the Balance

Just because you're not on the verge of a mental breakdown doesn't mean you're not stressed. If you've been living with high stress for a while, you may feel like you're handling it well or that you're not stressed at all. Keep in mind that by the time you feel overwhelmed, your stress bucket is already overflowing.

The key is to learn balance and flexibility in your lifestyle to maintain stress at an optimal level. If you take on more stress in one area, such as a new project at work, anticipate reducing stress elsewhere – lower the intensity of your workouts. Recognize when stressors are entering your life and have strategies in place to release that stress.

References:

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