A medically reviewed study by Web MD suggests that up to 90% of doctors visits are stress related, how crazy is that?
To overcome stress, we need to understand how our bodies work. Stress is not bad for us in short bursts, it is there to keep us out of danger like being attacked by a wild animal or any other life-threatening situation. The problem is that your nervous system isn’t very good at distinguishing between emotional and physical threats.
In our modern world, it is not a wild animal that is attacking us, it's our lives. When you face stress, your heart beats faster, your muscles tighten, your blood pressure rises, your breath quickens and your senses become sharper. Our blood vessels also constrict and if we were attacked, this could save us from bleeding out quickly, but if we are always stressed, it can lead to high blood pressure and heart problems.
When we are stressed our metabolism slows down, this is because our body is trying to conserve energy in case we don't get a chance to eat in the near future. This would be a useful survival mechanism if we were in a dangerous situation and we didn't know when we would next be able to eat, but for most of us, this is not the case.
Our bodies also turn their attention away from things that are not seen as necessary in that moment, such as sex drive, digestion, etc. Again, this is a great survival mechanism if you are in genuine danger, but if it is endured over a long period of time, it will upset your digestive and reproductive systems.
We are designed to experience stress in short bursts, but when we endure stress for long periods of time, it can become a problem. Unfortunately, our bodies struggle to distinguish between being attacked by a wild animal and experiencing an overwhelming workload.
