Sometimes just a few days of vacation are enough to realize the harmful effects of stress.
You are by the water, comfortably lying on your deck chair, far from the daily worries, and you realize that your back pain has disappeared, that your heartburn has disappeared, or even that your legs have deflated.
There is no magic in this, simply the manifestations of stress on your body have dissipated with a little rest and some distance from what usually puts you under pressure.
This is very revealing of what stress can generate and its harmful effects, which can go well beyond simple temporary discomforts.
What is stress?
It may seem huge, but nearly 60% of doctor visits are related to stress and the disorders it causes.
How to explain the devastating effects of stress on our balance and our health?
Stress can be seen as a normal adaptation response of our body to the constraints and aggressions it undergoes. It triggers chain reactions that allow us to better cope and return to a "normal" state.
The stress process includes several phases:
1- The alarm phase. To react to the stress attack, the body stimulates the adrenal glands to release adrenaline so that the body can react immediately. The heart rate accelerates, blood pressure increases, certain muscles contract, and glucose is released into the blood.
2- The resistance phase. Other hormones are then released, including cortisol (which regulates blood pressure, cardiovascular function, and immune function), dopamine (pleasure hormone), endorphins (well-being hormones), and serotonin (sleep and calming hormone).
This triggers a relaxation response allowing the body to regain its balance.
However, it happens that the sources of stress are prolonged or repeated.
Our body then enters a phase of exhaustion.
The hormones that are normally produced to manage stressful situations are then secreted almost continuously, which demands far too much effort from the body. As a result, the body becomes exhausted and is no longer able to fully perform its functions.
This potentially creates numerous disruptions, more or less serious depending on our ability and resources to manage stress, as well as the duration, intensity, and frequency of exposure to stressors.
The somatic manifestations of stress
The somatic manifestations (that is, "on the body") of chronic stress are numerous and sometimes unsuspected. They are often bothersome, to the point of significantly affecting the lives of those who suffer from them.
These same people often visit doctors, thinking there is another cause, while chronic stress perfectly explains their symptoms.
Among these:
- Sleep disorders
This is the most well-known manifestation. Sleep disorders are often difficult to label in cases of stress because they involve a combination of difficulty falling asleep, nocturnal awakenings, nightmares, poor sleep quality, and early awakenings.
These disorders contribute to general fatigue and tend to exacerbate it.
- Fatigue
This fatigue is not only caused by sleep disorders; it may even exist when sleeping well. It is unexplained, not caused by unusual physical exertion, and not relieved by rest.
It is explained by the fact that our resources are reduced because they are exhausted by stress, making recovery less effective. In short, our body is worn out.
- Weight gain
Stress is a surprising but very real factor in weight gain.
A peptide (Y2) produced by the hypothalamus, whose level increases in case of stress, could stimulate fat mass, especially in the abdomen.
Moreover, a high cortisol level, often found in people with chronic stress, is also a factor in weight gain. Indeed, this hormone affects blood sugar levels, which can directly cause cravings and indirectly lead to fat accumulation in the abdomen.
- Immune system suppression
Chronic stress leads to increased vulnerability to infections. We naturally think of the common cold, but the flu, tonsillitis, or even, depending on personal vulnerabilities, herpes, otitis, cystitis, etc., are common.
In short, if you get sick more often than your peers, stress may be a reason.
- Muscle tension
Muscle pain and fatigue are also common. This phenomenon is due to the adrenaline rush that prepares us to jump or flee danger. With too many involuntary contractions, muscles become tired and painful.
Back pain (lumbago) directly attributable to stress is also part of this.
- Migraines
It is noticed that migraine sufferers often have an increased reactivity to stress and that stress is often a triggering factor. Migraines often become frequent and debilitating. In return, the frequency and intensity of migraine attacks become a source of stress for those who suffer from them.
In addition, tension-type headaches, located around the eyes, forehead, temples, and back of the head like a tight helmet and giving the feeling of having a head in a vice, are also often caused by stress.
- Digestive disorders
From heartburn (sometimes leading to ulcers) to irritable bowel syndrome, passing through digestion problems and hemorrhoids, no level of the digestive system is spared by stress.
While chronic stress is not necessarily the main cause (for example, for ulcers where it is now known that Helicobacter pylori is the major culprit), it is an important aggravating factor - especially since it is often fueled by coffee, alcohol, and tobacco...
- Cutaneous manifestations
The cortisol spikes caused by stress can lead to eczema, psoriasis, or acne in affected or predisposed individuals.
Stress is also an exacerbating factor for skin fungal infections.
It is clear that for all these manifestations, treating only the symptoms will be useless, and it is necessary to address stress head-on in order to be permanently relieved and to prevent complications.
