Is stress making you sick?
When I was 26 I experienced burnout.
I was by no means burning the candle wildly at both ends but I was living like a normal twenty-something in London; working hard, seeing friends, having fun and working out.
However, I reached a breaking point - I was crying at the smallest thing, my nerves were completely frayed, I wasn't sleeping well and I felt unhealthy and bloated despite all the exercise I was doing.
Stress affects our adrenals and contributes to burnout
It reached the point where I was sent home from work. So, I went home to my parents and just cried, it was relentless misery. It was at this low point that I decided to see someone about it. That person was an acupuncturist who told me I had severe adrenal fatigue, I believe she said that my adrenals were “on the floor”, yikes.
Your adrenals are these lovely little glands that live above your kidneys and produce many important hormones we can’t live without, one being cortisol, the hormone that we release to keep homeostasis in the body when we’re in a state of fight or flight.
The fight or flight stress response is really only supposed to be used in exactly that situation: fleeing from a perceived threat or fighting in.
Nowadays however, we permanently live in that same fight or flight response meaning that our adrenal glands are working overtime to keep us going. No wonder they get burnt out so quickly leaving us feeling so rubbish, it’s not the state we’re meant to be living in.
Stress affects our immune function and makes us sick
The influence of mental health on immune function cannot be underestimated. The most important mental requirements for a strong immune system are a positive attitude, an optimistic sense of purpose and trusting in the process of life.
The study of this science is called psychoneuroimmunology, looking at the interactions between our nervous and immune systems, showing how positive emotions enhance our immune function and negative emotions compromise it.
In Systematic Kinesiology we take it one step further, we believe in psycho-everything-immunology - that everything we think affects every part of the body, not just the immune system, but more on that another time.
The different types of stress
My stress was work-related but there’s many things that can stress us in our day to day lives; the demands of our jobs and social lives, being permanently in reach via phone and email, electronic stress from being surrounded by constant technology, environmental stress from our living environments and city lifestyle. All these contribute to fatigue, exhaustion and anxiety.
There’s also physical stress of overexertion or being too cold or too warm, chemical stress from eating foods that negatively affect our digestive systems, stress from dehydration (yes that’s a big thing!) and stress from the people we’re dealing with on a day-to-day basis.
There’s also the pressure we put on ourselves to be perfect which is perhaps the greatest silent killer of them all. Careers, partners, bodies - we want them all to be perfect and in an age of comparison and where we can supposedly ‘do and have anything’, what’s the excuse when you don’t have it all? Emotionally, we can feel completely overwhelmed.
Are you experiencing burnout?
Stress can manifest itself anywhere in the body but at the same time, so can a lot of problems. Either way, if you're experiencing lots of these symptoms it could be an indication that something's not quite right.
Do you find it hard to get to sleep?
Do you wake up during the night or sleep fitfully?
Do you have dreams about real life situations such as your work colleagues or family?
Have you lost your appetite?
Do you feel occasionally nauseous?
Are you finding yourself eating irregularly, outside your normal times or eating different foods?
Are you drinking more alcohol or caffeine than usual?
Do you find yourself craving sweet or salty foods?
Do you have neck or shoulder pain?
Do you experience headaches or jaw pain?
Is your heart beating faster than usual?
Does your skin feel sensitive or do you have a rash?
Are you fighting off frequent infections?
Are you feeling bloated or are your bowel movements very irregular?
Are you tearful?
Are you irritable or restless?
Have you lost interest in certain aspects of your life?
Do you feel on edge, anxious or in a worried state of mind?
Are you shallow breathing?
Do you get tired or ill as soon as you stop e.g., on a weekend or on holiday?
Stop letting stress make you sick
The detrimental effects of stress are huge, much more than we realise. From my own research I believe stress is a precursor to most illnesses, from depression to chronic disease. So how can we step out of stress and recover our health and vitality?
Below I’ve listed six ideas to get you started on your stress-relief journey but there’s many more you can do.
Change your diet - processed food, refined carbohydrates and sugar stress our digestive systems so dial it back to eating simple and nourishing foods such as stews, soups and broths - warming, full of vegetables and easy on the digestive system.
Rehydrate - limit alcohol and caffeine and rehydrate, get 2.5 litres of water into your body on a daily basis. Keeping your body hydrated on a cellular level is vital. Read this article to get up to date.
Identify the root cause of your stress - once you do that you realise that you have three options: accept the situation, change the situation or leave the situation. Stress can come when we think we don’t have a choice, but we always have a choice.
Stop - literally, slow down, say ‘no’, cancel plans, take time out, be gentle with yourself, give yourself a break and breathe. Put yourself and your health first, everything else can wait. Grounding, meditation, mindful activities and rest are all great ways to de-stress.
Leave the comparisons - everyone is on a different timeline, we're not in a race, there's no finish line. Take the pressure off needing to have everything figured out, no one does, we're all just doing our best, it's all you can do.
Talk - whether it’s to friends, family, colleagues, a therapist - you’re not alone so don’t suffer in silence. Unburdening your fears, worries and stresses lifts off layers of stress. If you’re not ready to talk, write it down, the effect of journaling has been proven to lower stress levels.
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