Physiological Effects Of Stress Contact Banner - Click Here

Physiological Effects Of Stress

It’s important to understand the physiological effects of stress if you really want to manage your stress.

There is a physiology to stress that is real, and it is a missing piece of information that is needed to learn in order to effectively manage your stress.

Here is why.

Stress that is left unmanaged becomes chronic stress and WILL impact your life.

Stress and Ambulance



Physiological effects of stress

Stress is a reaction, or a response that occurs naturally in the brain to a real or perceived threat to our body. The stress response happens without thought…

The stress response is part of the autonomic nervous system of the brain…things that your body does without thinking about it…like breathing.

There are two parts of the autonomic nervous system:
  • “fight or flight” stress response – the sympathetic nervous system
  • and the relaxation response – the parasympathetic nervous system
Think of these two systems as one of the most important innate relationships the body has. There is a need for balance to exist between them…equal time spent within each one.

The human body was designed to function optimally when in balance.


stress and balance



When the body reacts to a stressor it creates an out-of-balance condition:
  • Physically
  • Emotionally
  • Spiritually (how congruent your actions and behaviors are in relationship to who you believe you ARE at your core)
  • Thoughts
Physiologically, the body HAS to respond to the effects of the sympathetic nervous system (the stress response) being triggered.

Physical Stress

Many of us may first start to notice physiological stress through physical stress symptoms, such as:

Chronic headaches
Neck and back pains
Muscle tension
High blood pressure
Elevated heart rate
Sleep deprivation
Fatigue
Can’t get pregnant
Losing or gaining weight
Dizziness
Nausea



Emotional Stress

In western culture, most of people tend to tolerate physical stress symptoms a little better than they do emotional stress.

When you have unmanaged emotional stress, it will manifest in your life in these ways:
  • Symptoms of anxiety
  • Symptoms of depression
  • Panic attacks
  • Feel angry more of the time
  • Moody
  • Irritable
  • Need to cry more often
  • Can’t seem to relax
  • Feel lonely

Cognitive Stress

It is cognitive stress, or our thoughts of uncertainty, that can cause the stress response to keep being triggered.

Remember that the job of the brain is to help us survive. So, WITH our thoughts, if we are perceiving a situation as threatening then that thought will be interpreted as needing a reaction to protect you.

What are your thoughts of uncertainty?
  • Will I be laid off?
  • Will I be able to find a job?
  • Will I have enough money to pay my bills?
  • Will I be able to pay the rent, take care of my family?
  • Will I be healthy again?
  • Will I ever feel like my old self again?
  • When will the next “thing” happen to me?
  • Is my relationship going to last?
  • How will I make it to my doctor appointments?

Spiritual stress

I talk about one’s spirituality as how congruent your actions and behaviors are in relationship to who you believe you are at your core.

In this view, spiritual stress alerts you to how stress is impacting your behaviors and relationships:
  • Anger management issues
  • Need drugs or alcohol to cope
  • Smoke more often to cope
  • Increased social anxiety symptoms
  • Cry more often
  • Eating disorder to cope
  • More problems with relationships


Managing the physiological effects of stress

It is possible to effectively manage the physiology of stress.

The key component to that is learning how to become aware of what balance feels like within your:

Thoughts
Body
Emotions
Spirit

And, once you have a sense of that balance, then you begin practicing letting yourself notice when you are going out-of-balance. It is a simple process that you will learn.

What does this awareness do for you:
  • Reduces your stress symptoms
  • Creates balance
  • You regain a sense of control over your life
  • You feel better






Share Your Tips, and Ask Questions Too

There are lots of ways that stress can impact your life. If you have a question about how stress may be affecting yours, please share it here.

Enter the Title of Your Stress Tip or Question

What Other Visitors Have Said

Click below to see contributions from other visitors to this page...

Can you get rid of longterm stress?  Not rated yet
Most of my life I have had lots of stress to deal with all the time. Can you get rid of longterm stress, or is this the best it's going to be?

Connie,...

Physiological stress  Not rated yet
What is your theory on how physiological stress effects chronic stress? Thanks for your help. Joe


Joe, thank you for the question. My short answer ...

how to manage chronic stress  Not rated yet
I'm looking for something realistic for how to manage chronic stress.


I feel like that is the question everyone should be asking themselves. There ...






For more information, please see:

Return From Physiological Effects Of Stress To Chronic Stress

Return From Physiological Effects Of Stress To Coping With Stress Home


Pay it forward!

There a lot of people who have become overwhelmed by stress and how to get rid of it. I can understand this feeling. But it does not mean that good information is NOT out there. It is.

