Are you stressed out?

Stress is a word you hear so much in this day and age, but what is it really, and how do you know if you are that?

This blog will hopefully clarify this a bit more for you. 

I’m guessing that most of you think of stress as a bad thing.  That it involves a state of worry or mental tension caused by a challenging situation, to which in many aspects I agree. To be ‘stressed’ isn’t a nice feeling. It’s uncomfortable and doesn’t do your body any good if experienced for prolonged periods.

But it does serve a very important purpose. Learning about why your body is ‘stressed’ can provide you with some very important information on how to live happier and healthier!

What is a stress response?

Stress itself is actually a perfectly natural and healthy human protector. In caveman days it ensured our survival, as the stress response would be activated by life threatening triggers such as an attack of a wild animal. It would cause adrenaline (a stress inducing hormone) to kick in, so the person would either be hyper alert and ready to fight, flight (run) or freeze in an instant, increasing their chance of survival. Hopefully they would choose the right reaction, living to see another day, and then the adrenaline production could be switched off, as the person returns to normal levels of stimulation.

However, in this day and age, the stresses we face are more likely in effect over a longer time frame. Intense jobs, tight deadlines, family tensions… Here the stress response is activated, but not deactivated, so it’s a bit like running with the brakes on. 

What happens to our bodies when we are stressed?

When we are caught up in a stressful period, your bodies attention is on survival, not thriving. The body prioritises things like pumping blood to our heart and muscles to ensure a quick getaway. Its focus is not on the routine maintenance of the body, so things like digestion, elimination and detoxification are pushed to the bottom of the priority list! This is fine for the short term, but in the longer term it causes us to run into problems. It is here that it can start damaging our health. 

If the majority of your bodies resources are not on the maintenance, then systems start to run out of supplies and building blocks or start wearing out or running down. Your body is clever, and it knows it’s in trouble, so it starts to give you little warning signs and symptoms that it’s not coping.  These could be things like aches and pains, more frequent colds/bugs, poor digestion, poor sleep, etc.

Eventually, if you’re still not addressing the problem, your system will become so run down you become much more susceptible to more serious conditions, one’s that are much harder to settle or manage.

I have got symptoms but don’t ‘feel’ stressed?

Stress to the body doesn’t just encompass the feeling/emotion. It can be stress to the body from chemicals such as in the foods we eat, cleaning products, drugs, chemicals we work with, etc. It can be environmental factors like being too hot, too cold, too wet/dry etc. Too much or not enough exercise or sleep, or any health challenges themselves cause stress to the body. Basically, anything that is taxing to the body could be classed as stressing your body out.  The more things that stress your body out, the more reserves it will take for the body to cope. 

So how can I help improve my stress levels?

Understanding more about your body can play a big part in understanding why we are like we are, and how we are all so different. One size definitely does not fit all! It’s about learning to work with our bodies and support them more, rather than trying to force them to do things that are actually not right for us as an individual. Our levels of sensitivity to one or any of the stressors mentioned can be understood more by looking at our human design charts (see blog “intro to human design” for more information).  The more we can learn to hear and read the little warning lights our body gives us, the less likelihood your body will have to scream and shout to stop you in your tracks.

Some of us are highly sensitive to the littlest of stresses (like projectors in human design), and others are much more robust with some things and not others, some of us are almost infallible! We all have weak points and strong points, so learning to work with those can create much more flow and balance in our lives. 

How can Alana help you manage your stress?

By learning more about our individual nature and having some tools in our tool kit to help us when we notice we are getting symptoms, can be invaluable. Often things can feel overwhelming and it’s a job to know where to begin.

Alana can help you to understand more about why your body is behaving how it is, and how you can work with it instead of battling against it. Alana’s approach can help you find clarity, accountability for making changes, and support as you learn to heal your body from the inside out.

If this resonates, don’t hesitate to book a discovery call or an initial consultation to find out how you can take control back of your own health and wellness, and manage those stress levels!