Have you noticed when you are suffering with high levels of stress and anxiety you also seem to get more sick too?
This is not a coincidence as being in a state of stress and anxiety can have detrimental affects on your health and wellbeing.
Stress has a negative impact on your hormones and can weaken your immune systems defences which in turn provides a greater opportunity for sickness.
Stress also moves the body into the sympathetic nervous system, our fight or flight mode, raising the heart rate and releasing cortisol. Cortisol helps regulate inflammation in the body and in normal amounts is actually considered to be an anti inflammatory. When we are stressed all the time, cortisol level remain high which can decrease the body’s sensitivity to the cortisol hormone. Over time the body and the immune system do not react to the cortisol therefore when the body suffers inflammation it stays that way which in turn makes us more susceptible to sickness.
An interesting and insightful study from the National Academy of Sciences was undertaken that exposed 276 healthy adults to virus that caused the common cold. After 5 days the participants who were under the most stress and therefore had an impaired ability to regulate inflammation, were the most likely to have developed symptoms.
This demonstrated the immune systems ability or inability to regulate inflammation plays a large role in whether you will get sick and how prolonged and severe the symptoms.
If this wasn’t enough, when we are in a state of high stress we are also more likely to indulge in foods and drinks which are high in sugar, fats and refined carbs. Alcohol levels typically increase which equally can impact the health of the body over time.
Stress can also show itself through physical symptoms such as headaches, muscle aches, trouble sleeping, fatigue, skin problems, digestive discomfort and stomach pains, sweating and an increased heart rate supporting anxiety and staying in the fight or flight mode.
Prolonged stress has also been linked to cancer and other major health illnesses.
For most of us stress seems unavoidable though learning how to manage it will support a better outcome for your overall health and wellbeing.
Regular yoga and meditation are both proven to assist in managing stress. Yoga for balancing the nervous system and hormones whilst reducing cortisol, and meditation to support the response to stress.
Eating a healthy balanced diet, removing or reducing caffeine and alcohol and living a life that is filled with things that give you peace and energy, will assist you manage stress and anxiety in your life.
Having friends and people around you that support and care for you, taking time for yourself to identify what the root cause of the stress really is when you look at the situation more objectively and where it is stemming from, can give you another string to your bow to help you manage and notice the signs before they overtake you.
Reaching out to your healthcare practitioner for additional support is an option to consider too.
