Stress Awareness Month

Yesterday I walked past this tree. I noticed how entwined the branches were – like a tangled necklace. It made me think of the work I do with clients; how so often it is a case of untangling the branches to find the trunk underneath. Many people do not know what is wrong, they just know they don’t feel right. There may be so many layers to peel back before the root cause is found. Often people present with a specific complaint. As we start to untangle the branches we realise that the issue is actually a symptom of something else. Stress is very often like this. There are so many symptoms of stress often people do not realise the reason their body is behaving in a certain way is due to stress. So often people say “but I’m not stressed” – actually, it may be that the body is reacting to something without you even realising.

April is stress awareness month. When I first set up practice as a hypnotherapist; over ten years ago, most of my clients wanted to lose weight, quit smoking or stop a habit. Over the past couple of years, most of my clients want help with easing stress or anxiety. I enjoy this type of work and I do believe in manifestation so it may be that I attract it. However I suspect it may be changes in our society. Stress awareness month started in 1992 to raise awareness of this common problem.

Life Pressures

Work pressures increasing, technology heightening life pressure and there greater expectations of what we can achieve as individuals. For example, I have heard other’s say that there is a societal expectation to parent like we don’t have a job and work like we don’t have children. There is convenience food available but we feel pressure to cook from scratch, to be vegan and sugar free. Online shops mean that we can order something in the evening to arrive the next morning – but this means we can spend three hours searching for the best deal – and we should really shop ‘independent and local’. We should also exercise five times a week but when?!

Technology is moving far too quickly for us human animals. The brain does not realise that we do not need excess adrenaline to run though our body because we need to finish a piece of work for the end of the week. The brain does not realise that our heart needs to beat faster because our children need collecting from school, but we also need to be in a work meeting. Our blood pressure doesn’t need to rise because we feel obliged to research the best washing machine before buying. Our muscles do not need to tense because we’ve read something on Facebook that gives us feelings of unease. We do not need to feel the stress response because it’s 10pm and we haven’t done 10,000 steps. But this is what often happens.

Stress

Stress is the body’s response to a dangerous situation. When our brain senses danger it responds to this by entering the “fight or flight” response. The brain is reacting quickly and effectively to save your life. The nervous system floods your body with epinephrine (more commonly known as adrenaline) and cortisol. To hear that doctors use epinephrine as a stimulant in cardiac arrest, as a vasoconstrictor in shock, and as a bronchodilator and antispasmodic in bronchial asthma goes some way to explain why there is such a severe reaction in the body when we feel stress.

There are cortisol receptors all over the body, which means cortisol plays a part in overall body health. It helps to regulate the metabolism, control blood sugar levels, reduce inflammation and assist the memory. Cortisol also has a controlling effect on salt and water balance and helps to control blood pressure. During pregnancy cortisol supports the developing foetus. However, alongside this cortisol shuts down the systems of the body that it does not need when facing immediate danger, such as the digestive system and the reproductive system.

Adrenaline and cortisol increase blood pressure, speed up breathing, tighten muscles, speed the heart rate and sharpen senses. The intention is to increase your strength and stamina, increase your focus and speed up your reaction time so that you can fight or flee from the danger in front of you. It is a valid and necessary response … generally to living a primitive live. The fight or flight response in the brain has not yet evolved to match our lifestyle. Not only this but the brain reacts in the same way to a real or imaginary threat.

Research Shows

In 1995 a Harvard study (Pascual-Leone A, 2019) showed a similarity in how the brain reacts to real and imagined situations. The instruction to the subjects in the study was to play a one handed, five finger exercise on a piano. The first group physically performed the exercise for two hours a day for five days, whilst the mental practise group did the same but in their imagination. The control group did not practise the exercise. The researchers used TMS (brain stimulation) to show the effects on the brain. As you can see the physical practise and mental practise groups showed very similar results.

