What Is Stress Doing To Your Body?

Do you ever find yourself exercising hard on a weekly basis, eating a great and healthy diet and still not being able to lose weight?

Well, being healthy is not just about nutrition and fitness; it is about maintaining balance in your life. Oftentimes we have trouble keeping our life balance resulting in stress, which can be a huge problem in losing weight or maintaining a healthy body.

Here is the breakdown of what stress does to our bodies:

Stress puts our bodies into survival mode. And, in this mode, all of the blood rushes to our heads. It is in this state that our instinctual thinking takes charge. There is no critical or higher thinking, but only thinking of how to survive the situation.

In this state, our body loses the ability to perform its normal functions. For example, digestion comes to a halt as all of the blood is in our heads; our brains cannot assess the food in our systems and thus cannot register the nutrients (good or bad) in our bodies. This ultimately leads to weight gain, muscle loss, malnutrition, etc.

Stress can also lead to various other things such as: poor decision making, acne, memory loss, exhaustion and it is one of the top causes of most diseases, cancers, and almost every other health issue.

There are two main types of stressors we face as individuals: unpreventable and self-inflicted.

• Unpreventable stress includes things such as: death of a loved one, accidents, life events, family situations, etc.
• Self-inflicted stress includes things such as: road rage, relationships, work, etc.

Self-inflicted stressors are all about the situations you put yourself in and how you react to them.

We are all capable of handling a little stress, but that energy is saved for the unpreventable stressors we face. Thus, it is key that we reduce or eliminate all the self-inflicted stressors in our lives.

If you have relationships that are making you unhappy or take a lot of your energy, then you must fix the problem completely or decide to end that relationship for the stress is not worth it.

If you are in a stressful or un-enjoyable job, then it may be time to change your job.

If you find yourself getting road rage, then take a moment and ask yourself why it is working you up so much.

What can you do to relieve your stress?

Everyone has a different way of de-stressing, but here are a few examples:

• relax
• play a sport you love
• yoga
• running
• acupuncture
• hiking
• going to your favorite outdoor place
• writing
• reading
• exercising
• meditating
• spending time with loved ones
• listening to music
• getting a massage
• taking a nap
• coloring
• the possibilities are endless.

And, as always, if you need professional advice or help getting your stress levels down and your life in balance then reach out for help!

The important thing is to recognize that stress has a lasting impact on our bodies from the inside out. Many of us live in a chronic state of stress and one of the most important things we can do for our health is to find ways to relieve stress.

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