Economic instability, fear of losing your jobs in the crisis – all this leads us to a greater or lesser extent of stress.
Contents
What is stress?
Many people tend to think that they experience stress only due to negative emotions. However, it is not true. Stress is a reaction to any external or internal changes.The cause of stress can be a banal lack of sleep, hunger, changes in atmospheric pressure, excessive physical activity, illness, and even too much fun. Meeting any of these factors, the body needs to respond properly, to adapt the work of all internal organs and systems to the situation, to make them act not as usual.
Experiencing stress, the cardiovascular system operating changes, blood pressure rises, heart rate accelerates, blood vessels constrict, bowel tone changes. Sometimes these changes have consequences, sometimes stress can cause serious diseases:
- asthma;
- cardiovascular disease;
- diabetes;
- stomach and intestinal ulcers;
- even cancer.
As stress affects every cell of our body, it’s not always possible to guess which organ will be vulnerable. However, it’s possible to prevent the negative effects of stress.
Three Stages
Experiencing any stress factor, people pass through three stages:
The reaction of anxiety. The body mobilizes all its resources to cope with the situation. At this point, the brain makes a decision as to which of the body structures must work harder, and what organs, in contrast, should reduce their activity.
The stage of resistance: a person adapts to the situation and the body is able to operate in “emergency” mode for quite a long time. And when a stressful situation is solved, there comes a stage of exhaustion.
The stage of exhaustion: the time when you need to rest and make up for the resources. If all three phases are passed correctly, stress will bring no harm to the body. On the contrary, it will become a kind of training that will prepare the person for the meeting with the following non-standard situation.
However, if the body was not able to recover and have to face a new stress, it can lead to health problems – a person simply does not have enough strength to withstand stress. Canadian Health&Care Mall advises not to forget about preventive measures that can increase resistance to stress and protect against a number of diseases.
Follow your nutrition
Incorrect diet is an additional stress for the body. Therefore, make sure that there are enough vitamins and minerals in your organism, eliminate or at least limit the harmful products in your menu. Especially salt. Excess salt changes the adrenal glands – organs that are responsible for the production of adrenaline and cortisol, the so-called stress hormones. If the adrenal glands are not working properly, blood flows in an excess amount of hormones. And they, in turn, negatively affect all organs and systems.
Another ally of stress is alcohol. The fact is that each glass of alcohol increases the load on the liver. As a result, the brain does not get the right nutrients but receives abundant toxins. And it is no longer able to give the necessary commands to the internal organs. It is no coincidence at all people who like to drink alcohol response to stress is about the same way – they are irritable, fidgety, unable to make adequate decisions. All this is the result of alcohol.
Avoid too fatty fried food. Such products, as alcohol, make the liver work with the increased load.
Sleep no less than 7-8 hours
Sleep is essential for our body to recuperate its energy. If you lack sleep, the response to stress will be inadequate.
In addition, lack of sleep in combination with stress can cause heart attacks, strokes, thromboses. But remember, too long sleeping is too bad for your health. The relation between the occurrence of senile dementia, Alzheimer’s disease, and other vascular diseases, and excess sleep (more than10 hours a day) is scientifically proved.
Most people sleep 6-8 hours – it is enough for them, however, the need for sleep depends on age and individual characteristics. Find out how much recovery time you need. Lie in bed about 10-11 pm and sleep until morning, not putting an alarm-clock. If you woke up in a good mood, feeling cheerful, that means you slept enough. Just do not stay in bed after waking up. You may fall asleep again, but this sleep won’t bring anything but weakness.
There are various gadgets that help monitor sleep. Special smart wristbands can measure heart rate and determine the stage of sleep depending on your body’s movements. This bracelet, synchronized with the app on your mobile phone or computer, not only counts the number of hours required you to relax, but also wakes you up at the right time. After all, the state of your health depends on your waking time.
Go for sports
Physical exercise is like the stress in miniature. First of all, the body is mobilized, then adapts and finally rests. That is, the body passes through all the same steps as in the stressful situation. People who lead a mobile lifestyle and play sports are better able to meet an unusual situation.
In addition, during training, the person starts to breathe deeply and properly. A breathing exercise is one of the best sedatives. With a deep breath and slowly exhale carbon dioxide is formed, which has an anti-anxiety effect.
Control your emotions
Negative information flow, conflicts in the family, problems at work – all these can cause emotional stress. It is impossible and not necessary to protect yourself from public life, locking the door. However, it is important that a person could get support from relatives, friends, or had the opportunity to address to a psychologist at the time of emotional stress
When should we visit a doctor?
Despite all the efforts, the stress may become chronic sometimes. Then you have to address to a specialist.
The first sign that the body is unable to cope with stress is sleep disturbance. Later, a person gets such symptoms as a headache, muscle, back, joints pain, blurred vision, dizziness, feeling short of breath, heart palpitations, irritability, tearfulness, increased sweating. Sometimes, chronic stress is manifested in the form of a bear illness or strong urge to urinate. Sometimes these disorders take such forms that a person is afraid to leave the house. It happens that a temperature increase may be a sign of chronic stress. As a rule, this happens if stress follows the disease.
When you see these symptoms, do not hesitate and address to the doctor. Which one – depends on the specific complaints.
In this case, if the doctor prescribes you sedatives, always follow his prescription. But it is important to remember that this treatment is a temporary crutch that helps a person to adapt and learn how to properly respond to stress. In the six or twelve months of treatment, the patient should usually undergo physical and psychological adaptation. Otherwise, after drug withdrawal, a person may feel symptoms of chronic stress again.
Who is in a high-risk group?
There are categories of people who are particularly vulnerable to stress.
Teenagers
Hormonal changes in the body are rather stressful. Therefore, the additional emotional stress affects the body especially strong.
Women
These are women with premenstrual syndrome and the ones having a climax condition. PMS is usually a consequence of endocrine disorders, and menopause is associated with changes in hormonal levels.
Smoking people and alcoholics
People who abuse alcohol and smokers are in the high-risk group. Alcohol disrupts the brain and makes it difficult to response correctly to the stress. Nicotine enters the body, constricts blood vessels, increases heart rate. As a result, the cardiovascular system of smokers is experiencing excessive stress while a person is smoking.
Elderly people
Due to the poor blood supply to the brain, elderly people cannot adequately perceive many events. Therefore, any event, even a small one, causes emotional stress.