Can stress really effect your health and how can you deal with it?

The following scenario is probably familiar: You drag your complaining body through the day and crash into bed after what feels like hours spent doing a lot, but seeming to accomplish little. You’re beset with aches and pains, feel sapped of energy, your digestion is not up to speed, you snap at everyone, you get heart palpitations and your hair is falling out. You look and feel like the weight of the world is on your shoulders. Life’s too busy, too rushed, too everything! You feel like you’ve got one nerve left, and it’s wearing thin ... The doctor’s verdict: Stress. Hmmm... you think to yourself, they always say that when they don’t really know what’s wrong with you. Isn’t stress a normal part of life? Can it really cause ill health? And what, at the end of the (very long) day, can be done about it?

What is Stress?
Stress itself is not dangerous, and is, indeed, a normal part of life. Our Stone Age ancestors faced life-or-death situations every day. The biological response to stress, the so-called fight-or-flight response, was of critical importance. It prepared us to defend ourselves against a threat (fight) or run away from it (flight).

During the stress response:
• Heart rate increases so that muscles can receive extra blood needed to escape or fight.
• Blood vessels close to the skin constrict, so that if you are injured, you won’t lose too much blood.
• Pupils dilate so you can see better.
• Blood sugar increases for extra energy.
• Processes the body considers unimportant to survival are suppressed (notably growth hormones) and slowed (including the digestive and reproductive systems). The immune system is inhibited.

This automatic response occurs whether it is called for (e.g. a mugging) or not (e.g. spending hours in traffic). After the crisis has passed, things should level off, but with constant activation the stress response continues: your stress hormones and heart rate stay high and those processes that were suppressed remain low. It becomes harder and harder to stop this response. The result is chronic ill health. If stress is not managed, you can look forward to anxiety, irritability, weight problems, heart disease, weakened immunity, thinning hair and lacklustre skin. And that’s just to begin with!

But there is hope...

Natural Ways To Help You Cope
While it is near impossible to live a completely stress-free life, there are some things that can help you to cope better and buffer yourself from its negative effects.

Click here for ways to cope.