Your Body Speaks Your Mind by Deb Shapiro

Author:Deb Shapiro [SHAPIRO, DEB]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781405525350
Publisher: Little, Brown Book Group
Published: 2013-02-13T18:30:00+00:00

THE EFFECTS OF STRESS

The stress response is a physiological reaction that prepares your body to respond to the stressor. This begins in the hypothalamus, a small part of the limbic system in the brain that deals with emotions and feelings. This area also monitors the nervous system, the digestion, heart rate, blood pressure, and respiration. The red alert causes the release of adrenaline, cortisol, and other hormones that affect these systems. The hormones shut down the digestive system (to conserve energy), increase the heart rate (to increase energy), suppress the sensation of feeling (so you can be hurt and still keep fighting or running), and increase the rate of breathing. These systems then affect every other part of your body.

But what happens to the body when the stress response is experienced without any means of expression? When there is no animal to hunt or no war to fight in which to release the energy accumulating inside, where does it go? How does the digestive system cope with being suppressed once, maybe twice a day? Is it so difficult to believe that ulcers or irritable bowel syndrome are connected to high stress levels, that you get constipation, diarrhoea, or a loss of appetite? What happens to the urge to scream, to lash out, to find release from the tension? Is it surprising that marriages suffer, that alcohol and food addiction is rising, or that mental exhaustion leads to depression or breakdown?

Physical symptoms of stress include such digestive disorders as those mentioned above, plus ulcers, heartburn and indigestion, headaches, high blood pressure, palpitations, breathing problems (such as asthma or hyperventilation), overeating, exhaustion and insomnia, back or muscle ache, skin rashes (such as hives or eczema), excessive sweating, and nervous disorders (such as twitching, grinding teeth, or picking at skin). At the same time, cortisol has the effect of suppressing the immune system, so all immune deficient illnesses (from the common cold to cancer) can be directly or indirectly caused by stress.

As stress increases you become less psychologically and emotionally able to adequately adapt, causing you to easily overreact to issues, lose a clear perspective on priorities, get muddled or disorganized, or become increasingly depressed. Or you may rant or rage for no apparent reason. Most important is the feeling of being out of control, that events or demands are beyond your capacity, therefore failure is looming. You can get locked into repetitive self-criticism that only serves to reinforce your hopelessness. When the stress response continues over a period of time—with a regular release of adrenaline and cortisol, and the resulting physiological and emotional changes—you may begin to experience more serious problems.

Psychological and emotional disorders include increased anxiety and panic, irritability and frustration, irrational outbursts of hostility, power and manipulation issues, debilitating fear and insecurity, rapid mood changes, restlessness and nervousness, sexual problems (such as impotence and frigidity), addictive behaviour, memory loss, paranoia and confusion, as well as impaired performance, concentration, and efficiency.

Because the hormones that circulate as a result of the alarm signal have the effect of numbing your feelings, you may not even be aware you are getting stressed.

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