Stress and its effects on the mind and body – Notes from Time Publication “The Science of Stress: Manage it. Avoid it. Put it to use.”
When it comes to threats our bodies react more or less the same way. The hormones that send the body to battle stations with all of the metabolic urgency and tension that implies has barely changed over the years of human existence.
The cycle of stressors modern humans face are ongoing- the bodies could be in a permanent state of flight or fight.
A constant state of high alert can contribute to serious health problems and disease: type 2 diabetes, as the liver continually boosts sugar levels to give you the energy you need for the anticipated battle; high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease, as the heart and circulatory system spend too much time in overdrive; obesity, as the high levels of cortisol make you crave sugary fatty foods; viruses and infectious diseases, as energy that would normally go to sustaining the immune system is diverted elsewhere. Fertility and libido plunge too.
Alarm stage – fight or flight
Resistance stage- body adapts to ongoing stressor
Exhaustion stage- body is drained of all resources to manage the stressor and simply breaks down
Stress Reducers- exercise, building social support network, diet as overall wellness (eating healthy), unthreatening workplace environment, cognitive behavioral therapy to reframe goals and stakes and dangers. Mindfulness, meditation, yoga.
Limbic System of brain is where stress response is activated
Hans Selye- “general adaptive syndrome” the human bodies basic reaction to any threat- be it physical or psychological- is more or less the same regardless of the threats source. The same internal defense mechanisms kick into gear. Every vital organ and function are effected. Any problems or derailments that arise in this process could cause or contribute to potentially grave health concerns.
Stress can influence how the immune system operates and the inflammation that results from stress plays a role in many different diseases and disorders. – George Slavich, director for stress assessment UCLA
Inflammation is the immune systems primary weapon against infection or injury. Blood is infused with various enzymes and proteins that, to heal wounds or rebuff invaders, can cause heat, pain or swelling. Short periods of stress and the inflammation it unleashes can exacerbate some preexisting medical conditions, none of this seems to be harmful to healthy adults. A little stress can help people stay sharp and respond to a pressing challenge.
If stress lingers for long periods, its effects can have wide ranging and sometimes disastrous consequences for a persons mental and physical health. There’s virtually no part of the body that stress doesn’t touch.
Stress- is anything a person perceives to be a threat. Threat perception can vary widely from one person to the next and it determines the intensity and the duration of the body’s many stress related reactions. Your body reacts to your perception of a threat- not to the reality.
Perception is important because people have the ability to predict a threat and prepare ahead of time for the harm in may inflict. The body starts to mount an immune response not just in response to an injury but in anticipation of an injury. Humans have the ability to manifest danger in their minds even when its not present.
Stress is an external threat and the body’s reaction to that threat, once the threat goes away, the stress should go away.
Anxiety is the internal alarm or concern that arises even when an external threat is not physically present. Anxiety is also the anticipation of a threat that never materializes.
A little anxiety can be beneficial. It can help you anticipate trouble and avoid it. When Anxiety and stress run rampant, many of the body’s core protective and restorative processes are disrupted.
Body’s Stress Response
Stress begins in the brain- the limbic system, home to the amygdala. This is known as the emotional center. One of its roles is to detect and assess potential threats, notify the hypothalamus, which triggers the body’s fight or flight response.
If the flight or fight response is triggered, the hormone Epinephrine- also known as adrenaline- floods the blood and initiates a number of short lived physiological changes. Heart rate and sweating increase, and blood flows more freely to the limbs. The airways to the lungs expand to bolster breathing capacity, while the movement of food through the digestive system slows. Throughout the body, energy and other resources are temporarily reallocated in order to help it meet any physical trials. While all of this is going on the cells of the immune system release pro-inflammatory chemicals called cytokines. Because inflammation works against injury and the spread of infection, this is part of the immune systems way of gearing up for battle.
Flight or Fight response also affects thinking and cognition. Stress can help you stay focused and block out distraction. Your ability to multitask may be temporarily impaired. During periods of high stress, some aspects of memory storage and recall take a hit while decision making speeds up.
Ability to think critically suffers. The prefrontal cortex is the part of the brain that helps you use reasoning to guide your behavior. When experiencing strong emotions or urges, the prefrontal cortex can help keep those emotions and urges in check. But under conditions of stress, there is less activity in this region of the brain, and people seem like they’re not acting rationally. Raw emotion tends to take over, and this can lead to choices that seem helpful in the moment- throwing a punch, for example- but have negative long term consequences.
