Chronic Stress: How to Manage It - Part 1
We are doing a series on managing chronic stress in the Pennington classes, based on the book, The Tao of Stress by Robert G. Santee, PhD. It uses the application of Taoist teachings and principles to help us focus on a way of life that eliminates chronic stress so that we can live in harmony. The Taoist path consists of three interrelated and integrated components: simplifying life, reducing desires, and stilling and emptying the mind.
What is normal stress? Normal stress is the changes that happen in the body and brain to help us face challenges and solve problems in our ever-changing world. It helps us find a solution to a problem. When normal stress is threat based, we call it the fight or flight response, which is activated for a short period of time to resolve a specific threat. Your body automatically reacts to a threat by increasing your heart rate and blood pressure and speeding up breathing to deliver energy to your muscles. Your body automatically activates and deactivates the responses for two reasons: 1) the bodily systems associated with the stess response are pushed beyong their normal limits and they can't sustain this sort of intensity in the long term without being harmed, and 2) energy is diverted away from certain body systems that don't participate during the stress response, such as digestion, and when those systems don't get enough energy to function, they may also be damaged or deteriorate.
What is chronic stress? Chronic stress occurs when the fight or flight response is activated too often,is acitvated needlessly, or doesn't deactivate. The Tao of Stress provides this example:
As you're leaving work for the day, your boss comes over and asks you to do a twenty minute presentation the next morning at an office meeting of about 30 fellow employees. She wants you to talk about an idea you mentioned to her the previous day. Your mouth immediately get dry. Your stomach feels queasy. You hesitantly agree.
"On the way home, you can only think about the presentation and all the things that could possibly go wrong. You get home and try to eat some dinner, but your stomach still feels queasy and your mouth is dry, so you don't eat much. You then spend the rest of the evening planning your presentation. You have a hard time staying focused because your worry keeps getting in the way. You go to bed and have a difficult time getting to sleep. Once you finally fall asleep, you keep waking up.
You don't feel rested when you wake up the next morning. You try to eat something, but don't feel hungry. As you drive to work, all you can think about is your presentation and what could go wrong with it. You arrive at work and head to the meeting room.
Your heart rate is speeding. Your breathing is rapid and shallow. Your stomach is still queasy and your mouth is really dry. You're sweating, even though the room is cool. Your muscles are tense and achy. You can't stop worrying about the presentation being a disaster."
While you may feel embarassed if you flub your presentation, there isn't any physical threat. So not only has your fight or flight response been activated for many hours, it was activated needlessly.
Physical and Psychological Effects of Chronic Stress. The physical and psychological effects of the fight or flight response help us survive a short-term specific threat, but when the fight or flight is frequently activated, the physical and psychological changes are detrimental to our body. We all know chronic stress is bad, and now you will know why:
the heart is overworked hypertension can result from increased blood pressure
breathing could be compromised
energy production could be hindered
problems with digestion could occur
ongoing high blood sugar levels could lead to diabetes
rapid clotting of blood could lead to stroke or heart attack.
Continued muscles tension could lead to headaches, vision problems, problems breathing, mobility issues, problems with posture, and generally feeling tired, sore and stiff.
The immune system is suppressed, which makes us more susceptible to bacterial and viral infections and compromises our overall resistance and healing capabilities
Continued high levels of the stress hormone cortisol suppress the immune system and compromise the function of insulin, resulting in elevated blood sugar levels, increases in appetite and cravings for high-fat foods. High cortisol levels also lead to fat being stored in the abdominal area, decreased bone density and atrophy of muscles.
The mind is constantly agitated and the ability to concentrate and think is compromised. Negative thinking dominates and perpetuates the cycle - ongoing anxiety inappropriately labels neutral or non-threatening situations as potentially threatening, reactivating the fight or flight response. We are apprehensive, worrying, and obsessive.
Attention and concentration are fragmented and the mind bounces around looking for potential threats.
We may have high blood pressure or digestion problems, but we rarely think of chronic stress as a cause, because the effects of disease take a long time to develop and may have other factors. However, I’m sure we have all experienced a stressful time and found ourselves with a cold, not realizing it is due to the immune system being suppressed. Or, we have reached for the bag of potato chips or the plate of nachos while cramming for an exam, not realizing it is due to the stress hormone cortisol increasing our craving for high-fat foods. Diseases have many factors and some, such as heredity and gender, can’t be changed. Other factors, such as managing chronic stress, are in our control. We can reduce our chances of getting diseases and increase our chances of living a healthy life through exercise, healthy eating, and managing chronic stress
.Check back next month for Part 2 of the series on chronic stress where we will begin to explore how Taoist meditation can help manage chronic stress.
