Stress Management

You surely heard the phrase: Time is Money. We may agree, but in practical terms, are you one of those people who turn around any penny you spend, but you do not think much about how you are spending your time? Do you try to do everything at the same time, but at the end you are frustrated that there are not enough hours in the day, and you catch yourself saying: I have no time? I think it is on the time to think about budgeting our time.

If you are successful, you are able to earn more money, but there is something that not even a millionaire has more than you, and this is time. Everybody has 24 hours a day. Time is a finite resource. If you think about your time, you need to think how you want to invest it the most effective way. Are you smart in investing your money? Now think about the return of investment you will get from your time. Where are you going to invest it the most sensible way? This phrase gets it to the point:

Time is what we want most, but what we use worst.

William Penn

Set Priorities

President Eisenhower had an interesting approach to time management. He organized all his tasks in four quadrants: urgent or not urgent, important or not important. The urgent and important quadrant is the one you should give your priority.

There are some tasks that are important but not urgent, like your continual education for example. They will be coming right next in the priority list, and you should schedule a regular time for them each week, so that you make continual progress on something that will give you a better position in the future.

Now the urgent but not important category, you need to evaluate carefully if they are worth your time. Some tasks you may be able to delegate. Others you may drop from your list. You need to learn to focus on items that make the biggest difference at the end. The list of neither urgent nor not important items, you better store away for a day that you have really nothing else to do, but do not let your mind dwell on them.

I have heard another approach that can be quite interesting as well. You define 2 or 3 projects that you want to work on for this week or the near future. Those are the things that need your full attention at this moment. Then you have 3 or 4 projects that you target as next on the list. You may do a little bit of preparation to get the ball rolling, or you may start to work on them if you have some time left, but they are not your top priority for now. Everything else will go into the Maybe Later list, and you do not need to even think about them. Whatever method you use, you need to have a clear criteria, what is the priority for you to tackle at this exact moment.

Invest your Time Wisely

Think about your time as an investment. You need to think, what investment will give you the best returns. Think about sleep for example. If you sleep the hours you need, you will be energized the next day to tackle the tasks at hand with efficiency. If your cut your corners on sleep, your performance will suffer.

It is actually a wise move to go to bed early and rise early, in order to start your most important tasks when your mind is fresh in the early morning hours. We know that one hour of sleep before midnight is worth two hours of sleep after midnight. So it is a wise investment to go to bed with the chicken and get the greatest benefit from your sleep time.

Be sure to start your day right. When you wake up, spend some time in the presence with God, so He can give you some insights for the day. You will see that things will flow differently when you are doing that. Be sure to get a good breakfast without any rush, because a substantial meal in the morning will give you the energy you need to start the day right.

Exercise is another time investment that will pay you high dividends. If you put in half an hour of vigorous exercise every day, it will surely safe you an hour or two while you work with more efficiency, plus you will put some time in your savings account, since it can prolong your live for several years. Talk about a wise investment!

Automation can be another investment that can pay you high dividends. Why do you need to tackle your payments every month, when you can automate them? It takes you once to set it up, but then you will never need to think about it again!

Budget Your Time

Like you have a budget for your expenses, you should have a budget on your time. When making a purchase, many people will be out to search for the best deal, instead of reflecting first: Do I really need this?

The same is true for time management. Most people will teach you how you can do your tasks the most effective way in order to save a minute here and get done more in your day. Instead of this, you should look at your schedule fist and reflect if you should not simply stop many of the activities you are doing.

Any commitment you make, think first if it is really worth your investment. What are your fist priorities? Your family? Your friends? Making a difference in your community? And at your work, what can make the biggest impact? Cut out some activities that are not essential and do not contribute to the advancement of your priorities.

Every activity you are planning to do, you need to estimate how much time it will take you. If it is something you have done in the past, you will have a good indicator how long it will take you. If it is something you never did before, you need to break it down in different steps, and estimate every step how long it will take you. Your estimate will be more accurate this way.

