Stress makes you Stupid

In the frantic pace of life that most of us live, ‘stress’ has become an everyday word. Although some degree of stress is quite normal and actually productive, too much stress can be hugely detrimental to our entire wellbeing. The causes and effects of stress are diverse, but needless to say they affect both our psychological and physical state. There are at least 50 common signs and symptoms of stress, and that’s just the common ones.

What is stress?

Our sympathetic nervous system is responsible for the ‘flight or fight response’ that we’re all familiar with – i.e. in periods of high stress, we go into battle or run away and hide. Nowadays, real threats to our survival don’t happen too often but our mind can still tell us that there’s a threat. Our mind can read stress in situations that are real (such as during public speaking), imagined (such as ‘imagining’ the experience of public speaking) and recalled (remembering a time when you had to speak in public). In other words, it doesn’t really matter whether something has happened, is happening or is about to happen, our mind can read this as stressful.

When we think a situation is stressful, adrenalin gets released into our blood stream and the effects include hyperarousal (you feel really alert) and increased physical performance (you can do things really quickly).

You can see that activation of the sympathetic nervous system has its uses. Feeling very alert and doing things really quickly benefits all of us at times.

The trouble comes when this goes from being a temporary state to a permanent one.

When your ‘flight or fight response’ never switches off, you’re likely to notice:

· Disrupted sleep patterns (including more dreaming)

· Lowered tolerance for everyday problems

· Negative feelings of self-worth

· More intense emotional state, including tearfulness, anger, impatience

· Inability to concentrate

· Inability to make decisions

· Digestive problems

· Skin outbreaks

· Drinking more, smoking more, eating more/less

Some of the things you won’t notice, but which are still happening when your stress continues, are:

· Thyroid/endocrine burnout

· Brain damage

· Obesity/diabetes

· Immune suppression

· Infertility

· Autoimmune stress related diseases

· Cancer

· High blood pressure

· Heart disease, cardiac failure

The Effects of Stress

Getting off the Stress Coaster

Fortunately, the sympathetic nervous system is complemented by its parasympathetic opposite. If you think of the sympathetic nervous system as the accelerator, the parasympathetic nervous system is the brake.

The parasympathetic nervous system helps to decrease heart rate, slow down breathing, improve digestion, regulate moods, rebuild cells, and generally relaxes and restores us.

Although on the face of it we all say we’d like to be less stressed, the truth is it can be addictive. Feeling sharp, working at a fast pace, going a whole day without food…it can all feel quite euphoric. But the system is designed to be temporary, not a permanent state of being. You may be able to live with the odd skin outbreak, a few bad nights of sleep and jumping down people’s throats for no reason, but if you get to the point when you get so burnt out that you can’t go to work, your partner tells you enough’s enough and you’re told that hypertension medication wouldn’t do any harm…well, that’s when it’s reached a whole new level.

Making a New Start

A good start to reducing your stress levels is to accept and acknowledge the stressors in your life.

Write a list of stressors that are out of your control (external stresssors) – such as a traffic jam, being kept waiting, your boss making unreasonable demands.

Next write a list of stressors that you do have control over – such as being late for a meeting, emotional eating, and lashing out at someone.

Think about how your mind and body reacts to stress – see the diagram above for a whole range of symptoms.

Finally, take some time out to really think about what can help you to manage your stress levels better. Here’s a few suggestions:

· Go to bed earlier

· Take regular time out for yourself

· Have a massage

· Walk to/from work

· Have a lunch break

· Breathe more deeply

· Do something just for fun

· Watch DVDs all of Sunday

· Leave home earlier for work

· Leave work earlier for home

· Learn to meditate

Start managing your stress today, before it starts managing you…

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