Tip Talk Thursday- Stress & You
Welcome to Tip Talk Thursdays! If
you have been following along on our Instagram, you would know that over the past
week we have been talking about stress. Stress is something in life that we all
have to endure. It’s something that really is unavoidable and normal! Isn’t
that a little comforting? It may not be pleasant, but at least you know it is
normal.
Stress is a normal response to
demands or situational pressures, and the stress response is more likely to
occur when we perceive something as threatening or dangerous. The results of
stress is a release of hormones called cortisol, adrenaline, and noradrenalin
that is released into the body. These hormones make us sweat, breathe quicker,
tense our muscles, and essentially prepare our bodies to engage in fight or
flight. Small amounts of stress are considered healthy. They allow us to meet
deadlines, make us more productive, be prepared for situations such as presentations.
But long-term stress is where we begin to see some problems arise.
Long term stress has been linked
to an increased risk of mental health problems such as anxiety, depression,
substance abuse, sleep problems, pain & bodily complaints. It also effects our
physical health with increase in headaches, gastrointestinal problems, weakened
immune system, higher blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, and stroke.
So if stress is normal and
something everyone experiences, how do we know when its bad?
There are numerous factors that
can make the experience of stress worse:
- You have limited social support
- You have multiple stressors
- You have difficulty regulation or balancing your emotions
- You have a lack of self-confidence or feel that you cannot handle the stressor
- You feel powerless, overwhelmed, or helpless due to the stressor
There are different kinds of
stress you can experience:
Acute stress: short term stress and the most common way to
experience stress. Often caused by thinking about the pressures of events that
have recently occurred or upcoming demands in your future
Episodic acute stress: people who experience acute stress
frequently. A person with too many commitments or poor organization can find
themselves engaging in a lot of episodic stress.
Chronic stress: this occurs when a person never sees an escape from
the cause of stress and they begin to stop seeking solutions. Chronic stress
can go unnoticed as people begin to get used to it, unlike acute stress which
is new and often has an immediate solution. This is considered one of the most
dangerous types of stress.
Research continues to be put out
about stress and more and more people are starting to tune into toxic stress
and it’s implications on the developing brain. In this line of research,
studies focus on three types of stress responses:
Positive stress response: normal and essential part of healthy
development, where one experiences brief increases of heart rate and mild elevated
hormone levels
Tolerable stress: triggered by more serious and long-lasting
difficulties such as the loss of a loved one. The body’s systems are alerted to
a greater degree but if this activation is time limited and buffered by supportive
relationships, the brain and organs will recover.
Toxic stress: when you experience strong, frequent, and prolonged
adversity. At a young age this type of stress can actually disrupt the brain
architecture and organ system, and increase your risk for stress related
diseases and cognitive impairment into the adult years.
Stress effects your body and brain
in so many ways. In the 4 minute video below, they talk about how stress
actually impacts your brain. Did you know frequent release of cortisol actually
shrinks your brain? Watch the video to learn more: Stress & Your Brain
There are so many ways out there
to manage stress. There are things that are going to work and things that may
not. It’s really going to be about finding what works for YOU. The important thing
is recognizing when we are stressed, assessing what kind of stress we may be experiencing,
and ensuring that we have a support system set in place to help us during these
times and encourage us to build our resilience.
What is resilience?
The process of adapting well in
the face of adversity, threats, or significant sources of stress. Basically
being able to bounce back from a difficult experience. Being resilient does not
mean that a person doesn’t experience difficulty or distress. The road to resiliency
is likely to involved considerable emotional distress. It is not something that
people either have or do not have, it involves behaviours, thoughts and actions
that can be learned and developed over time.
Ways to build resilience
- Make connection: accepting help and support from those who care and will listen to you
- Avoid seeing crises as unsolvable problems: you can’t change the stress event that will happen, but you can change how you interpret it and respond to the events.
- Accept that change is part of living
- Move towards your goals: keep them realistic and make them small
- Take decisive actions: act on it rather than detach completely from the problems and stresses
- Look for opportunities of self-discovery: find ways you have grown in some respect as a result of their struggle with loss.
- Nurture a positive view of yourself: develop confidence in your ability to solve problems
- Keep things in perspective: try to consider the stressful event in a broader context and keep a long term perspective
- Maintain a hopeful outlook: try to visualize what you want rather than worry about what you fear
- Take care of yourself: pay attention to your own needs and feelings.
And there are many many others!
All it takes is a quick google search! We hope this post at least gives you a little more insight on stress and why it is so important to address your stress and not brush it aside!
Don't forget to check out our upcoming event as well! We will be talking about emotional wellbeing and tickets are still available!
YWC
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