After having quantified your time investment, you need to evaluate if it is worth it, the same way you look at a product in the store to think if it is worth that price. Next you need to schedule the time in your calendar. If you do not have the time available, you need to either decline the commitment, or you need to drop off some low priority activities you have already scheduled in your calendar. Doing your proper planning can help to avoid a lot of surprises on the way, and will maximize the impact you can achieve with your limited time.

Track your Time

There are many ways you can track your time. Some apps can track your activities you do on the computer. Some people like a Fitbit watch that will track their sleep, their exercise and various other activities during the day. Some do a simple feedback on the end of your day, while others like to use an app to do a more sophisticated evaluations of their time. Tracking style can vary, but you should be conscious on how you are using your time.

It happens so often that we are just quickly looking something up on the internet, and before we realize, we have spent an hour surfing around without any purpose. Multitasking is another thing that was increasing greatly in the digital era. On average we are checking every 6 minutes on emails and instant messaging. That is draining your productivity. You need to get into the habit of being focused on one task, and when you are done, you can have a look whether somebody was writing you on messenger.

According to studies, an internet user is spending on average 2:25 hours a day on social media.((Daily time spent on social networking by internet users worldwide from 2012 to 2020. Statistica)) You add to that almost 3 hours of TV time per day, and you see quickly why we have no time left.((Average daily time spent watching TV in the United States from 2014 to 2023. Statistica))

Start to reflect on your habits. Are the 2 hours of scrolling the infinite feed of Facebook really well spent? And when you watch a video on YouTube, how many suggested videos you end up binge watching afterwards? Is this time really well invested, or are there other activities that would be really worth your time?

Do you have no time to play with your kids? Are you wanting to start a hobby for a long time? You are thinking to learn a new language? You want to learn an instrument that you desired to play since you were a kid? I have just freed you up 5 hours a day to do all of that if you want.

Be Realistic in Your Expectations

It is interesting to see how times have changed. When a hundred years ago, a farmer was plowing a field, it may have taken him a day or two, and another week for planting, but at the end he was looking back at his work and he was satisfied with his accomplishments.

Nowadays things are going faster. A tractor will plow the field within an hour, and an email can go around the globe within seconds. Things are moving much faster. But with that we have also different expectations. If we have no time, because we have overcommitted ourselves.

Our changed expectations will also show up in our homes. While the farmer’s wife was not worried about the dirty kitchen floor while cooking lunch, our kitchen today needs to be sparkling clean. The house got bigger, consuming more time for cleaning and maintenance, and the yard needs to be perfectly cared as well. Think about this statement:

Life is a disappointment and a weariness to many persons because of the unnecessary labor with which they burden themselves in meeting the claims of custom. Their minds are continually harassed with anxiety as to supplying wants which are the offspring of pride and fashion…

The sweet word “Home” is perverted to mean “something with four walls, filled with elegant furniture and adornments,” while its inmates are on a continual strain to meet the requirements of custom in the different departments of life.((Ellen White, The Adventist Home p. 150))

I think it is time to make some adjustment on our expectations. Not everything needs to be perfect, and normally simpler is better.

Better Done than Perfect

We can roughly divide people in two groups: Maximisers and Satisficers. Maximizers are a tribe of perfectionists. If they buy a new phone, they will study all the available reviews for a week, and try to purchase the very best. And even then, they are still concerned whether they have made the right choice.

A satisficer at the other hand will walk into the store, look for the first phone that looks right, asks the dealer if it does what he is looking for and purchase it on the spot.

When it comes to answer an email, the maximiser will investigate the question he was asked, try to write a lengthy response, rewrite it three times to formulate it better, getting all the punctuation right and sending it out when he thinks it is perfect. The satisficer will simply throw in a quick response, maybe not even write a complete phrase, and hoping that it answers the question he was asked for, because if not, they will ask back anyways.