While short term, adrenaline driven stress responses are occurring, the hypothalamus also activates a second “stress system” to prepare the body for action. This system is slower acting but longer lasting, it involves the hormone cortisol. Long term effects of stress involve excessive cortisol circulating the body. When stress goes on for too long, or occurs very frequently, its this system that can negatively affect the immune function, memory, fear and risk for disease.
Cortisol is often referred to as the stress hormone. The body’s cortisol naturally rise and fall even in the absence of stress. Helps maintain the body’s circadian rhythms, which regulate sleep and appetite. It does other basic things with cellular growth and repair, with helping the glucose response and with amino acid production.
During period of stress- either acute or prolonged- cortisol levels increase. Its short term function is to quell the surge in inflammation that stress has instigated. Cortisol floods the blood and calms down all those excited, inflammation stoking immune cells. If stress persists and cortisol levels remain elevated for long periods, the body’s immune cells and related systems become desensitized to cortisol’s calming effects. This can cause inflammation to rage out of control. It also blocks cortisol’s typical repair and maintenance work. It can bind to DNA and altar gene expression which can affect how our organs and tissues are functioning.
The brain counters the desensitization to cortisol by becoming more sensitive to stress, becoming hyperresponsive. Continually being exposed to stress teaches the brain that it exists in a toxic, threatening environment and it needs to be alert at all times. Feeling anxious or stressed tends to breed more anxiety and stress.
People who are chronically anxious or stressed are going to have more inflammatory markers, more dysfunction of the endothelial lining of the blood vessels and overactivity of the sympathetic nervous system, which changes how the heart beats.
Stress can effect the gut, effects several aspects of normal gastro-intestinal physiology- everything from influencing the secretion of gastric acid and other digestive enzymes to changing motility patterns both in the small and large intestines. All of these stress induced shifts can worsen symptoms for people with GI disorders, also cause short term muscle pain, constipation or other gut issues in healthy folks. It can also change the guts ecosystem of bacteria (the microbiome). Prolonged periods of stress are the greatest concern for gut health.
Good and Bad Stress
Brief and minor bouts of stress are sometimes referred to as good stress because they can be motivating. This can focus a person’s attention and energies and thereby help him or her complete a task. Calling any stress good can be misleading, especially when someone is older. It can induce a heart attack or stroke. And for kids and young adults, brief bouts of stress can provoke a spike in inflammation, can disrupt sleep, and trigger GI symptoms.
Chronic bouts with stress are the greatest threat to a person’s health. Examples of chronic stressors are having to deal with volatile or abusive people, grappling day in and day out with social media related anxieties, and work and family related obligations to name a few. These stressors can sensitize the brain and increase its susceptibility to stress, which cause immune system overactivity, artery calcification and other ill effects.
Learning to manage stress is essential to good health. Physical activity, meditation, breathing exercises and relaxation response training, laughter and spending time with close friends and family all work to relax and are effective against stress.
Stress on the Physical Body/Performance
One quarter of major league pitchers have undergone Tommy John Surgery, with an 80% success rate. Damage to the Ulnar Collateral Ligament is a consequence of excessive physical stress- repetitive stress caused by performing the same action over and over again. Repetitive motion is the culprit in 50% of all athletic injuries (throwing, running, jumping, swinging a club or racquet). But it’s also a hazard of everyday tasks, such as scrubbing floors or manipulating a computer mouse or smartphone for hours on end.
When someone moves, the brain tells the muscles what to do. The muscles move; the bones and the ligaments and tendons keep things connected. The connective tissue is usually the weak link. Whenever you work out the body, you’re getting stress and getting microscopic tears in the muscles, tendons and ligaments.
Stress, mathematically, is force divided by the area. Force per area is how hard you’re pulling that tendon or ligament divided by its cross-sectional area. So, you have big muscles exerting force and they’re connected to those skinny little ligaments and tendons, which have a smaller area and will suffer more stress. Repetitive stress, your muscles and tendons stretch, each time they do they get little tears in them.
Pitchers Stress- When the arm is cocked back the stress on a pitcher’s elbow is 100 Newton meters (depending on the pitcher), the equivalent of having five 12-pound bowling balls pulling down on your arm.
We all get these little tears in our bodies after physical activity, but when we get rest and sleep, our bodies repair themselves. Its crucial that the body has sufficient recovery time.
If the body doesn’t get time to repair the tears build upon each other, the tears build up faster than they can repair and that leads to big tears and injury.
