8 Reasons your body wants you to reduce stress in your life
13th Feb 2024 Health Conditions
6 min read
Stress can take its toll on your body as well as your mind. Here are some compelling reasons physically that you should take steps to reduce the stress of your everyday life
My jaw hurts. Big deal, right? Right...at
least at first: It starts with a looming deadline or a tiff with my spouse,
but tension leads to jaw clenching and then pain. Soon chewing hurts, so my
blood sugar drops and my head starts to ache. I cancel plans to exercise or
see a friend, and my mood goes south fast. A good night’s sleep is
impossible. I toss and turn and clench my jaw some more, then start it all
again tomorrow.
Even the tiniest seed of stress can quickly snowball into debilitating
symptoms. Not anxious or irritable or depressed (though it can do that too). I mean physically
ill in the whole body—from dead stem cells causing prematurely grey hairs
down to reduced blood flow in your toes (seriously: “foot tingling” is common
before and after a panic attack).
If you need a reason to take a
breath, here are eight ways stress could be taking a toll on your body right
now.
Your brain
Firstly, let’s define stress. “Stress
is a state of worry caused by an external trigger,” says Krystal Lewis, a
Maryland-based clinical psychologist at the National Institute of Mental
Health. It can be short-term and acute (like speeding out the door to get to
work on time) or long-term and chronic (like a busy career).
Ideally, your stress is acute
and you bounce back as soon as it stops. In reality, if you’re like
three-quarters of Americans who report that stress has negatively affected
their lives, your stress is likely chronic.
"Stress can cause damage to the prefrontal cortex— essential for cognitive function, focus and memory-making"
Either way, your brain’s
amygdala jumps into high alert, causing the hypothalamus to release a
chemical rush of cortisol, adrenaline and norepinephrine.
Hundreds of thousands of years
ago, that might have helped you outrun a sabre-toothed tiger. It’s less helpful
today, when you’re having the same tiger-sized response to being late.
“Whatever it is, because you’re
in a situation you can’t control or manage, your brain is releasing a flood of
hormones to help you deal,” says Lewis. These hormones can destroy neurons,
particularly newly formed ones, leading to brain atrophy, shrinkage or damage to the prefrontal cortex—an area of the brain that’s essential for
cognitive function, focus and memory-making.
Your head, jaw and shoulders
Headaches are sometimes caused by plummeting stress hormones after a busy week. Credit: Andrea Piacquadio
The first
place you might actually feel stress settle in is what experts call
the “tension triangle.” “When you’re stressed and your body is in active
fight-or-flight mode, your muscles tense up to prepare to protect you,” says
Lewis.
Stay too long in that state—like
holding yourself in a plank at the gym—and soon you’ll feel muscle fatigue
and strain. Unconscious clenching of the jaw can lead to or exacerbate teeth
grinding, temporomandibular joint (or TMJ) disorder or an awful-sounding
“globus sensation” that makes it difficult and uncomfortable to swallow.
And have you noticed an unfortunately timed Friday night headache after a hard week? That’s because as your
stress hormones from the week plummet, blood vessels dilate (aka “vasodilation,” long associated with migraines) and you’re now in headachetown.
Your gut
Stress feels “gut-wrenching” or
“stomach-churning” because the brain and gut are so intrinsically linked that
scientists have a name for it: the mind-gut connection. It refers to the
millions of neurons trading messages along the vagus nerve (a thick cable running from brain to gut).
“Whatever is happening to you
emotionally, the gut knows it and feels it,” says Dr. Emeran Mayer, a
gastroenterologist and author of The Mind-Gut Connection. “The gut is
the habitat of microbes, and anything that changes the habitat affects the
microbes, which have to adapt.” Throwing them out of balance can wreak havoc on
things like your digestion and immunity.
"Whatever is happening to you emotionally, the gut knows it and feels it"
In addition, stress can cause
changes in secretions of fluid, the time it takes for food to move through you,
and intestinal permeability, called leakiness, where potentially toxic
molecules from undigested food seep through
the intestinal lining into the body
and bloodstream. The body reacts
to the misplaced molecules as it does all foreign invaders, explains
Dr Mayer, via low-grade immune system inflammation.
Meanwhile, stress increases acid
production in, and slows the emptying of, the stomach, leading to acid reflux
(heartburn) or irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). And any gastro pain you do have
will actually hurt more: “When you’re stressed, all your sensory nerves
go up in sensitivity,” says Dr. Mayer.
Your heart
When it comes to the heart,
short-term stress hogs all the attention. The very romantic-sounding “broken
heart sydrome” (a.k.a. stress cardiomyopathy) can happen when a person is
under acute stress, be it emotional (as in grief or fear) or physical (such as
a high fever or a seizure).