It is easy to see that the satisficer will get much more done in a shorter time, and he will feel more satisfaction on the end of the day. I guess it is important to find a healthy balance between the two. We need to learn to invest our time where it matters most. If my work can really have an impact, it is worthwhile to invest some more time, but when it comes to writing an email, we better get it over, so we can make time for things that really count. And even on the impactful projects, sometimes it is better to get it out and improve later, then to try to make it perfect and never get done.

Plan Your Week

When you are planning your week, you want to look at the bigger picture. You think about maybe 2 or 3 major projects to tackle and schedule their time. You also want to block out some time for essential goals that are not in the urgent category.

Then you look at your last week. You have scheduled anything that was left undone? Next look at the upcoming meetings and commitments that you have scheduled. Are they still your priorities? If not, you can decline or reschedule some of them.

And do not fill up your schedule to the maximum. Some tasks may take you longer than planned, and unexpected surprises are coming up all the time. Maybe keep some time open on Friday to catch up with things you could not get done during the week. This way you can get into the weekend with a satisfaction that you have accomplished your goals.

Daily Planning

When starting out in the morning, you need to spend a few minutes to get on track with your operating plan of the day. Is there anything left undone from the day before? What meetings do you have scheduled? Was there anything new coming up that needs to be treated with urgency? What are your top priorities?

Plans are important, but they are not set in stone, so you need to always recalibrate to reach your goals. But having something sketched out on paper, helps you to be more efficient in order to accomplish your priorities.

Get in Alignment with Your Passions

In a study of more than 3000 working people, researchers found out that those who were passionate about what they were doing, did feel less of a time pressure.((Jachimowicz J et.al. Why Passionate Employees Can Have It All: Passion Lowers Time Stress by Enhancing Goal Integration. https://psyarxiv.com/qd2zf/)) It is not so much about how long the activity takes, but more of how much you enjoy it. A sense of accomplishment did mean that they did not feel that their time was wasted.

Researchers found also that some people perceived activities as competing for their time. For example, they felt that engaging themselves in the company was conflicting with coming home in time for dinner. Passionate workers on the other hand felt that activities were complementing, since a healthy meal at home with family was giving them more energy for the next day’s work.

Get Divine Wisdom

You have done everything and you are still struggling to make ends meet in your schedule? Is there an emergency coming up and you don’t know how to handle it? James was giving us an interesting counsel many years ago:

If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.((The Bible, James 1:5, NKJV))

James 1:5

If you are on a tight spot, you can always turn to God, and He will give you wisdom on how to deal with your situation. So often He is able to show us the right priorities, or what to do to avoid being stressed out about our day. And He has promised to be on your side as your Heavenly Father. Jesus gave us another wonderful promise:

Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.((The Bible, Matthew 11:28.29))

Matthew 11:28.29

We do not need to resolve everything on our own. If there is something burdening you, then you can bring it to Jesus and he promised to help you. When you do not know whether you should take up a commitment, have a conversation with Jesus and ask him if he wants you to do this, or pass it on. Understand the purpose that God has for your life. Then you will have a clearer picture on how you can make really the best of every hour that God has given to you.

Do you need a guide to help you understand how to cope with Stress in an all inclusive approach? Learn how to combat stress, mentally, physically, emotionally and strategically in your life.

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When we think about stress we often think about a heavy workload. But stressors in our private life can be just as compromising as our work stress. Stress may come from debt, relationship problems, disease or even from very abstract things such as feeling a lack of purpose, or feeling uncertain about whether you have taken the right decision. Today we want to pinpoint the most common sources of personal stress and see how we can deal with them.

Stress is an intrusion on your peaceful existence.  All of us strive to have orderly and peaceful lives.  We tend to develop well when we get into certain routines.   Parents often find that their children will behave much better when they have a set routine than if everything is pandemonium in the household.  Routines give a child a feeling of security, which is the one thing that a child wants most of all.

