We can’t discuss stress without a brief primer on the autonomic nervous system which works in tandem with the endocrine system.
We have two distinct sides of the autonomic nervous system, sympathetic (fight and flight) and parasympathetic (rest and digest).
The interaction between our sympathetic nervous system and endocrine system prompts a co-ordinated response to perceived threats. This response includes an increase in heart rate, blood pressure and breathing rate. Additionally glucose and fat are released from storage and into the blood stream in order to be available immediately to our muscles.
That’s just the initial response, the one you can feel.
If that perceived danger persists another cascade of hormones mobilise just to ensure you’re kept in that alerted state.
This of course is a gross simplification of a complex system but for further simplicity we can label them stress and rest, one an accelerator the other a brake.
This stress reaction has evolved in mammals in order to help escape potentially life-threatening situations and flee from danger.
In our current environments however this hormonal cascade is triggered simply by sitting too long at a red light, a shortened working deadline or opening your electricity bill.
Our day starts with by means of a mini-emergency – your early morning alarm, your kids, (often one in the same). You might journey to work or school sitting in traffic. We sustain ourselves throughout the day with caffeine and high energy sugary foods or drinks, demanded by an overwhelmed system.
The weekends might see over-stimulated late nights and alcohol consumption added to the mix and come Monday, we start the cycle all over again.
You may think you’re temporarily interrupting this stress state with the odd trip to the gym, but often times (depending on the training) this can only serve to exacerbate it.
Most productive training by it’s nature provides a stress, necessary in order to drive an adaptation.
Stress, often portrayed as ‘bad’ and rest as ‘good’, isn’t really the problem, it’s that oftentimes those lines are blurred, we don’t know really know what state we’re in and for most it skews in the wrong direction for all of the reasons above.
The irony of course is that when we embark on ‘health improvement’ we commonly compound our stress, doubling down on effort, discipline and restriction, metaphorically holding your breath, when the solution is release it.
Exercising more and harder, reducing calories or cutting out food groups altogether, adding deadlines to body transformations that were unrealistic to begin with, all pile on the pressure.
And you can do all this until you can’t.
We’re constrained by individual physiology that prompts us by cracking at our weakest links, commonly digestive issues, sleep, skin conditions, susceptibility to illnesses etc.
Chronically stress has well documented links to more serious issues too, high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes, weight gain are all linked.
So how do we counter it?
It’s the million dollar question, which as with anything complex, generally doesn’t come with an easy answer. Here are the best ideas I have though.
Exercise
Counter to what I mentioned before, exercise can help, likely a consequence of deeper breathing. The important thing though is to start with lower intensity work. Think walking, light jogging, a good resistance training programme. Limit your high intensity work, sprinting, interval training, spinning, circuit training etc. until at least you’ve got a handle on how much you can tolerate and recover from.
Auditing attention
Take a look at the stressful situations in your life and see if any of them are self-made. Are you putting too much pressure on yourself to produce work, are you focusing too much on things that don’t necessarily require the attention you bring to it? Can you let some of them go, or delegate the responsibilities. Perhaps that might free up some time to fit the above exercise.
Track Stress
Heart rate Variability (HRV) tracking has been a major game-changer for me. While the topic is too extensive to cover in depth here, it’s a valuable tool for gauging overall stress levels and monitoring recovery. By keeping tabs on your HRV, you can pinpoint imbalances and adapt accordingly.