Today you decided to take a nice walk in the forest after you got home from work. It’s a good way to unwind after a long day. As you walk down the trail, enjoying the beauty around you, you hear some strange rattling in the nearby bushes. You step closer to see what’s causing it, and suddenly realize it’s a mama grizzly and her cub. She lets out a loud roar. Before you have time to even think, you’re darting 20 feet in the opposite direction. This is the most stress you’ve ever felt in your life. But what is stress?
Stress is our reaction to a force or event that adversely affects us. We can be stressed by a wide variety of potential forces. Some examples:
* Being chased by a bear. (I chose a bear here because bears are the funniest animal exceeding even the lobster. Hopefully choosing a funny bear will make this blog less scary for you, and less likely to stress you out. You can even imagine it’s a teddy bear if that helps.)
* Personal illness or injury.
* Illness or death of a family member or friend.
* Being robbed or assaulted. (Also, I’m told robbing or assaulting someone is also stressful.)
* Getting a new job, or promotion.
* Birth of a child. (Especially Sam)
* A troublesome boss, coworker, or employee.
* Moving place of residence, church, or school.
* A graduation or retirement.
* A new relationship or breakup of a relationship.
* Thinking about who our next president might be. Where’s that bear when you need it?
* Financial or legal problems.
* Winning the lottery. Yes, people who win the lottery tend to get stressed out and not do well.
* Going to see the doctor, or in my case, going to see the patient.
* Loss of a pet.
* A child leaving home. (Unless it’s Sam)
* Being a caregiver.
* Preparing for a vacation, reunion, or party.
* Performing a task. Deadlines. Writing a blog.
We can spend all day thinking of stressors, but as you can see, not all stressors are bad, but they still put stress on us because we have to adjust to a new situation. Stress can even be a good thing by helping us to escape a bad situation, like being chased by a bear.
When put under stress, our bodies undergo changes which can be good and even improve our chance of survival. The classic example of this is the ‘fight or flight’ response which happens when you are being chased by a bear. Under these stressful circumstances, your body’s sympathetic nervous system releases adrenaline causing your heart rate to increase, you’ll breathe faster, muscles will tense up and receive more oxygen, and the liver will release stored up energy (in the form of fatty acids and glycogen). All of this is to help you be more alert and run faster, or even fight the bear (don’t take it personally, but I have $50 on the bear). Other changes also occur…for instance our blood will clot easier so we don’t bleed as much and endorphins are released which decrease pain, and that’s important for when the bear catches us.
A few other changes accompany the ‘fight or flight’ response. For instance: the pupils dilate (making our eyes look big), hairs on the skin stand up, sweating, and relaxation of the urinary bladder sphincter muscle – which may cause you to wet yourself. This is important so that the bear can see that you’re really scared and may have pity on you and let you go, which is your last chance for survival when a bear is chasing you.
The ‘fight or flight’ response is a short term response to stress. There are numerous long term responses to stress which are harmful. They include1:
* Release of cortisol into the blood stream which weakens the immune system and makes us more predisposed to illness.
* Increased blood pressure and predisposition to arrhythmia, coronary disease, and heart failure.
* Increased headache, neck, shoulder, and back pain.
* Worsened irritable bowel and acid reflux digestive problems.
* Worsened asthma and chronic bronchitis.
* Dysfunction of the reproductive system such as infertility, erectile dysfunction, and painful menstrual cycles.
* Worsened acne and psoriasis.
* Elevated blood sugars in diabetics.
* Psychological effects such as irritability, anger, depression, anxiety, fatigue, sleep problems.
The big problem with chronic stress is that life itself is inherently stressful. The above list of potential life stressors are almost all typical life events (except for being chased by a bear and winning the lottery). In fact, I have personally experienced almost all of them. However, many of these stressors are internally generated…in other words; the stress is increased by how you deal with the problem. This gives us a chance to reduce stress, which is our goal.
Next time: Ways to decrease stress
1. Stress Management – Effects of stress, Web MD, 2016.