Many people will complain that their kids are unruly and do not want to go to bed on time.  For many it escalates into screaming at their kids to go to bed or threatening their kids with punishment if they do not go to bed. 

The entire “go to bed” issue can be avoided if the parents simply set a bedtime routine.  Fruits and cookies.  A bedtime story, being tucked in, a kiss on the cheek and lights switched off. Every night.  The children know what to expect and actually end up looking forward to bedtime.  This gives children an added sense of security, something that they really need in their lives. 

We all want to feel safe and secure, but as we get older, we realize that we cannot always count on things being the same.  We experience different incidents in our lives that turn our world upside down and cause us to feel stress.  Most of these incidents we cannot control, others we can control to a certain degree.  Some of us are fortunate enough not to experience these stressors until adulthood.  Others experience stress as young children.

When there is happening some change in our routine from what we consider to be normal, our minds will interpret this unknown future as a potential stressor. The amount of stress will be related to the amount of threat our mind is feeling.  Some common causes of stress are the following:

Death of a loved one

This can be a spouse, parent, child or friend.  Death is part of life, but the death of a loved one is something that causes significant stress.  Our hearts are broken as we grieve for our loved one and our lives are seriously disrupted.  This is something which we can do little about, unfortunately, and also something we all have to deal with, sooner or later.  Many people recover soon from this stressor and continue with their lives, others are grieving for a long time. The death of a loved one can cause a number of serious illnesses that we take on ourselves, including depression.

The death of a child is probably the worst pain anyone can endure and some people never fully get over it. Others do manage to get over the pain for the sake of others around them.  A sense of purpose and usefulness for other people around can help to overcome the loss. However, this is one stress factor that can be quite devastating to some people.

Divorce

Even in the case that you are glad to get rid of your ex-spouse, divorce is a major stressor in our lives. In addition to causing you to feel stress, it can also stress out your children. Many couples are so wrapped up with their own emotions during a divorce that they fail to notice the impact of the situation on their children.  Chances are that the kids are feeling quite a bit of turmoil, even if they are too young to understand what is really going on.  In fact, younger children can experience even more stress than older children in the case of their parent’s divorce because they cannot put their emotions into words, nor can they understand that daddy or mommy going away has nothing to do with them.  A young child tends to feel such a loss as a personal rejection.

A child who experiences the trauma of his or her parents’ divorce will feel stress. In some cases, the stress may manifest itself in a number of psychological disorders, including anxiety. The child has lost their most important point of reference and no longer feels safe, so he or she will come up with a way to alleviate the stress and retain some sort of control, trying to get attention by being silly and unruly, or even developing a disorder such as anorexia.

A divorce is always a traumatic event, because it involves feelings of rejection, and it breaks down human links that you considered to be a safe haven on earth. Somebody should consider very closely whether it is worthwhile to pass through such a traumatic event, or whether there may be some ways to restore the relationship. A counselor may be able to help you to look at things in a more objective manner, to understand the viewpoint of the other side, and to develop strategies to generate mutual respect and understanding.

In case that a divorce is really inevitable, be sure to take your due time to heal from the wounds that were caused by the separation. Allow yourself some time off to deal with the traumas that are left. If possible go for a vacation to a place where you are able to process things more calmly. Go a bit easier on your workload, and consider if you can be released for a while from some of your responsibilities in case that you are in a leadership position.  Look up some good friends with whom you can talk, and if needed ask for professional help to deal with processing the traumas of your crisis.

Moving

Even if you are moving from a shack to a palace, this is still stressful.  It may be a happy occasion, but it is still a disruption of your routine.  And any disruption of your routine causes stress. Moving disrupts the entire family.  And it is a real pain in the neck. Plus you have to deal with the packing.

