tHE IMPACT OF STRESS IN YOUR HEALTH
Stress is the adverse reaction people have to excessive pressures or other types of demand placed on them.
Stress is a natural physical and mental reaction or response to life experiences. Everyone feels stress when they can’t cope with pressures and other issues in their life. And here’s the thing you might not perceive you have stress in your life. Often the most stressed people don’t even realise it!
However, everything in our life such as working hours, social environment, family life, sleep and training all compound to stress and it’s very important for you to understand that if too much stress exists in your life, it can cause a host of issues.
Being chronically stressed can affect your digestion, fertility, sleep, energy, mood and cause false hunger and cravings which of course can then lead to overeating and weight gain.
In order for you to be able to train hard, recover well, perform at your best in everyday tasks, digest your food and to control your appetite you need to have your stress load under control.
Chronic stress, if not managed, can wreak havoc on your health and particularly your body’s ability to drop body fat.
The main stress hormone cortisol is released by the adrenal gland in response to physical and psychological stress.
The purpose of cortisol is to release energy quickly from either the liver, fat cells or muscle to give you the energy you need to fight or survive the perceived stress.
Short term this is fine as stress triggers the fight or flight response that would be needed in a life or death situation.
However if this fight or flight response persists and becomes chronic or prolonged then this can massively affect your health, compromise your immune system and impair your body’s ability to drop body fat.
Chronic stress and elevated cortisol levels can increase your risk of heart disease, diabetes and other harmful diseases.
How To Manage Stress
Sleep 6-8 hours a night.
Strength training. Strength training 3-4 times a week increases muscle building and other anabolic hormones such as naturally occurring testosterone and growth hormone.
Eat balanced healthy meals every throughout the day. This will help prevent low blood sugar and minimise sugar cravings.
Remove processed food, plan your meals in advance favouring a high protein diet, healthy fats and vegetables.
Limit caffeine, alcohol and other stimulants.
Supplement with magnesium.
Get outdoors! By going for walks and being around nature more you will increase your vitamin d levels and lower your cortisol levels.
Perform more parasympathetic exercise such as yoga to help bring a state of calm in the body.
Meditate or use “grounding”. Deep breathing techniques and mindfulness has been shown to lower stress, anxiety and lower inflammation. Try using apps like Headspace.
Listen to music, podcast or audio books that help to bring a state of calm.