- Complications of chronic stress
Beyond these manifestations, which, although bothersome, remain relatively benign, stress can have more dramatic complications, especially in the case of the development of heart diseases.
It is important to note that stress is often correlated with the pursuit of risky behaviors, factors for coronary diseases: alcohol, tobacco, junk food, lack of exercise...
But, it is now common for cardiologists to receive consultations or admit young patients to emergencies for strokes or heart attacks. For them, the only factor that can explain these dramatic accidents is intense and prolonged stress.
In Japan, the term "karoshi" is even used to refer to major professional overwork leading to death by cardiac arrest. One of the essential mechanisms of these coronary problems in young adults seems to be related to an over-secretion of adrenaline, which is harmful to the heart, particularly through an acceleration of heart rate.
While it is difficult today to establish a clear causality between cardiovascular diseases and stress, the correlation is more than common and should contribute to encouraging vigilance.
Stress is also a factor in exacerbating certain chronic diseases with multifactorial or unknown causes such as fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, asthma, rheumatoid arthritis, or endometriosis. It is shown that chronic stress will contribute to increasing the frequency of crises and/or intensifying pain.
At this point, it seems important to revisit a common misconception: neither AIDS (a disease caused by the development of a virus in the body) nor cancer (related to uncontrolled tumor development) are caused by chronic stress. For these pathologies, all we can say, at present, is that the stress encountered by patients further degrades their quality of life.
How to prevent the harmful effects of stress?
Faced with the consequences and complications of chronic stress, it is important to take action and avoid the installation of stress.
Obviously, it would be ideal to eliminate the causes of stress, but this is often impossible.
The
idea is more to give ourselves the means to better resist stress and to manage it better.
To do this, it is good to have several tools at our disposal:
Adopt an anti-stress lifestyle:
Make sure to respect your sleep rhythms and get enough rest. Indeed, sleeping 6 hours per night instead of the recommended 8 hours increases the cortisol level in the blood by 50%. Do not hesitate to take a short nap if needed.
Use "tools" with proven effectiveness such as:
Abdominal breathing,
Sophrology,
Cognitive-behavioral therapies,
Exercise, especially Yoga, swimming, Qi Gong, Tai Chi,
Outings in nature,
Music, singing, dancing, painting... or any other creative activity.
Fill your magnesium deficiency
Stress is a real vicious circle: not only does it induce increased losses of magnesium causing deficiencies, but these deficiencies themselves help to feed stress.
To start, carry out a corrective - or "attack" - cure that will allow you to reach the 600mg necessary to correct a deficiency. Choose preferably a so-called "third generation" complex containing a non-laxative magnesium salt (magnesium citrate, magnesium glycerophosphate), cell retainer such as taurine, and nutrients acting in a coordinated manner: vitamin B6 and arginine.
Spread the doses throughout the day to allow better stability of the magnesium level.
In cases of punctual stress (exams, moving, etc.), one month of attack cure is sufficient. In more severe cases, it can last up to six months. You will feel when your deficit is filled because a good part of the somatic manifestations of stress will disappear.
Once this initial cure is completed, it will be necessary to find your cruising rhythm in terms of magnesium supplementation and to know how to listen to your body and your stress level to regulate it. To do this, gradually decrease the magnesium doses and see at what dosage the symptoms start to reappear.
Eat anti-stress
Diet plays a precious role in combating stress and its deleterious effects.
It will allow you to increase your magnesium intake, favor its assimilation, and avoid its main inhibitors.
It is also a key to better regulate your cortisol level and rebalance your body undermined by chronic stress.
You will favor:
- Mineral waters rich in magnesium,
- Whole or semi-whole grains, preferably gluten-free,
- Calcium-enriched soy milk, soy yogurts if possible with bifidus, tofu,
- Legumes,
- Sweet potatoes,
- Bananas,
- Nuts: almonds, hazelnuts, cashews...,
- Fruits and vegetables that also contain antioxidants and polyphenols that help fight inflammation,
- Dark chocolate,
- Fatty fish and seafood, rich in omega-3 and taurine.
- And you will avoid:
- Coffee, which will be replaced by tea (green preferably),
- Sodas, which you will replace with fruit juices and smoothies,
- Excessive alcohol,
- Dairy products, especially cow's milk,
- High glycemic index foods.
Balance your daily intake to have at least three meals a day to avoid hypoglycemia. Indeed, cortisol is also released when the blood sugar level is too low or when it is subject to too large variations.
We must never neglect the effects of chronic stress on health, and given its numerous effects and the complications it can cause, vigilance and prevention are required.