Everyone hates moving.  Packing up all of your belongings and then unpacking them is just a hassle.  Very few of us are fortunate enough to be able to have someone do all of this labor for us so it tends to be stressful.  However, even if we do not have to lift a finger, moving is still a disruption of our normal routine. 

It will take a while before you can get established into your new home.  You also need to get used to your new environment, figure out where to do shopping, and finding new friends in your neighborhood. Until you do, you should try to maintain as much of your usual daily routine and rituals as possible, especially if you have children. 

Major Illness

Any type of major illness is a significant stressor for the entire family.  One person being ill does not just affect that person, but everyone around him or her.  A major illness is one of the worst stressors we can endure as it can go on for years, taking its emotional toll on everyone around. If you are dealing with a potentially terminal illness like cancer, you are dealing with a huge amount of stress, dealing with feelings of anxiety about possibility of imminent death.

Some people who experience a major illness enter into depression.  This is usually due to the dramatic change in their life. Sometimes family members can be affected by the stress of dealing with the sick, which could lead even them to depression, or some kind of escape mechanism in form of dependencies.

Finances

Lack of finances can be stressful. If you cannot figure out how to pay the bills, if some emergency arrives and you have no means to resolve it, if the costs are rising but the salary does not correspond, this can cause quite a bit of stress.

Avoid taking loans and paying in installments whenever you possibly can. Purchasing a new car on an installment plan is easy and convenient, but making ends meet when paying back, can become very stressful.  Not to speak about the financial turmoil in case you are losing your job.

Sometimes finances can get out of control because of overspending. Adjusting the budget and knowing how to economize can in many cases balance the finances. If you set a financial goal and tighten your belt now, then you’ll find that the money stress eases. This might mean that you have to give up wasting money in areas that aren’t imperative to your needs, such as paying almost $5 or more for a cup of coffee.

It might also mean that you need to stop spending money on eating out. It’s cheaper and healthier to eat at home anyway. With the money that you save by not eating out or spending on impulse buys, you can pay off debt, start a savings account and eventually have the money to do what you wanted to do for a long time.

There are situations though where there is no easy solution to the financial turmoil and professional help may be necessary to deal with the resulting stress.

Job Loss

In addition to being humiliating, the loss of a job can throw you into financial turmoil.  Losing a job often results in depression as well as anxiety.   Not only did your self-esteem take a hit, but you are also worried about money.  You will probably experience stress until you get a new job or reconcile yourself to the fact that you will have to get by on less money.

Until you get your bearings, you will face a disruption in your lifestyle as well as your financial status.  The uncertainty that surrounds getting another job also affects us when it comes to stress.  Losing a job and having to find another job can be stressful. 

City Life

Living in large cities involves several stressors, like noise, traffic, pollution, fear of assaults, hectic rhythm of life, and the simple fact of lacking the relaxing influence of nature around us. Even if you have to commute to town for work, setting up your home in the country can do a lot to relax your mind at the end of the day.

Traffic in the large cities can be stressful. Traffic jams can be especially stressful if we need to get to an appointment in time. And hectic traffic around us as well as stressed out drivers being impatient, will have its toll at anybody needing to navigate under those circumstances.

Living in high crime areas can be also stressful. Not knowing whether you will suffer an assault the next time you leave home can keep you quite apprehensive. And any kind of dubious face crossing your way will make your stress hormones rise.

Other Stressors

Relationship Problems can be a big stressor. Abusive relationships, sometimes even involving physical abuse, can be hard to deal with. Addictions are another problem that can cause a lot of strain on a relationship. Those are situations that may need help from outside to try to resolve the situation. Divorce sometimes seems to be an easy way out, but it should be a last resort, since any separation of an intimate relationship involves lots of stress by itself.