60% of Tommy John Surgeries are being performed on athletes ages 15-19 years old.
Major League Baseball Elbow Task Force- they attribute this epidemic to specialization in youth athletes. Traditionally kids played different sports according to the seasons. Now kids are often encouraged to play one sport year-round. Compounding the problem is the fixation on the radar gun, kids are throwing more max effort, plus doing it year-round. These two factors are leading to injuries.
If a child is spending more than 8 months annually in one sport, they are 3 times more likely to experience in overuse injury in the hip of knee.
Running- jogging a mile, is about 1200 steps, each step pounds the surface with a force nearly triple our body weight. With running, you get two types of injury, shin splints from tension on the tendons. Injury to the meniscus- cartilage on the knee- a bone injury such as stress fracture that’s from compression- the impact on the foot hitting the ground.
Repetitive Strain Injury- family of muscular conditions that result from repeated motions performed in the course of normal work or daily activities.
Carpel tunnel syndrome, nerve compression around the wrist.
Bursitis-inflammation and swelling of the fluid-filled sac near a knee, elbow or shoulder joint.
De Quervains syndrome- a painful inflammation of tendons on the thumb side of the wrist, often associated with overuse of the wrist.
Dupuytrens contracture- a thickening of deep tissue in the palm of the hand and fingers that can lead to permanently bent fingers. Using vibrating tools increases the risk.
Intersection syndrome- painful inflammation of certain forearm muscles, caused by repeated flexion and extension of the wrist. Common among weight lifters, rowers, racquet-sport players, horseback riders and skiers.
Lateral epicondylitis (tennis elbow)- Affects the outer part of the elbow after repetitive wrist and arm movements-found not only in tennis players but also in plumbers, painters, carpenters and butchers.
Medial epicondylitis (golfers elbow)- affects the inside of the lower arm, near the elbow. Frequent playing of certain sports or repetitive twisting motions can lead to this condition.
Raynauds disease- blood vessels in the extremities constrict when theyre cold or stressed. One trigger is work requiring vibration, such as using a jackhammer.
Radial tunnel syndrome- a dull ache is felt at the top of the forearm. Too much pushing or pulling or overuse of the hand and wrist can painfully irritate the nerve.
Rotator cuff syndrome- damage to any of the tendons that hold the shoulder joint in place. Common in work that involves prolonged overhead activity.
Tendinosis- overuse causes degeneration of collagen- the main structural protein of the bodys connective tissues- within the tendons.
Tendonitis- an inflamed tendon
Thoracic outlet syndrome- blood vessels or nerves become trapped between the collarbone and the first rib. This malady often afflicts people who use their upper extremities to haul heavy weights.
Stenosing tenosynovitis or trigger finger- a finger becomes stuck in the bent position; this condition is also known as “texting tendinitis” can result from repeated, strong gripping.
Writers cramp- muscle spasm in overused hands and arms.
Study done on 200 boys between 9 and 12 (Japanese study) found a relationship between extensive video game play and pain in the elbow and shoulder; players who spent three or more hours a day on video games over the previous year were 5.6 times as likely to have felt elbow or shoulder discomfort as were kids who spent less than an hour daily at the video screen. Simple preventative measure is to refrain from overuse.
The emphasis on proper form in throwing mechanics, you want to optimize your mechanics by using your whole body and reduce the stress on your arm. This principle applies to any sport or occupation.
The science of ergonomics-designing a workplace for optimum comfort, injury avoidance and efficiency- has flourished. Elements of posture, desk layout and chair and screen alignment come into play. Rest and exercise are paramount. Rest, recovery, and varying stress can reduce the risk of repetitive stress
injury. Most importantly, each person should listen to their body. When fatigued, stop the activity and rest and recover.
Handling Stress
Nutrition
Direct correlation between stress and digestive nutritional health, often shown in symptoms such as upset stomach, nausea, diarrhea, stomach cramping, or changes in appetite. Biochemical reactions are regulated by the gut-brain axis, a system connecting the brain, central nervous system and gastrointestinal tract. Cognitive and emotional centers of the brain communicate with elements of the gut microbiome, including bacteria and fatty acids. Additionally, the enteric nervous system, found in the lining of the intestinal tract, controls digestive function and the production of neurotransmitters, such as dopamine and serotonin.