In some of these cases, a sudden
release of hormones such as adrenaline may narrow the small arteries in the
heart, decreasing blood flow to the organ temporarily. “You might have palpita-
tions, hyperventilate or even faint if you’re not getting enough oxygen,” says
Patrice Lindsay, a director at Canada’s Heart and Stroke Foundation.
The effects of short-term stress
are immediate and palpable, sure, but there’s a reason that stealthier chronic
stress is dubbed “the silent killer.” “Stress wreaks all kinds of havoc on your
heart,” says Lindsay. Among them, increased heart rate, arrhythmias (irregular
heartbeat) and excessive vasoconstriction—when blood vessels constrict, the
opposite of vasodilation and the cause of those aforementioned tingly toes.
The largest effect, however, is
this: Living in a stressed state all the time raises your blood pressure—the
top risk factor for heart disease and stroke. One in four adults worldwide has
hypertension, which stiffens and damages arteries, decreases blood and
oxygen flow, and increases the risk of blood clots.
Your lungs
Cursed with seemingly endless
colds every winter? A possible cause is unchecked stress levels sapping your
body’s resources. “Spiked cortisol dampens your immune system so it’s less
powerful in the fight against the bugs that cause cold and flu,” says physiologist Laura Ginesi, fellow at the United Kingdom’s International Stress Management Association.
Among many complex interactions
between stress and the immune system is this double whammy: Stress reduces
lymphocytes, your army of white blood cells often called “natural killers,”
forcing those you do have to work harder amidst any chronic
inflammation that’s already draining the immune system.
Your skin
If you’ve ever blushed with
embarrassment or broken into a sweat during an exam, you know that the
epidermis, your body’s biggest organ, reacts to stress-induced cortisol almost
instantly.
“Short-term stress, like feeling
anxious before a presentation, can cause temporary problems like flushing,
itching and sweating,” says Dr Alia Ahmed, a UK-based psychodermatologist
who specialises in the interaction of mind and skin. Cortisol also drives sebum
(oil) production, which is why you might break out the night before your wedding. All those will pass, thankfully, but not so the long-term effects.
"Stress drives inflammation, aggravating conditions like eczema, psoriasis and rosacea"
“Stress drives inflammation,
which is implicated in aggravating existing conditions like eczema, psoriasis
and rosacea,” says Dr Ahmed. Even people with crystal-clear complexions,
however, can suffer from dry, scaly and itchy skin when they are stressed. As
cortisol levels increase, collagen levels decrease, causing lines, wrinkles,
pigmentation, signs of premature ageing and dull skin.
Furthermore, stressed-out people
sleep less, eat worse and are often dehy- drated—all factors that take a toll
on your skin.
Your reproductive system
Ever charge
through your front door after an awful day eager for romance? Probably
literally never. “Imagine holding a fist
all day, and then at 8pm, unclenching to grab a fork,” says Dr Uchenna
Ossai, an Austin, Texas-based physical therapist and sex educator. “Your hand
won’t feel good, and the same is true of your body.”
Chronically high cortisol levels
have demonstrable effects on sex hormones. For women, the hypothalamus, which
normally tells the pituitary gland to produce menstruation-causing oestrogen
and progesterone, is instead too busy managing cortisol. This can cause irregular or missed periods, decreased ovulation and reduced fertility.
For men, chronically high stress
levels inhibit testosterone production, which can cause lowered sperm count,
erectile dysfunction and impotence.
Your muscles and joints
Sore backs
are common during stress, of course, but arms, legs, hands and feet may also
feel the burden. How so, scientifically?
“Inflammation brings blood to
the area to clear up any damage or debris,” says Ginesi. When your brain senses
pain, whether because you’ve sliced your thumb or keep clenching your jaw, it works to repair the damage.
“Stress makes neutrophils—white blood cells that are part of the inflammatory
response—more active in order to heal tissue.” As with that bleeding thumb,
this can trigger nerve impulses that may lead to physical discomfort. “Inflammation causes redness, soreness, swelling and pain,” Ginesi says.
"You can counteract all of this with some simple tricks to lower your stress"
Chronic inflammation can feel
like joint stiffness, tendonitis, or aches and pains. Left untreated, it can
lead to irreversible scarring (fibrosis), DNA damage and, because it
affects the way cells grow and divide, mutations that cause tumours or cancer.
That stress can kill is a
terrifying thought, admittedly, unless you turn it upside down: “You can
counteract all of this with some simple tricks to lower your experience of
stress,” says Ginesi.
For me, that’s yoga classes,
meditating for ten minutes in the morning and a monthly massage. For you, it
could be something even easier: Studies prove that just closing your eyes and
breathing deeply can help reduce and regulate your cortisol level—wherever you
are, right now and for free.
Banner illustration: Kumé Pather
Keep up with the top stories from Reader's Digest by subscribing to our weekly newsletter