Technology and information overload are increasingly perceived as a burden in our lives. The fact that we are reachable wherever we are makes us more stressed at the end of the day. Many expect companies to respond to their email within an hour, and we need to catch up with Facebook, WhatsApp, Telegram and other messenger services. We want to keep up with the life of our friends on Facebook and Instagram and many get addicted to the diversions that are all around on social media. If we search for some topic on Google, the wealth of information available to almost any topic we want to know is just overwhelming. And that we spend several hours a day in front of the television is considered as part of our live. All of this keeps our minds busy with an unnatural amount of stimulus around us, and impedes us to simply rest and relax.

These are just a few of the major stress factors that we as a society face.  There are other things that can lead to stress, but these are the most common stressors in our private life.

In some way, even happy events such as the birth of a child, marriage, or even a new job can lead to stress.  Even though these are joyous occasions, they are stressful.  Why?  Because they disrupt our set out common routine.

Are you sensing any sort of pattern here with regard to stress?  Each of the aforementioned stressors all has one thing in common – they disrupt our lives.  We don’t like to have our lives disrupted and when it happens, even if it a good disruption, passing through the adaptation phase is causing us stress. We are going to experience stressful situations throughout our lives.  How we handle those situations will determine how well we can manage stress.  There are both good ways and bad ways to manage stress. 

Identifying stressors is not always so easy. While some of us can point to different stress factors that have occurred recently in our lives, others have no idea why they are stressed. In some cases, the original stressor can be something that happened in your childhood and left you insecure. For example, an abuse can create negative thought patterns that can be a stressor remaining until the adult age. In such cases, a Psychologist may be able to help you out to identify the original cause of your stress.

Once you have identified your stressor, you can work on removing the cause. This often helps already to bring your stress under control. But not always there is an immediate solution to the problem. In this case, you need an all-inclusive approach to stress management. If you need to figure out how to manage your stress the most effective way, download now your copy of The 10 Minute Guide to Stress Management.

Do you need a guide to help you understand how to cope with Stress in an all inclusive approach? Learn how to combat stress, mentally, physically, emotionally and strategically in your life.

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You ever felt jittery after a bout of stress? Do you have stomach cramps, a sudden outburst of pimples on your skin, or your blood pressure suddenly goes through the roof? You should be familiar with the symptoms of stress in your body and recognize when stress is taking its toll on your health.

The body is wonderfully adapted to deal with many challenges, including stress. When we are in a dangerous spot, the body releases a number of hormones that help us to be alert, more energetic, run fast, make some quick decisions and do whatever is needed to face the crisis. When stress is chronic, like the deadlines at work or the debt that is not going away, then stress hormones like cortisol are chronically elevated as well.

Too much cortisol can suppress the immune system, increase blood pressure and sugar, decrease libido, produce acne, cause learning difficulties, lapse of memory, loss of muscle mass, aggravate obesity and much more. If cortisol is chronically elevated, the body is entering into a fatigue state, where the hormone stops to produce the desired effect. This is called glucocorticoid resistance, and will result in chronically elevated cortisol levels, and a body out of control.

The results of chronic stress on your health can be various. Have a close look at the following symptoms, and evaluate how stress is affecting your health.

Heart

As we’ve seen, cortisol constricts blood vessels and increases blood pressure. In addition to that, the stress response increases the clotting factor, preparing the body for faster wound healing in case of injury, but also facilitating the formation of arteriosclerotic plaques.

These plaques adhere to the inside of blood vessel walls, especially at locations where micro vascular damage has occurred, and attempt to “patch” it, resulting in large deposits of this mass along various areas of the blood vessel, which is reducing the blood flow and may eventually block the artery completely. When this happens in the coronary arteries of the heart itself, portions of muscle can die from oxygen starvation, which we call a heart attack. When this blockage happens in the brain, it results in a stroke. A study found that stress increases risks for development of cardiovascular diseases, which include deep venous thrombosis.((Dong, et al. Chronic Stress Facilitates the Development of Deep Venous Thrombosis, DOI:10.1155/2015/384535))