When Stress amps up, it causes disruption in the digestive system, a diet that supports gut health can calm those physiological stress responses. This can help manage stress long term. A Balanced, plant- based diet filled with fiber and prebiotic-rich foods, such as garlic, onions, asparagus, bananas and berries. Pro-biotic rich foods like sauerkraut, kefir, miso, yogurt, and kombucha are other mood boosting options that can ease digestion and protein absorption.
Exercise
Exercise can alleviate stress by boosting a person’s outlook through a meaningful activity and a sense of accomplishment. Researchers found that acute habitual exercise had significant stress-buffering effects on the activation of the primary stress hormone cortisol. Yoga has shown through research to significantly reduce stress, anxiety, and depression. It has shown to train the body to cope with overactive fight-or-flight reflexes in people with chronic stress and anxiety.
Exercise produces many of the same physiological reactions that ignite the stress response. The reactions to a high-intensity resistance activity such as weightlifting—breathlessness, rapid heart rate, increased perspiration—mimicked the physical responses to extreme levels of stress. Exposing people to the same sensations they would experience during a high-stress moment- but in a more positive, self- controlled context—can help them handle other stressors. Your body is adapting to that physiological stress response, when you experience that again, you have a reduced response to it cognitively.
Finances
Money is the dominant stressor in Americans. From an existential perspective, financial insecurity threatens psychological health by undermining one’s sense of purpose. That sense of pride and purpose that people get from earning money and putting food on the table and pursuing career goals is threatened. A constant fear of being unable to provide can cause perpetual activation of the stress response.
Financial insecurity can differ from other sources of stress because of the necessity surrounding the problem. It taps into primal worries. A compromised sense of meaning resulting from unemployment or
from living paycheck to paycheck can also negatively affect sources of emotional support and interfere with personal relationships.
To cope with financial stress, try to make only one significant monetary decision at a time, track spending daily with a list and remain mindful of ways to reduce spending wherever possible. Derive a sense of purpose from sources other than a paycheck.
Mindfulness and Meditation
Mindfulness is a way of approaching life with a present- centered awareness of purpose, paying attention to what’s happening in the present moment instead of being lost in what’s happened in the past and what’s going to happen in the future.
Meditation unites the body and the mind in a method of relaxation, quelling the physical response the body feels in moments of stress. This can be as simple as becoming aware of your body’s reactions to stress, such as tension in the shoulders or rapid breathing.
Meditation, Physiologically, blood pressure is lowered, and the heart rate is slowed.
Focus on Intention
Direct your emotions about upcoming goals or obligations toward positive feelings instead of focusing on the negative.
Set Realistic expectations
Find gratitude for the things we already have in our lives and fulfill us. Focusing on what you do now can help mitigate the stress about what is next.
Find a confidant
Sometimes it takes an outside perspective to let us know that we’re not handling stress well. Find someone at work or in your personal life to lean on.
Write it down
Putting pen to paper can be a therapeutic mode of expression. Journal regularly for at least a month and read it back to analyze your level of happiness. This can help identify triggers and a pattern.
Seek Peace and Love
Take 5 minutes a day finding something that will bring you serenity, such as listening to music or finding quiet time to take deep breaths. This will reboot your mind and body. Doing this with other people also helps, isolation kills, community heals. There are great benefits to surrounding yourself with caring friends and family or having a loving pet. Decorating your workspace with plants and colors to elevate your mood also helps to feel less alone.
Change your mindset
The biggest misconception about stress is that we must beat it. When we make stress the enemy, we actually make more stress for ourselves. Intentionally activating positive heart emotions such as care, appreciation, compassion and ease decreases your stress by creating physiological harmony, positive
thinking isn’t enough; it must be positive feelings from the heart to affect your body and brain. The main take away is Learning to react positively—from both mental and emotional standpoints—to negative stressors in our lives.
Benefits of Animal Companionship
There is Scientific evidence that animals can improve mental health, specifically dogs. From decreasing blood pressure and cholesterol levels to even helping children fend off allergies, interacting with a pet, even with an unknown animal, can help diminish stress, provide relief from symptoms of anxiety and aid with depression.
Studies have linked interacting with pets to decreased levels of cortisol and an increase in oxytocin, which aids in social bonding.
When Doubt becomes destructive
Rumination- When the mind wanders towards negative events of the past or the possibility of negative events in the future. When we ruminate, we’re not focusing on solutions but instead fixate on the problems or potential problems.
-example; asking a co-worker to look over a draft, but you haven’t heard anything from them in a couple days, then the mind starts to anxiously obsess thinking things like “he’s not responding because I’m a horrible employee who is about to get fired” or “He thinks I’m dumb” – this self-talk is self- destructive.
Ongoing Harvard study by psychologists Matthew Killingsworth and Daniel Gilbert, estimates people spend about half of our time focused on the present. In the study people who lived in the moment were happiest no matter what they were doing.
Notice your Cognitive Distortion- the tricks your mind plays on you
-Personalization- thinking that the event is all your fault. Own up to your mistakes, but move
on
-Permanence- thinking you are going to feel like this (eg., bad) forever. Focus on the single event and your ability to do better next time.
-Pervasiveness- thinking the event is going to ruin every aspect of your life. Tiny mistakes happen to everyone, learn from it and move on to the next thing.
Withins and Beyonds of Stressors
Withins are things you can do something about- “Nothing Diminishes anxiety better than action”
– go take care of it
Beyonds are things outside of your control- recognize if the stressor is something you can’t control. – Thoughts are simply thoughts, acknowledge them and recognize they are false truths, even if they “feel” true. We get to decide what voices we listen to in our minds. With practice, we start to develop a mental immunity to stress by staying in the present and taking care of the things within our control.
Stress and Childhood
Lack of life experience magnifies the intensity of emotion because children are dealing with stress without the benefit of perspective.
-haven’t developed the ability to zoom out and acknowledge that “this too shall pass.”
-the part of the brain that develops last is the part that helps with coping and decision making (this happens around 25 years old)
-don’t have the same capacity as adults to turn down their flight or fight response, so they can convince themselves that a kitten is really a tiger.
Managing and regulating Stress for Children
-certain amount of stress is normal and essential for children to grow with this life skill. -stress that goes unchecked can lead to a multitude of problems down the line
-chronic stress or unaddressed anxiety can lead to physiological and psychological
consequences
-this can lead to children in survival mode, on the constant lookout for potential danger, with their worlds shrinking they will miss out on experiences that help them develop and grow.
How to Spot signs of stress in Children
-make an effort for undivided individual attention- demonstrate that you’re calm, focused, and ready to receive anything the child will throw at you
-look for physical or behavioral signs- children’s stress is more likely to take form of a behavioral regression; trouble eating, sleeping, separating from parents, or increased irritability or anxiety. Physically it can look like stomachaches or headaches.
-social changes- acting withdrawn, having trouble with friends, and changes in academic performance.
-bad behavior is virtually always a sign that a child is struggling with a feeling or situation beyond his/her ability to cope, and on the opposite end of the spectrum perfectionist behavior can also be an indicator.
Two factors for measuring how stressed a child is
-The depth of the negative response and how long it lasts.
-within a week or two is considered normal for dealing with a developmental transition-
-occasional tantrums are normal, if the intensity of a reaction surpasses what is usual or socially acceptable it could be an indication that there is more going on.
-yelling→hitting someone (normal→not normal) Sources of Stress for Children
-Mom and Dad Effect- kids are watching all the time, taking in how you resolve conflict, cope with stress, navigate daily challenges and interact with others. Kids have no idea how to make themselves feel better, so parents need to model and vocalize that strategies that work. Eg., “Im going to put the rest of this off until tomorrow and take a walk. It can wait.” Be sensitive to stressful social issues and explain them simply to children, allow them to ask questions and keep the answers simple, noninflammatory, and non-judgmental so that the children can process better.
-Outside World- kids today are dealing with a 24/7 news cycle and don’t discriminate between what happened 2000 miles away and the here and now. Social media provides endless opportunities to feel excluded, isolated, or less than. Misuse of online activity with social media happens late at night and when kids are overtired, acting more impulsive.
-Too Much effort, Not enough Play- just like adults kids need unstructured time to relax and play. Adults practice what you preach because the kids are learning from you. Have the children spend an hour outside a day (active) screen time is a passive de-stressor.
Stress In Society
Never ending news cycle- headline stress disorder- volatile headlines bring about feelings of frustration and worry
Social Media- platforms keep people connected but come with emotional cost. -possible mental health repercussions of chasing follow or likes. Envy, inadequacy, fear of
exclusion are all feelings that come from too much exposure to social media.
-Instagram- high levels of self-expression and self-identity, also high levels of anxiety, depression, bullying, and fear of missing out.
-Too much is not good, but some is okay for true social networking (connecting with others you otherwise wouldn’t be able to)
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