Stress, a feeling we're all accustomed to a students. Stress has a mental and physical component that are not limited to external life events. Internal events like our feelings, thoughts, and habits can also create negative stress. So how does negative stress actually affect us, and what can we do to mitigate it?
The 3 Categories of Stress
Eustress (good stress): a result of challenges perceived to be within our abilities. It helps us stay motivated and focused in addition to producing feelings of excitement, fulfillment, satisfaction, and well-being.
Tolerable stress: a temporary stress responses as a result of more serious events like loss, injury, or a natural disaster. Supportive relationships buffer the effect of this response.
Distress (bad stress): an extreme, toxic form of stress as a result of a prolonged activation of the body’s stress response. It is perceived as outside of our coping abilities. This form of stress decreases performance and lead to anxiety and depression.
How does stress affect our bodies?
Prolonged stress can rewire our brains:
The amygdala increases in activity and size, which makes us more emotional and reactive.
The prefrontal cortex decreases in activity. Higher order processing, complex though, learning, and memory are impaired
General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS)
GAS is a theory that describes the physiological changes the body experiences when under stress. First, the alarm stage, or shock phase, in which the temperature and blood pressure decrease. This also leads to countershock, the activation of the fight-or-flight response. Heart rate and blood pressure increase as stress hormones and adrenaline are released. Second, the resistance stage. If the stressful situation is resolved, the body begins to return to the pre-stress state. If not, the body remains on high alert. Stress hormones and blood pressure remain elevated, which can lead to hypertension and heart problems. And third, the exhaustion stage. During prolonged stress, the body no longer has the strength or resources to fight the stress. Symptoms include sleep disturbances, loss of concentration, fatigue, depressed mood, anxiety attacks, and stress-related illnesses (due to a weakened immune system).
Benefits of mind-body connection and mindfulness based interventions
Regulate emotional and psychological responses to stress
Help with lifestyle and behavioral modifications
Improve resilience and well-being
Improve coping skills
Bring awareness to symptoms
Heal from trauma
Mind-body therapies and mindfulness
Guided imagery
Yoga
Meditation
Qigong
Acupuncture
Tai Chi
Skills to reduce stress
Recognize triggers
Respond instead of reacting to the situation
Breathe mindfully
Connect with your body
Sleep
Set realistic expectations
Set boundaries
Connect with others
Practice self compassion
References:
Dr. Nadia Sabri, founder of Mindful MD Mom @dr.nadiasabri
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