Research shows that employees who are frequently exposed to high levels of work-related stress are at a higher risk of being diagnosed with cardiovascular disease.((Jaskanwal S et.al. Association Between Work‐Related Stress and Coronary Heart Disease: A Review of Prospective Studies Through the Job Strain, Effort‐Reward Balance, and Organizational Justice Models. DOI:https://doi.org/10.1161/JAHA.117.008073)) Stress causes massive depletion of the mineral magnesium, which is essential for muscle relaxation.((Tarasov E A et.al. Magnesium deficiency and stress: Issues of their relationship, diagnostic tests, and approaches to therapy. DOI: 10.17116/terarkh2015879114-122)) Tests have shown that a very large percentage of the adult population are magnesium-deficient, which very likely has a strong correlation to those affected by chronic stress.

As the heart is a muscle it is dependent on adequate magnesium for proper and healthy function. Current research is exploring the possible link between low magnesium levels and heart attacks.

Acute stress, such as may occur to people who are experiencing the sudden death of a loved one, a natural disaster or extreme accident may also lead to stress-induced cardiomyopathy. Thankfully, increased awareness means that professional emotional support is offered far more often than before, with better outcomes for those affected.

Digestive Disorders

Do you feel sometimes like your stomach has been invaded by butterflies? This is a normal reaction to many stressful or fearful circumstances. A regular stomach ache is one of the many symptoms that can be experienced by an individual who is suffering from stress. The digestive system is controlled by the parasympathetic nervous system, which is suppressed during the stress response.

As a result, digestion is compromised, indigestion develops, and the mucosal lining becomes irritated and inflamed. The diminished absorption of nutrients can cause various deficiencies, even while eating well. A study has shown that stress can dramatically change the gut microbiome, increasing the amount of inflammation-promoting bacteria.((Gao X et.al. Chronic stress promotes colitis by disturbing the gut microbiota and triggering immune system response. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1720696115))

Cortisol stimulates also gastric acid formation. Gastritis and Ulcers are more common during stressful times, and continually feeling pressured can cause poor bowel elimination. If the cause is left unchecked, this could escalate into other gastric problems.

Many cases of gastrointestinal disorders such as diarrhea, constipation, colitis and irritable bowel syndrome have been linked to stress. This shows how our brain and our gut are so interconnected to each other. When you are able to resolve your problems and find that peace of mind, your whole body is going to thank you.

Immune System

It is known that chronic stress with elevated cortisol will reduce various functions of the immune system.((Dragos D et.al. The effect of stress on the defense systems. PMCID: PMC3019042)) As a result you are more susceptible to flus and colds or any other kind of infection. You will also increase your risk for cancer, since your immune system is not at peak performance to control and eliminate abnormal cancer cells.

Stress will have a cumulative effect on the immune system the longer we experience it. Think of the immune system as a firewall; the longer it is down, the greater the chances that some sort of infection can take hold of us and complicate our recovery.

Skin

Psoriasis, eczema, and other skin inflammations are often linked to prolonged exposure to stress. In most cases of skin diseases that have been brought on by stress, reducing stress levels have also been found to rapidly improve a person’s skin condition.

Chronic exposure to stress can lead to the overproduction of the sex hormone androgen, resulting in acne and other skin problems.

Stress causes excessive hormone production combined with a reduced healing ability, meaning you may experience the same types of skin problems you did as a teenager.

Hair

While hair loss can be a sign of other conditions, it can also be one of the most common symptoms of stress. Hair loss will be most likely to happen three to six months after a traumatic experience such as losing a loved one or losing a job. 

When a person is exposed to highly-stressful events their androgen hormone production will be imbalanced, possibly resulting in temporary hair loss. Sticking to a balanced diet is important at times of high stress, to give the body every possible assistance for healing and repair.

You may often hear people say that stress is turning their hair gray.  Stress can speed up this process especially if you are already genetically predisposed to having gray hair. During periods of prolonged stress, an individual’s white blood cells may attack their hair follicles thereby putting a halt to hair growth which is also called a “resting phase”. This gets visible when much hair is lost when being washed or combed.

