The impacts of stress on our health

Ambitious softies tend to be sensitive, thoughtful, passionate, empathetic perfectionists. If you identify with those traits, you may also experience relatively high stress levels on a consistent basis as a result. At a chemical level, our bodies are fairly sensitive to worry, hurt, overthinking, frustration, comparison etc, which can put you at risk of physical stress responses that can wreak havoc with our bodies. This is referred to as HPA (Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal) Axis Dysfunction.

What happens when we're stressed?

A stress response can be triggered by a broad range of things. There are physical stressors such as injury, illness, poor diet, medications, alcohol, excessive exercise and poor sleep. Mental stressors such as time pressure, financial worries, conflict, isolation, uncertainty or failure. And, emotional stressors such as grief, anger, heartbreak, loneliness, frustration and resentment. It's important to keep this in mind as sometimes we don't identify the multitude of stressors that we're stacking on ourselves.

Our amygdala senses these triggers as threats and signals to the hypothalamus to release corticotropin releasing hormone. In response, your pituitary gland releases adrenocorticotropic hormone, and finally, your adrenals release cortisol so your body can respond to the threat - preparing for a ‘fight, flight, fawn or freeze’ response.

The problem with excessive cortisol

Cortisol prompts the body to shut down functions that aren’t essential to survival in that moment - functions like digestion, immune response and reproduction. Blood pressure and blood sugar levels rise and you’re likely to crave sugar as an immediate energy source. Your body gathers up energy (ready to run or fight), and when you don’t use it, insulin is released to lower blood sugar levels and stores excess energy as fat.

In times of ‘stress,’ cortisol will also interrupt your ability to concentrate and you may become anxious because you’re hyper alert to threats. For the same reason, you’re likely to have problems sleeping.

A healthy stress response is of course normal and necessary. However, chronic stress overstimulates the HPA Axis and can cause cyclical issues - preventing the activation of the parasympathetic nervous system - your ‘rest and digest’ state. For example, consistently high levels of cortisol will disrupt sleep - one of the best remedies we have for calming and resetting our internal systems. Similarly, if cortisol levels remain elevated for long periods, your body will divert pregnenolone to produce more cortisol. Pregnenolone is a precursor to progesterone - a calming hormone, so as progesterone levels drop, we’re more susceptible to stress and the cycle gains momentum.

Remaining in a stress stimulated state creates short and long term health risks including:

• Increased blood pressure

• Decreased insulin sensitivity

• Increased inflammation

• Impaired digestion, immunity and fertility

• Unhealthy levels of stored fat

I hope that helps to explain what could be happening to your body while under stress, and serves as a little reminder to be gentle with yourself and listen to your body (and your heart) when you're not feeling safe and at ease.

If you feel like ongoing stress is impacting you, this Healthline article provides practical guidance on lowering cortisol levels.