What is it?

A stressful situation - whether this be something environmental stress such as a traffic jam or psychological stress such as chronic worry around money - can trigger a cascade of stress hormones that produce a well orchestrated amount of physiological change in our bodies.

This is know as your “fight or flight” response and it’s evolved as a survival mechanism to react to a life threatening situations and is designed to keep you alive.

So how does it all work?

A stressful event causes the emotional processing part of the brain (amygdala) to send a distress signal to the command centre (hypothalamus).

The command centre (hypothalamus) is the area of the brain that communicates with the rest of the body throughout the autonomic nervous system.

This controls such involuntary processes such as: breathing, blood pressure, heart rate and airways.

The autonomic nervous system is like a car with two pedals - a gas pedal (sympathetic nervous system) and a brake (parasympathetic nervous system).

When the gas pedal is pressed we have a whole host of chemicals and processes that happen automatically - adrenaline, corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH), adrenocorticoteopic hormone (ACTH) and cortisol all join in on the action with one goal - more gas!

This whole system then stays revved up until the perceived threat passes and we apply the “brake” (parasympathetic nervous system) to dampen the stress response.

This process happens so quickly that we aren’t even aware they are happening, in fact the amygdala and hypothalamus are so efficient at processing they start this process even before our brains visual centres have had chance to fully process what is happening in the situation.

How much stress do you really have?

Stress is an ambiguous term which encapsulates anything that challenges the homeostasis of the body. Nothing in our body should be classed as ‘bad’ or ‘good’, it’s subjective and will always have a purpose.

Stress generally over-simplified to emotional stress however this can come in many different forms which we do not associate to stress. On top of this, we have various other categories of stressors such as physical, physiological, dietary and lifestyle factors to take into consideration.

For example, psycho-emotional stress can be anything from: Perfectionism, Insecurities, Self doubt, Lack of self-worth, Lack of self-direction, Lack of self-identity, Distrust, Trauma, Fear, Irrational phobias, Lack of social interaction, Lack of support, Sadness, Anger, Anxiety, Heartbreak, Isolation, Economic struggles and Aesthetic competitions/

This is just one category of stressors, we also have physiological stressors: Pathogens, Dysbiosis, Intestinal permeability, Elevated LDL / low HDL, Mitochondrial dysfunction, Nutrient insufficiencies, Toxic burden, Hormonal imbalances, Oxidative stress, Mismanaged inflammation, Electromagnetic fields, Lack of sunlight, Lack of movement / stimulus to the lymphatic system, Hypoxia, Organ dysfunctions, Poor sleep, Mycotoxicity and Obesity

Then we have physical stressors such as: Tissue damage, High training volume, High training frequency, Poor posture, Imbalance between aerobic and anaerobic work, Inverted breathing patterns and Constipation

We also have dietary stressors such as: Overconsumption, Blood sugar disregulation, Stimulants, Dehydration, Inflammatory foods, Food sensitivities and Food additives

Then last but not least we have lifestyle factors such as: Divorce, Loss of a loved one, Moving house, Loss of job, Changing job and Travel (especially across time-zones)

TAKE HOME: It’s scary how often we experience some of the above stressors whilst being completely unaware of the actual burden it can place on our bodies.

Stress Management

In our last post we covered the different sources stress can come from: psycho-emotional, physiological, physical, dietary and lifestyle.

Now our goal to provide you with some simple tools to effectively mange any long term stress you are suffering from (chronic) and provide you with some quick wins from short term stress (acute).

Here are some simple techniques you can add into your weekly routines to help manage your stress:

- To do lists
- Priority management of your to do lists
- Gratitude Diary
- Meditation
- Yoga
- Stretching
- Float Tanks
- Self Myofascial Release (SMR)
- Deep Tissue Massage
- Gua Sha
- Cryotherapy - Infrared sauna
- Walking
- More Sleep
- Naps
- Reading
- Being outdoors
- Bathing in Epsom Salts

**A real star of the show and one which you can implement straight away with immediate impact on your Central Nervous System (CNS) is by drinking herbal tea in the form of Chamomile Tea ☕️ - check out our post on HERBAL TEA’S to learn more.