Menstrual Cycle Problems

Missed and delayed periods can be a sign of stress in women. In severe cases, some women may suffer a complete stop of the menstrual cycle.

Other women still experience regular menstrual periods but many complain of dysmenorrhea that is twice as painful when they’re feeling excessive stress, and Pre Menstrual Symptoms may get worse or become more difficult to deal with.

Women with overly hectic and busy lives, filled with demands that promote chronic stress may feel a loss of sexual drive. And those who pass through menopause may feel an increase in intensity and frequency of hot flashes.

Decreased Libido

Elevated cortisol relating to prolonged stress, can lend itself to impotence and erectile dysfunction. Furthermore, the androgenic sex hormones are produced in the same glands as cortisol and epinephrine, so excess cortisol production may hamper the optimal production of these sex hormones.

It is common for people who are under a great deal of stress or feeling exhausted to have no desire in the bedroom. This can be frustrating for your partner as well. If you are suffering from a general lack of libido possibly caused by stress, it is essential to talk openly with your partner so that they can lend you a sympathetic ear and not take it personally.

Muscle Tightness

Tensed muscles are common indications of stress. This can further lead to muscle spasms which can cause great pain. Stress causes magnesium depletion in the body and without magnesium the muscles cannot relax, putting them in a state of near-constant contraction. Tense muscles can lead to migraines and tension headaches that are linked to muscle tension of the neck, head and shoulders.

Increased Cortisol levels will tend to activate an inflammatory response, causing sore muscles, aches and pains in the body. Prolonged muscle tension and possible subsequent muscle atrophy from a lack of physical activity, promote chronic, stress-related musculoskeletal conditions. Relief comes through exercise, massage, muscle relaxation exercises and adequate vitamin and mineral intake.

Pancreas, Diabetes and Obesity

People who are chronically stressed have a high tendency to indulge in sugary, feel-good foods. Also, increased cortisol levels will raise the blood glucose levels, causing difficulties especially for diabetics.

Cortisol will activate the transformation of fat into glucose. This is why stress makes it hard for diabetics to control blood glucose levels. Once the excessive glucose is not used for exercise, it will be transformed back into fat and stored in the visceral fat cells. This resuts in the dreaded belly fat that is not only unsightly but is another major health risk that can shorten your life span. On top of that, excessive cortisol levels can cause cravings for sweet, high-fat, and salty foods. Obesity in turn will increase the risk of developing diabetes.

Metabolic Syndrome

Chronic stress can increase blood pressure, glucose levels, cholesterol, triglycerides and weight gain, all of the factors involved in the metabolic syndrome.

One study found that “there is a dose-response relationship between exposure to work stressors over 14 years and risk of the metabolic syndrome, independent of other relevant risk factors.” The final results found that “employees with chronic work stress were more than twice as likely to have metabolic syndrome as compared with those subjects with without work stress.”((Chandola, et al. Chronic stress at work and the metabolic syndrome: prospective study, BMJ 2006; 332 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.38693.435301.80))

Conclusion

We have seen that stress can compromise our health in various ways. If you experience one or several of those warning signs, you should take action to get your stress under control. In chronic stress we need to take action to decrease our cortisol levels, which can be achieved in two ways:

• Firstly – by reducing the stress that is the root cause of the problem, either by eliminating the stressors, or by improving the ability to cope with them. A reduced emotional response to any stressor will mean less cortisol release.

• Secondly – there are known lifestyle and dietary ‘hacks’ that assist the mind and body to reduce the release of cortisol into the system. Some bad habits can though increase cortisol production.

If you need some tips on how to achieve both of this approaches, download our Ten Minute Guide to Stress Management and start beating your stress with efficient strategies that put you into control of your life. Download your copy now!

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