How Stress Negatively Affects Health and What To Do About It

Last Updated on June 29, 2022 by Rebecca Huff

What happens inside your body when you are stressed?

It's more than you think.

Stress, real or perceived, has a devastating impact on the human body. Stress can affect your cardiovascular system, making your heart pump faster, your blood vessels to constrict, and your blood pressure to rise making your heart work too hard for too long. This puts you at risk for heart attack and stroke.

The rush of stress hormones can cause a disturbance to your digestive system making you more likely to have heartburn or acid reflux, diarrhea or constipation.

When the body is stressed, muscles tense up. Chronic stress means your muscles aren't able to relax as much which can lead to headaches, back pain, body aches and more.

Stress stimulates an immune response that is beneficial for avoiding infections and healing wounds but over time chronic stress weakens the immune system and lowers the body's ability to defend against viral illnesses and other diseases. Chronic stress also increases the body's recovery time.

Stress can affect sex hormones and even lead to a woman missing her menstrual cycle or having heavier, more painful periods. Stress can cause testosterone levels to drop in men.

My daughter recently posed a question to me. “Do you think our generation is under more pressure than previous generations? I'm tired of feeling not good enough.” The answer is yes, this generation faces much more pressure!

Unfortunately, I believe she is right; this generation of over informed and over obligated people are constantly bombarded with social media expectations. It's too much.

Stress is a killer, literally. Not only does it contribute to weight gain, expanding the waistline, and Type 2 diabetes, it also destroys your immunity. Because stress can indeed raise blood sugar levels and contribute to belly fat, it creates a metabolic dysfunction that leads to insulin resistance and diabetes.

Hormones like cortisol and adrenalin are released by the adrenal gland when we are stressed. These hormones then flood our body causing a rise in heart rate and blood pressure. From there a cascade of events occur that causes damage to our brain, metabolism, nervous system, and cardiovascular system.

What we eat can contribute to or alleviate stress

All of this is compounded by what we put in our body! Sugar, caffeine, alcohol, trans fats, white flour, and processed junk foods all contribute the problem. Insulin increases, cortisol goes up, inflammation occurs, and your stress hormones go haywire even if you aren't under stress at that moment. These foods cause stress in the body, and many people eat like this all day long contributing to the hormonal imbalance that leaves you feeling crappy.

Fortunately eating real whole food and avoiding the Standard American Diet can reverse this stress, restoring balance to your entire body. Eating regular meals of whole foods such as leafy greens, healthy fats, berries, gluten-free grains, clean protein, cruciferous vegetables, and fermented foods helps your body to balance and restore hormones, blood sugar, metabolism, and reduces the damage from stress.

What to do about stress

Sleep is vital to reducing stress. Shoot for a minimum of eight hours of sleep per night. Practice good sleep hygiene which will contribute to lower stress levels.

Also, it's important to learn stress reduction techniques. Keep in mind that we have control over stress because it is something that happens inside of us, not something that happens TO us. A panic attack is a perfect demonstration of how stress is a form of mental tension resulting from unbalanced thoughts.

A panic attack can occur just from the thought of something that we perceive as a threat. Whether the idea is true or not, imagining the threat cause a rise in stress levels which creates the same response in the body whether it is real or perceived.

Learning to control thoughts is helpful when it comes to reducing stress. Many of our stressful thoughts are negative thoughts. While I am not one to suggest positive affirmations or practicing positivity, I do recommend replacing negative thoughts with realistic ones. First, we have to recognize and evaluate our thought patterns that are causing stress. Start looking for realistic alternative thoughts.

Exercise can be an excellent stress reducer. Walking, yoga, stretching, swimming, playing tennis, whatever form of exercise you enjoy is the one you should do! Don't add stress by forcing yourself to do a kind of exercise you hate. The best exercise you can do is one you will show up and DO! If you are looking for a highly efficient form of exercise, try Variable Intensity Interval Training.

Supplements can also help reduce stress. I use vitamin C and  B-Complex (including B5, B6, and B12.) Of course no stress reduction supplement list would be complete without magnesium which is known as the relaxing mineral! I also take an herbal blend created to support the adrenal gland.

Also, try essential oils for stress reduction. Lavender can be really calming. I love Chill Pill by Aura Cacia. Get a diffuser to keep in your car, office, and living space at home. Not only will it help you calm down, it makes the room smell nice without the chemicals in air fresheners.

Sleep can help you manage stress. Lack of sleep increases stress hormones. Get eight hours of sleep every night. If you are not getting eight hours of sleep try to make that a higher priority by following the tips in my Sleep Hygiene Guide.

