Deal with stress

The hectic lifestyle and the fast-pace of 21st century has led to stress and breeding of health related issues. Health issues have become quite common in contemporary time. With our fast paced lives, offering limited scope to take care of our health, we at Dr. Kumar Lifestyle centre bring the concept of- Health at your convenience.Due to technology, environment, and delivery based working model, stress has become the part of life.

What Is Stress And How To Deal With Stress?

Stress has become an integral part of our life, and no one in the world has been untouched by it. From a child to old age, everyone experiences stress and deal with it. It can trigger anytime while you are sitting and reading the newspaper, driving your car, making a presentation, doing home chorus, etc. And based on how an individual is responding to it, decides if the stress is negative, positive or neutral.

What Is Stress And How Does It Happens?

Stress arises because of the secretion of stress hormones in the body. This hormone is released by the hypothalamus gland present in the brain. This is the same hormone that controls our fight or flight response. This controls the mechanism, how an individual should deal with different kind of situations. But the negative aspect of stress is that when it keeps coming, it can take its toll on health. Negative stress when triggered for a long time or that fire often can lead to serious health issues. The normal symptoms of stress-related problems are

Anxiety, insomnia, depression, headache and irritability

It is not like stress is damaging for health, it does some good as well. Short-term stress is beneficial for human. This we called the positive stress. The negative stress if left untreated for a long time, it can lead to many lifestyle-related diseases. Some of the chronic stress-related diseases are diabetes, heart disease, BP, obesity.

Effect Of Stress On Different Body Parts

Stress affects the central nervous system which is the responsible organ to control fight or flight response. When a fearful situation comes, the hypothalamus sends a signal to the adrenal gland for the secretion of the stress hormone (the stress hormones are cortisol and adrenaline). The hormone, increase the heartbeat and stimulate more blood flow in the area that requires it in that situation. When the situation gets back to normal, the hypothalamus sends another signal for the return of stress hormones back in the adrenal gland. When this doesn’t happen, the body, giving response to the situation will remain so, leading to an abnormality in behaviour. Prolong existence of this situation damage the central nervous system, taking the condition to the chronic stage.

Stress also affects the cardiovascular and respiratory system. At the time of stress, the heart starts to beat fast, frequency of breathing increases for distributing oxygen-rich blood to different parts of the body. People who suffer from asthma or emphysema and heart-related issues, face lots of difficulties when they encounter a stressful situation. In chronic conditions, stress could also cause failure in the function of vital organs, which further lead to some physical or mental problem.

Stress affects the digestive system as well. At the time of stress, the liver starts producing extra glucose to increase energy that the body needs at that time. But when it is chronic stress, the body might not utilize this high glucose supply, which could lead to diseases like type 2 diabetes. Other factors such as rapid breathing at the time of stress, increased heart rate or extra hormones in the body upset the digestive system as well. Acid reflux, heartburn, diarrhoea, constipation, nausea, stomach are some of the common symptoms of a chronic stress attack.

Stress also causes damage to the muscular system of the body. The body muscles tense up when you are in stress and get relax once the situation normalizes. If you are in constant stress or chronic stress, the muscles don’t get time to relax and because of being in the same state for a long time, pain develops. Tense muscles cause pain in shoulder, head and in the whole body.

Chronic stress is bad for everything, it disturbs the balance everywhere in the body not just the brain. People who suffer from stress also loses their sex desire. Chronic stress leads to many changes in sexuality and reproduction system, more specifically in males. Long term stress might cause a drop in testosterone level, it also affects sperm production level and causes erectile dysfunction as well.

Chronic stress also hurts immunity. Prolong stress situation weakens the immune system and make the body vulnerable to foreign invaders. This makes people susceptible to illness like the common cold, viral infection and flu. Stress also increases recovery time.

Symptoms That Indicate You Are In Stress

Stress causes devastating damage to the body but the most dangerous thing about stress is that people get used to it naturally. Even when it takes a heavy toll on health, people don’t take it seriously and avoid the warning signs. Some of the common signs of stress are

- Cognitive and emotional symptoms– Loss of memory, feeling depressed, poor concentration level, poor level of judgment, negative attitude, anxious thoughts, feeling of isolation, constant worrying about things, increased irritation,
- Physical and behavioural symptoms– pain in different parts of the body, upset stomach, loss of sex drive, pain in chest and increased heart rate, vulnerable to flu and cold, dizziness, loss of appetite or overeating, use to smoke, drink, eat tobacco or drugs intake increases, nervous habits, not taking responsibilities.
- Also Read : naturopathy

What Are The Causes Of Stress?

