Fit Or Fat: Nutrition and Exercise

Stress: How Does It Affect My Body?

Posting Date: 12/21/2000

Q: I am stressed out! This time of year there is so much going on, I often feel overwhelmed. Can you shed some light on what?s going on?

A: First, take a big breath and relax your shoulders, drop your hands into your lap and breathe out through your nose. Ahhh. Sit back and I?ll share with you a little bit about stress...

Stress is the physical, mental and emotional reactions you experience as a result of changes and demands in your life. Stress is part of life, in small and large amounts. It comes with all of life?s daily hassles and small irritations such as traffic jams, long lines, and arguing with a spouse or child. Stress also comes with crises and life-changing events such as illness, marriage problems or divorce. All these events force you to adjust, whether you are prepared or not.

How well do you manage stress?
Take the Stress Management Mini-Profile.

Unless you regularly release the tension that comes with stress, it can greatly increase your risk for physical and mental illness. Because many life events are beyond your control, you must take charge of those aspects of your life that you can manage.

Not all stress is bad. Positive stress (eustress) is a motivator, challenging you to act in creative and resourceful ways. When changes and demands overwhelm you, negative stress (distress) sets in.

The Body?s Reaction To Stress
When we?re in stressful situations, our adrenal glands secrete special hormones to help us through the stress. The hormones include epinephrine (adrenaline), norepinephrine, and cortisol. They prepare our bodies to handle stress by speeding up the heart rate to increase cardiac output, constricting blood vessels to the gut while enlarging the muscles, dilating the pupils to give us a better look at what we?re facing, and stimulating the liver to release its glucose stores for quick energy.

The good thing about these hormones is that they prepare the body to run away from danger. The problem is that when the stress is emotional, the same physiological changes occur, but not all the chemicals are needed to combat emotional stress.

Problems with stress occur when the brain fails to give the "all clear" signal. If the alarm state lasts too long, you begin to suffer the consequences of chronic stress. Unrelieved stress can lead to many health problems.

One of the health problems that stress can lead to is heart disease. One of the reasons more men have heart disease than women may be because of their higher proportion of belly fat and what happens to that fat during times of stress.

The cells in the abdominal fat have a high turnover rate; they fill quickly when you overeat but they release fat easily too. During stress, the abdominal cells become more active. If the stress is exercise, the fat can be burned in the muscles.

But what if the stress is emotional? Fat leaves the abdomen and travels through the bloodstream, but no muscle cells need the calories. So the fat ends up clinging to the artery walls. Men with abdominal fat carry a potentially lethal package in their bellies. Any kind of emotional stress releases fat, which showers the heart and arteries.

The Signs Of Stress
The signs of stress are classic: a stiff neck, headache, nagging backache, rapid breathing, sweaty palms or an upset stomach. You may become irritable or intolerant of even minor disturbances. You may lose your temper more often, find it hard to concentrate or feel jumpy and exhausted all the time. When these symptoms appear, recognize them as stress and find a way to deal with them. Recognizing why you are cranky or intolerant is the first step toward dealing with it.

Need to release some stress? How about getting some exercise? Here are some fun ways to get active and release the tension: