How Stress Can Effect Our Bodies

Stress is caused by being ‘here’ but wanting to be ‘there’- Eckhart Tolle

The effects of stress on the body are way more far-reaching and devastating than people realize. Here I discuss how stress can really effect our bodies and how you can manage it.

You head towards the check-out counters at the grocery store, and notice they are all full and are growing by the second. Everyone around you is darting in line quicker than you are. “Damn”, you think to yourself, “well I’ll just pick this stupid line-up since all the others are just as full. This store is way too busy today, I should have come earlier this morning, I knew it. Now I have to wait in line forever and I have so much other stuff to do today! I still have the bank which I’m sure I’ll wait in line there forever too. Oh, I have to pick up the kids from school in a couple hours, drive them to soccer and ballet, try and feed them at some point. If this line moves any slower I’ll be standing still, god! Hurry up lady!”

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What Science Says About Stress on the body

First off, your hypothalamus starts to send out signals to the pituitary and adrenal glands, which send out stress hormones, like good ol’ cortisol. You now enter the “fight, flight or freeze” response, controlled by the Sympathetic Nervous System. Your muscles tense, heart races, adrenaline kicks in and your breath has quickens. Welcome to stress baby!

The Autonomic Nervous System (ANS) is a part of the nervous system that controls our involuntary physiological reactions, influenced by stress. Our ANS has three systems which allow for your brain and digestive system to always be chatting. These three systems include; The Sympathetic Nervous System, The Parasympathetic Nervous System and The Enteric Nervous System.

This whole response served our ancestors well in the past. Originally designed to protect us from very real threats and react quickly to dangers. Consequently, as this fires day after day in our modern, fast paced-world, it does way more harm on our bodies than good. As we spend a large part of our days stressed out, it takes a toll and puts our health at serious risk.

Your hypothalamus is an incredibly important control center of your brain whose main role is to keep the body in homeostasis, meaning a balanced and healthy internal state. Every single day every we face stress in varying degrees. Generally, too much is on our plates with our families, work, increasing inflation, governments, waiting in line too long at the grocery store and so on.

No one is immune to stress, it just looks different depending on your life situation. Interestingly, if even in your present moment there is no stress in your external environment, your body reacts the same to having internal stress. Internal stress is your thoughts. Thoughts creates the same stress response in your body. Thus, making a great reason to be more aware of what’s bouncing around in your head! Let’s dive in to how stress can really effect our bodies.

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Stress on the Immune System…

Stress can really effect bodies by effecting our immune systems. Certainly, a sizeable amount of research has been done over the last few decades, starting in the 1960’s, on how stress and our immune system function are connected. This study, published in 2017, shows how vast stresses effects on our bodily functions are. It states how stress mediators can pass through the blood-brain barrier thus effecting our immune system. Stress can reduce the amount of natural killer cells, white blood cells, which our body needs to fight viruses, leaving us vulnerable. Stress can cause the immune system to produce an inflammatory response, that short term can aid in fighting germs. However, if inflammation and stress is long-term , it can actually lead to chronic diseases. Such as the buildup of plaque on your arterial walls. That stress hormone cortisol really gets in the way of our bodies anti-inflammatory response.

Stress on the Digestive System…

People generally experience stress in unique ways, no two people are the same. Henceforth, when gut issues are felt from stress, they appear differently from person to person. Nowadays the gut-brain connection is fairly well known. The Enteric Nervous System, is referred to by scientists as our “second brain.” This is mostly an independent system located in the walls of the gastrointestinal tract and controls many digestive functions. When we feel stress we can experience numerous symptoms in our guts, according to different clinical studies like this one and this one. Including: indigestion, increased inflammation, a lack of appetite, nausea, diarrhea, bloating, constipation, gas and an increased chance of either leaky gut, IBS, or SIBO.

Stress Causing Brain Mass Shrinkage…

Lastly, a lesser known effect stress can have on our bodies is a decreased brain mass. This one shocked me a bit and re-iterates how seriously stress can really effect our bodies . In this study from 2008, it demonstrates how having high cortisol levels over a long period can shrink your prefrontal cortex. The prefrontal cortex is located in your frontal lobe. Some refer to this as the “personality” center. It is said to be responsible for executive functions such as: reasoning, personality expression, making decisions, problem-solving, managing emotional reactions and so much more. Moreover, chronic stress may even put you at a higher risk of Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.

Stress-management…

The Parasympathetic Nervous System is in charge of “rest and digest”. In this mode, energy is conserved, heart rate slows, blood flows to the digestive tract and intestinal activity increases. Namely, this is where true healing of our minds, bodies and spirits occur. This is where we want to be most of the time. Although it is not realistic to say all of the time, but aim for whenever possible, any more than normal is an improvement.

Examples of ways to enter into the Parasympathetic state:

Meditation
Walking in Nature
Reading a Book
Enjoying a Hobby/Passion
Mindfulness/Presence practice
Journaling
Listening to Relaxing Music
Grounding
Breathwork
Gardening
Snuggling your Animals

Truly it is limitless and specific to each individual.

For me, it’s so important to constantly remind myself to SLOW DOWN. I have dealt with anxiety for much of my life and a symptom of that is feeling easily overwhelmed. Simple tasks can lead to me getting stressed out if I’m going too fast. “Spinning”, a name I coined, is where I run around in a frenzy trying to accomplish too much in a short time.

Unfortunately, this happens with silly stuff, such as making recipes while trying to do dishes or cleaning my house. I’ll notice the thoughts in my head rushing me, telling me I still have so many other things to do. Nowadays, I can recognize it much easier since really working on practicing presence; taking attention away from my mind and into my body.

I follow the teachings of Eckhart Tolle and Dr. Joe Dispenza too. Doing this work has been so helpful. Although, it’s minute by minute, day by day work to un-train your mind. What is more, when I’m not paying attention, the anxiety creeps in oh so sneakily, so I have to dedicate myself to this practice.

Final Thoughts

Furthermore, your brain can often change and adapt due to its plasticity meaning a lot of this may not be permanent damage, but there’s no guarantee everything is reversible unfortunately. However, if you can at least make some changes to lessen stress in your life that will bring some benefit. Equally, having awareness of the ways in which stress can effect you is a huge step too. What stress-management techniques do you practice in your life? What ways do you feel stress effect your body? I’d love to hear about it all in the comments below!

Sources:

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/how-the-mind-heals-the-body/201411/how-stress-affects-the-immune-system

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5579396/

https://www.jpp.krakow.pl/journal/archive/12_11/pdf/591_12_11_article.pdf

https://www.med.unc.edu/ibs/wp-content/uploads/sites/450/2017/10/Stress-and-the-Gut.pdf