Stress is a feeling stimulated by a condition or situation. The reasons that cause stress are called stressors. Most people perceive that stress comes when surrounded by or dealing with difficult or negative situations. But actually, it can be stimulated by positive situations also. It is not unusual to see people in stress before their wedding, while facing limelight, etc. So, stress is all about how we are dealing with a particular situation. The logic behind this statement is that sometimes a situation that might seem stressful to someone may not faze others. The answer to question what causes stress depends on the person who is dealing with that situation. However, there are some common external and internal factors present that cause stress.

External factors– Financial problems, liabilities, work, school, challenges in life, being too occupied.
Internal Factors– Inability to accept weaknesses, casual attitude, tough stand, pessimism, negative attitude.

How To Deal With Stress

Positively dealing with stress is important to handle it. You can’t live a healthy and happy life by ignoring the problem. Here are some of the effective ways to deal with stress.

Exercise – Exercise is extremely helpful in managing stress. It improves oxygen supply in the body, relaxes muscles, gives a break to mind from worries, lifts mood. All these things are important to get rid of stress. Exercises like walking, running, swimming, also called as rhythmic workouts work great when it comes to dealing with stress.

Increase The Social Network – When we talk to people, we start feeling better, as socialization triggers the hormone that helps in removing stress. Research says, spending time with good people soothes the nervous system, which helps in dealing with stress. This also protects from depression.

Learn the Art Of Relaxing – In the hustle-bustle of life, we have completely forgotten the need for taking rest. Some people don’t feel the urge to relax their body and mind at all. These people become habitual of living in stress. But because it is unhealthy for the body, they should take proper rest, and if it is not possible, then find ways to relax. Some of the effective methods for the same are, doing meditation, yoga, practising deep breathing.

Correct Your Diet – Diet and stress go hand in hand, people in stress often have distorted diet, they either eat too much or too less. A balanced diet relieves stress. To deal with stress, eat lots of green vegetables, fruits especially citrus fruits that are rich in Vitamin C. Add quality protein and omega-3 fatty acid to cope with stress.

Take Enough Rest and Sleep – Tiredness increases stress as you end up thinking and inviting more stress. Therefore, taking rest is important to deal with it. Take enough sleep in the night and if you find trouble in sleeping, try different ways to improve your sleep.

Listen To The Music – It is important to engage all your senses. Listing to music is a great stressbuster but if you don’t like listening to music, engage your senses in other activities such as smell the food that you love, look at flowers and greenery around, play with your kids or pets and give them pampering touch.

When It Is The High Time To Deal With Stress

Stress causes huge damage to our body’s internal and external system, hence, it would not be incorrect to say that no amount of stress is good for the body. However, in the hustle-bustle of city life, it can’t be completely avoided, we are forced to live with. But how much stress can be called as ‘too much’, varies from person to person. There are people who can be at the top of their energy even in their hardest time, while some people give up in front of the small worrisome situations. The stress tolerance level of a person depends on factors like

What kind of support system you have
Your ability to control the damage it causes
How you look at different situations that is your attitude
Your preparation to deal with stress

When You Should Seek Help

As discussed above, the amount of stress one can deal with differs from person to person. However, while dealing with chronic stress, a time comes when even the hardest person gives up and need help from professionals to come out of the condition. But it is difficult to determine when to seek help. The American Psychological Association says one should ask for help when

They feel difficulty in concentrating
The stress starts disturbing their normal life routine like eating, sleeping, socialization, sex
When you feel trapped and there is no place to go

If you are dealing with stress, take help from professionals before it disturbs your life completely. Many types of health practitioners treat stress, psychiatrists are the main one. To deal with stress, talk to these doctors and take help. When it comes to dealing with stress, it is said, the sooner is better.

You can also visit our centre and take help from experts to deal with stress and get back to your normal life. We treat this problem with most advanced approach. Call us or visit our centre to know more.

Dr. Kumar's Lifestyle Center is now NABH Accredited

Deal with Stress