We should consider this knowledge when questioning why our body is behaving in a certain way. Whilst there are times that we need the fight or flight response; when we need to perform an emergency stop whilst driving for example. More rare but possible situations such as running from a falling tree, a house fire or similar. In other situations, the fight or flight response can help us; in sport to achieve great results, to achieve in situations that require preparation such as school exams or a presentation at work as the stress encourages us to prepare instead of do something more pleasurable and in some situations the fight or flight response can positively challenge us. BUT the first thing to consider is that we will (some people more than others) enter the fight or flight response when we do not need to. There are times that our brain perceives a situation to be a threat to our life when it really is not. The second thing to consider is that our brain may do this even when the situation is imagined.

Fight or Flight Response

So simply put, stress is the body entering the fight or flight response because the brain has sensed imminent danger. The body expects the fight or flight response to be a quick response to move us out of the face of danger quickly, our body does not function well when we stay in this physical state for a long period of time. However, as the perceived life-threatening event is very rarely life threatening, or short lived we find ourselves spending, days, weeks, months in the fight or flight response. Some of the effects of the body being in this state for so long are (HelpGuide.org, 2019);

Memory problems
Inability to concentrate
Poor judgment
Seeing only the negative
Anxious or racing thoughts
Constant worrying
Depression or general unhappiness
Anxiety and agitation
Moodiness, irritability, or anger
Feeling overwhelmed
Loneliness and isolation
Other mental or emotional health problems
Aches and pains
Diarrhoea or constipation
Nausea, dizziness
Chest pain, rapid heart rate
Loss of libido
Frequent colds or flu
Eating more or less
Sleeping too much or too little
Withdrawing from others
Procrastinating or neglecting responsibilities
Using alcohol, cigarettes, or drugs to relax
Nervous habits (e.g. nail biting, pacing)

So, what can we do about this? During Stress Awareness Month and Forever.

Recognise that we are suffering with something and we do not have to
Accept that we may be living in the fight or flight response – a stressed state
Find a way to help the brain understand that the situation is not life threatening and seek support to help the body move out of the fight or flight response*

(*if you feel that you are in danger please seek the relevant support)

There are a number of ways that therapy can help with the stress response. This ranges from techniques to help manage situations, to helping the brain recognise what is a danger and what isn’t, to relaxation techniques and tools to eliminate the stress response when it occurs. Stress is present all year not just during stress awareness month.

Every course of therapy with me begins with a free, one hour, no obligation consultation. I ask a number of questions that give us both an insight into the situation. I can suggest the best way to work and you have the opportunity to ask any questions you may have.

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Read more about how hypnotherapy can help you here

HelpGuide.org. (2019). Stress Symptoms, Signs, and Causes. [online] Available at: https://www.helpguide.org/articles/stress/stress-symptoms-signs-and-causes.htm/ [Accessed 21 Mar. 2019].

Pascual-Leone A, e. (2019). Modulation of muscle responses evoked by transcranial magnetic stimulation during the acquisition of new fine motor skills. – PubMed – NCBI. [online] Ncbi.nlm.nih.gov. Available at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7500130 [Accessed 21 Mar. 2019].

Hormone.org. (2019). Cortisol | Hormone Health Network. Available at: https://www.hormone.org/hormones-and-health/hormones/cortisol [Accessed 21 Mar. 2019].

Publishing, H. (2019). Understanding the stress response – Harvard Health. [online] Harvard Health. Available at: https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/understanding-the-stress-response [Accessed 21 Mar. 2019].

McEwen, Bruce S. “Central Effects of Stress Hormones in Health and Disease: Understanding the Protective and Damaging Effects of Stress and Stress Mediators.” European Journal of Pharmacology, U.S. National Library of Medicine, 7 Apr. 2008, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2474765/.

Team, H. and Team, H. (2019). How is Anxiety Different from Stress? – Stress and anxiety. [online] Healthstatus.com. Available at: https://www.healthstatus.com/health_blog/depression-stress-anxiety/how-is-anxiety-different-from-stress/ [Accessed 28 Mar. 2019].