Why you can't live in constant stress

What is stress in general?

This term is usually associated with experiencing negative emotions. But actually this is a reaction 5 Things You Should Know About Stress organism to any external challenge. We may experience stress not only in response to a traumatic experience, but also in response to a positive change in life. For example, a new job or moving to the city of your dreams. Everyone experiences stress in their own way, but here are some of the manifestations Stress Symptoms, by which this state can be determined.

Mental signs of stress

• You are easily annoyed and flushed over trifles.
• It seems to you that nothing depends on you, and it scares you.
• You cannot concentrate on anything.
• You seem useless and unnecessary to yourself.
• You avoid people, even those you usually like.

Physical signs of stress

• You have no strength for anything.
• You are healthy, but you have headaches.
• In a dream, you grit your teeth or bite yourself on the inside of your cheek.
• You often get colds and viruses.
• You have insomnia or other sleep problems.
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• Indigestion is your usual condition.
• It is difficult for you to swallow saliva, you feel dry mouth.
• Your heart rate may jump up or your chest aches for no reason.

What is stress

Stressful events are called triggers. The triggers will be different for each person. Some people love to perform and bask in the attention of the audience, while others almost faint while giving a presentation to colleagues. Triggers may be related to your own painful memories (for example, as a child, parents loudly sort things out in front of you, and now you panic, it is worth your partner barely raise vote). But it also happens in a different way. The work of the brain is the result of evolution, therefore, many reactions are inherited from our ancestors. For example, if you go into a rage with hunger, even if you have never lived in a lack of food, this is a mechanism Behavioural, hormonal and neurobiological mechanisms of aggressive behavior in human and nonhuman primates survival from the past, which provoked people to a more successful hunt.

Stress can be categorized into several categories based on how stress proceeds:

• Acute stress. Immediate reaction to an exciting event. For example, an important deadline is approaching, and you do not have time to finish the task and are worried. But when it is done, you will stop being nervous.
• Episodic acute stress. The events that excite you are repeated periodically and make you stress regularly. For example, once a month you submit reports, work overtime and drown in business.
• Chronic stress. The trigger is constantly present in your life. For example, you hate your job, but do not quit, and through force continue to go to the office every day.

How stress affects health

Paradoxically, short-term episodes may even improve 4 Surprising Health Benefits of Stress the quality of your life. A stress impulse stimulates hormones, sharpens cognitive abilities and triggers a response. In short, it gives you the strength to connect your brain and deal with the situation.

However, the constant presence of stress exhausts the body. The changes can affect different areas of mental and physical health.

Eating habits. In some situations, stress suppresses appetite and leads to exhaustion. In others, the body, on the contrary, seeks Why stress causes people to overeat any opportunity to replenish energy reserves. This leads to problems seizing and weight gain. In addition, stress changes eating habits: the brain's craving for instant gratification increases, so the stressed person relies on sweets and fatty foods.

Muscles and tissues. The body sees the stressor as a threat to survival, even if it is a simple deadline or traffic jam. Therefore, it launches a defense mechanism: it directs oxygen to the muscles and keeps them in tension. This leads The Effects of Stress on Your Body to muscle hypertonia, headaches, spasms in the body.

Endocrine system. Constant stress keeps cortisol and other hormones high. These changes violate Stress and hormones hormonal balance and lead to endocrine disorders, which can result in weight gain or inability to conceive.

The immune system. Changes in hormones depress How Stress Affects the Immune System the ability to resist viruses, infections and inflammatory processes in the body. All forces are spent trying to defend against external threats.

Digestive system. Stress gets in the way The Effects of Stress on Your Body digestion of food, increases the acidity of the stomach, can lead to diarrhea or heartburn.

Psyche. Constantly elevated stress hormone and the resulting imbalance lead to Stress and Depression to depression, impaired concentration, emotional burnout, chronic fatigue syndrome.

Sleep. Insomnia, trouble falling asleep, shallow intermittent sleep - reaction Stress and Insomnia body for prolonged stress. Often sleep-deprived people begin to stimulate themselves with coffee or energy drinks, only exacerbating the problem.

The cardiovascular system. Chronic stress increases The Effects of Stress on Your Body pressure and stress on the heart, increasing the risk of stroke and heart attack. The connection between two parts of the nervous system is broken: sympathetic (the "gas pedal" of the body, which gives an impulse to action) and parasympathetic ("brake pedal", which allows you to slow down and calm down). The balance of the nervous system directly affects the work of the heart and is even measured using heart rate analysis.

How to measure stress

Stress is not just an abstract sensation, but a response that can be objectively tracked and improved. Your HRV indicators allow you to take control of your nerves - heart rate variability (HRV, heart rate variability). This scientific methodology was developed back in the 1960s to monitor the health, stress and strain of astronauts before and during flights. Then it was taken over by sports medicine in order to monitor the condition of athletes and prevent overload. Now HRV analysis is available to everyone. It allows you to determine the level of your physiological stress on the following scale:

HRV data can be collected by heart rate monitors and fitness trackers. For example, you can connect your fitness gadget for stress analysis to the platform Engy health, which was created in cooperation with the scientific team of the IBMP RAS - the institute responsible for biomedical support of Russian cosmonauts.

Platform records HRV, analyzes data and provides you with useful insights about the state of your body in the smartphone app. For example, you can:

• track stress index (sympathetic system) and recovery (parasympathetic system), so that you know how much physical, psychological and emotional stress you can withstand without jeopardizing your health;
• adjust the load and training programs using the RMSSD indicator according to the method used by astronauts and professional athletes in order not to exhaust the body;
• choose a sleep mode, in which you fully recover and cope with stress;
• adjust diets so that they do not harm health and do not increase the level of physiological stress;
• find a balance between work and rest based on objective health information.

Engy Health provides all the data in a structured way and gives simple and clear recommendations on how you need to change your life personally in order to feel as good as possible.

What to do about it

Stress cannot be avoided: it’s part of life anyway. But in order not to turn minor "breakdowns" in the body into serious diseases and to live happier, excitement must be taken under control. There are several habits and techniques to help you with this.

• Allow yourself to express emotions. If something annoys or upsets you, speak it out and don't be fooled that everything is fine.
• Concentrate on solving the problem. Don't get hung up on what makes you worry - instead, figure out how to adapt your life and behavior to it.
• Let go of situations you cannot change. Some things will always be out of your control. But the attitude towards them is completely in your power. Don't overload your head with things that you can't influence. Concentrate on your own actions.
• Play sports that you enjoy. Do not force yourself to enroll in a yoga course, because it is fashionable now. You might enjoy punching a punching bag or playing paddle more. Find a physical activity that you like and make time for it regularly.
• Walk. Walking helps restore blood circulation if you sit for a long time and relieves your head. Warm up and take breaks every hour.
• Set aside time for hobbies. Scrolling through social media is not a hobby. You won't remember what exactly you read in the last hour when you close the application. Keep yourself busy with something real: cook a new dish, draw, learn to record music.
• Leave unhealthy stimulants. Alcohol is a depressant that temporarily distracts you from problems, but then only aggravates the condition. Drugs or energy drinks will only shatter the nervous system more.
• Listen to yourself. Do not force yourself to do something that causes internal protest on a regular basis. Do not schedule new achievements for periods of high load. Give yourself rest when your body asks for it.
• Monitor your stress levels. This will help you understand exactly what factors affect his performance and how much: emotional and psychological overload, excessive physical training, inappropriate sleep or work regimen, unbalanced life and work.