Lifestyler with Josie McKenlay: The importance of reducing stress

Josie McKenlay 19:50 31/08/2015
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  • Beat stress with regular exercise.

    Stress enabled our ancestors to survive.  In a “fight or flight” situation they would have encountered on a daily basis, the stress response was a necessity so that body and mind were prepared to deal with danger.  When you are faced with a stressful situation, your sympathetic nervous system (SNS) is immediately activated:

  • Blood pressure rises

  • The heart beats faster

  • Extra blood floods into the major muscles of the body so that you can defend yourself or run away fast

  • Stress hormones, including cortisol (a word you may have heard more and more frequently during the past decade) and adrenalin are released

  • In case of injury the blood clots more easily

  • White blood cells cling to capillary walls ready to fight infection if injured

  • Energy supplies, for example, sugars and fats, are mobilized.

  • Execise is an effective method of combating chronic stress.

    This is all good and for our ancestors it was a healthy response.  Trouble often appeared and was dealt with quickly.  Once the danger was over, the stress levels would drop almost immediately, and health would not have been compromised. In modern times, this is often still the case: a near miss in a car will cause your SNS to be activated allowing you to take the necessary action to avoid disaster and you will notice that sudden surge of stress which disappears soon after the event.  This is when the parasympathetic nervous system (PNS) takes over allowing your body to shift into restorative mode.

    The problem with modern life is that stressful situations cannot always be resolved quickly: a legal, financial or emotional dispute can take months to sort out during which time our SNS is switched on more or less permanently unless we find ways of switching it off from time to time.  In minor cases, it may cause a few sleepless nights or tension headaches, but there can be more serious health implications during times of chronic stress.

    Yoga has been used as a stress reliever for centuries.

    The following are some negative health effects of chronic stress:-

    • Impaired immune system, leading to sickness and slow healing

    • Increased inflammation (the cause of many modern diseases)

    • Adoption of less healthy habits which play a role in the following 6 points

    • Increased appetite, leading to weight gain with fat being deposited around the mid-section, linked to many diseases

    • Increased resistance to insulin and raised blood sugar levels raising the risk of diabetes

    • Increased cholesterol, triglycerides and blood clotting which could cause strokes and heart attacks

    • Decreased appetite which can cause low bone density

    • Depression

    • Fatigue

    The need to reduce stress then is obvious. It is the modern disease that causes life-threatening diseases.  Exercise, breathing techniques and meditation all ideal ways to combat chronic stress as they give you relief whilst you find solutions to your problems. Yoga has been used for centuries for just this purpose.

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