Please help a friend or loved one by sharing this information with them. Email this link to them or submit this page to your Tweet account, or Facebook or your favorite social bookmarking or networking site. Use the links below to pay it forward.




Looking for a specific topic?
Search for it here:

site search by freefind advanced


Stress Tip Of The Day!

Throughout each day, the primary cause of stress is because of threats of uncertainty.

It is thoughts of fear and worry that are triggering the stress response.

Staying focused on maintaining a positive attitude is an important stress technique.



- FREE -
Control My Stress
stress management tools!


control my stress logo

Testimonials

“Ms. Churchill is the unique health care worker everyone hopes to encounter, but rarely does. She has an extraordinary gift that allows her to do much more than diagnose and treat.”
Abbie K. – Minneapolis




K., age 45, is a long term chronically PTSD disabled patient. She has had daily headaches for 20 years. Two weeks ago she reported that she had had 4 days of pain free time, and was having the exceedingly odd sensation of "smiling all the time". She and Cathi have made extraordinary fast progress together.
Dr. Cole




I referred C.L., age mid-forties, to see Cathi after a life of suffering the post traumatic stress disorder of parental sexual abuse over many years of her childhood, with major dysfunctions of alcohol and drug abuse, and with the disabling symptoms of migraine that have for more than twenty years become chronic.

She has lived with daily headaches that have not responded to any of the several drugs which have benefited many such suffering patients. She has needed chronic opiate treatment of her chronic pain syndrome.

In the few weeks that Cathi has worked with her, C.L. has begun to experience days without pain, periods of happiness, and a reduction in her opiate dosage requirements that represent a breakthrough in her stalled-out life as a single mom raising a teen-age daughter with only social security income resources.
Dr. Racer








“I first met Cathi Churchill eight years ago when she effectively helped my work unit through the stress of a hospital-wide layoff. I was impressed with her clear-minded approach and willingness to listen.”
Andy R.




N., age 60, is a hard driving attorney twenty year patient of mine who hit the wall with chronic fatigue four years ago, and began to realize she had to learn to rest. She recovered enough to return to her workaholic lifestyle when she was stopped by a herniated cervical disc and resumption of her chronic colitis.

Working with Cathi, she is discovering "the way she does life" and learning to make choices about it. She came in last week, having "danced until dawn". She is learning to dialogue with her body in effective ways.
Dr. Cole




“I stumbled upon Cathi after my recent heart attack that was brought on by stress. I was scared of having another one, and didn’t know what to do. I had lost hope. Working with her has changed my life. I’m so grateful."
Debbie – Canada




M.S., a woman in her late forties with progressively more and more disabling rheumatoid arthritis since childhood, whose most recent problems have arisen over the last two to three years as complications of immunosuppressive therapy for her disease. The complications have been associated with the severely disabling chronic pain of recurrent herpes neuralgia for more than three years, and for the past 15 months, recurrent osteomyelitis in her right lower mandible.

The second, more alarming (even life-threatening) problem has caused months of diagnostic and therapy confusion among her many consultants, three successive resections of the bone over the last six to eight months, and the still ongoing threat of more relapses of the smoldering bone infection and chronic pain only made bearable by chronic, massive doses of opiates.

In the few months since M. began to work with Cathi with several modalities: stress management, therapeutic touch, guided imaging, and others, her life has become more livable, as she has become able to bear the pain and the discouragement of unresolved disease.

She has relied on many of the methods for maintaining hope and getting through overwhelming discouragement by using the inner resources she has learned with Cathi.

My hope as her primary physician, is that Cathi and M. will be able to continue to work together to maintain that inner strength and hope as she faces yet more months of pain, and further repeated surgery.

Thank you for the healing guidance you've been able to give her thus far.
Dr. Racer




“I sought out the help of Cathi during my divorce, and found her to be an insightful and compassionate coach. Her ability to see deep into the heart of an emotionally stressful problem is, I believe, unique and I would highly recommend her service to anyone.”
P.R. – Brooklyn Center




S., age 48, is a Laotian patient of mine with 15 years of chronic abdominal pain. She has had an extensive medical worked up, and nothing ever worked. Cathi saw her over several months.

S. has improved! Cathi established a trusting relationship with her, and helped her to effectively break through her wall of silence and grief about her son's mental illness, and taught her how to "change her thinking".

S. now comes in smiling, notes some unusual continued symptoms, but no longer has chronic abdominal disabling pain.
Dr. Cole




“Control My Stress is so amazing. I want to thank you, again, for such a valuable resource.”
Tony.


coping with stress logo