In addition, my Reduce Stress Guide can help you learn and implement strategies to reduce the stress in your life!

Keeping stress at a minimum is often quite a challenge.

17 Ways to Reduce Stress for Better Health

To achieve truly superior health, you must learn to reduce stress.

Here are some methods that have worked for me and my family:

1. Devote time to the pursuits that matter to you in life.
2. Prioritize your life. Do the most important things first. Delegate anything you can, such as yard work, housekeeping, and cooking. How can you delegate these tasks?
   1. One great way to get out of cooking every night is to double up on the nights you do cook, reserving one meal for the freezer to use on a night when you don't have time to prepare a meal. If you are open to the idea and have friends with similar eating styles, you could also do meal swaps. Do freezer meal prep, or try this healthy meal subscription idea.
   2. If you have children, it’s a good idea to train them early to help around the house. Taking out the garbage, manicuring the lawn, loading the dishwasher; these are all jobs your children could be helping with.
3. Instead of bottling up your emotions or complaining to a 3rd party, if you have a problem with someone, tell the person directly. My therapist advises not to place the blame on the other person and to avoid using blanket terms such as “always” and “never.”  She recommends expressing your feelings like this: “When you ____ I feel _____”  For example: “When you break a promise to me, I feel unimportant”
4. Solitude can often be stressful. Keep in touch with your closest friends. Try to make it a point to reach out to others in your circle. I am often surprised by how much just a quick chat with a cheerful cashier at the supermarket can lift my spirits when I am feeling down. Take time to go to coffee with a friend or meet for a quick lunch. I also like to meet my friends in the park or on a greenway for a “walk and talk” therapy session!
5. Or maybe you spend too much time engaging in social activities… if your life is so full you are hardly ever home, you might need to cut back on a few activities.
6. Another great idea is volunteering, it might sound odd, but giving my time to those who are less fortunate than I am, really brings me back to reality and grounds me to what our purpose in life is all about.
7. Listen to uplifting podcasts, watch funny shows on TV (but don't go overboard with television!), go to a comedy show or hang out with a funny friend!
8. Take small breaks throughout the day to clear your head. Walk away from the desk, computer, or dishes and just close your eyes and take a deep breath.
9. If possible schedule a massage once per month to relieve tension. If this is not possible due to financial reasons, consider trading out the favor with your spouse or best friend, hey, my kids can give a great shoulder massage when I need it!
10. Don't over exaggerate problems in your head. I have a tendency to do this, it's called making a mountain out of a molehill. Recognize the problem, look for a solution, execute steps to reach a resolution.
11. Spend time with the people you love most in life. If you have a family, make an effort to have family meal times as often as possible.
12. Take time to express your gratitude. Keep a gratitude journal, or just make it a habit to write one thing you are thankful for on your calendar each day. Remember to express your gratitude to God
13. Know that it is ok to say “No” sometimes when you do say “no” resist the urge to give an explanation as to why. If it is absolutely necessary to give a reason, keep it short and do not be overly apologetic about saying no. Your time is valuable.
14. Having routines that are basically “what you do on autopilot” can really help. I do the exact same routine every morning when I wake up and every night before I go to bed. Even my children follow a bedtime routine. It may alter slightly on occasion due to circumstances, but the majority of the time I follow the same routine morning and night.
15. Keeping your life goals in mind will really help you to reduce stress levels by you on track. It is so easy to start focusing more on the how than the why, so years ago my oldest children and I started creating “goal boards” or “vision boards” to help us stay focused. Lately, I have even been teaching my younger children how to do this. Click on this link to watch a great video to get you started.
16. Use lavender or peppermint essential oils in your home or office instead of chemical fragrances. Not only will using essential oils help you stay calm, but replacing the plug-in type air freshener will reduce the number of toxins in your environment, helping you to live a healthier lifestyle! It is also beneficial to use coconut oil, try adding a drop or two of lavender oil to a teaspoon of coconut oil and massaging it into your arms or shoulders (be careful about getting it on your clothing!)
17. Eat a nutritious and well-balanced diet. Here are some suggestions:

Super Stress-Reducing Foods to Incorporate:

• blueberries
• avocado
• pistachio
• wild-caught salmon
• green leafy veggies
• dark chocolate
• green tea
• granny smith apples
• fermented foods
• nuts and seeds, especially sprouted

Foods to avoid to reduce stress:

• sugar
• excessive caffeine
• processed foods
• fast foods

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