Stress is the single biggest reason why people do not live a lot longer, and enjoy their lives more, than they should. Research shows there is no doubt of a intractable link between the pschye and the body’s health. Psychoneuroimmunoendocrinology is a very long word for this field of study, which simply means that our thoughts can impact our brain, immune and hormone systems health. Stress is the main cause of most of the major diseases afflicting western cultures - including heart disease, gastrointestinal disease, neurological conditions, endocrine issues, cancer and immune system inflammatory disorders. It is behind a lot of mental health issues and also drives many quietly to take their own lives. Stress is a hidden killer.
The reason that stress can kill us comes down to imbalance. The Hypothalamus is the key regulator of balance in our bodies (aka homeostasis) deep in the base of the brain. It recognises threat signals, subconsciously (ie before we know it consciously) and sends signals via hormones to the Pituitary gland and Adrenal glands to activate the fight or flight response. We’ve heard of adrenaline, from the adrenal medulla, which is pumped into the blood stream in less than a second to increase the heart rate, get the muscles ready to act, dilate our pupils to see threats, and so on.
Less well understood is Cortisol another hormone, from the adrenal cortex, and other like hormones, which follow on after the initial threat has passed, but the body is still in a heightened state. It’s role is to increase glucose production needed for energy, and control blood pressure. It also reduces inflammation, counteracting inappropriate over-inflammation in areas of the body that are damaged, or under a perceived threat from pathogens. Asthma is an example of this over-inflammation causing narrowing of the airways and breathing difficulties. Cortisol acts to reduce this swelling and is a key component of asthma preventer inhalers. Hydrocortisone is sometimes used by doctors to reduce inflammation in over-inflamed joints. So far so good.
However, in modern society our mental perception of stress, which is basically the fight or flight response carried on for a long time, causes our bodies to over-produce cortisol hormones. Like most things in life, too much of a good thing is a bad thing.
Too much cortisol (including in drug form) over a long period of time is bad for us. And as stress tends to go on for days, weeks, even years, this is a huge danger. Our internal chemical balance goes ‘out the window’. Cortisol depresses cartilage and bone formation, inhibits appropriate inflammation, depresses the immune system and promotes changes in heart, neurological and gastrointestinal function. Without going into the myriad sequelae of that, suffice to say we are going to get very sick sooner or later. Especially if we ignore the symptoms which could be as mild as back ache, headache, dry mouth, frequent colds or slow wound healing. The body does tend to give us signals before it finally screams NO!
Stress Symptoms & Causes
We’ve probably heard of most of the stress symptoms already, but I’ll throw in a non-exhaustive list:
Physical symptoms – pounding heart, fatigue, sweating, frequent urination, headaches, backache, diarrhoea, nausea, constipation, dryness of the mouth, sexual dysfunction, unexplained pain, irregular periods, weight gain and frequent illnesses.
Emotional symptoms – emotional tension, unexplained crying, anxiety, loss of mojo and depression.
Behavioural symptoms – impulsivity, irritability, over-alertness, tendency to over-react, “control freak” or obsessive compulsive tendencies.
There are too many causes of stress to name here, and as individuals we are usually subjected to more than one type of current stressor at once – work, relationships, financial and pressure to achieve, for example. In some cases physical threat as well.
Some workplaces dress up stress in disguise and call it “stretch”, in the belief that continually stretching an individual’s performance year on year will be good for them, but more especially to help the organisation to operate flatter and leaner. That’s usually the point where they drop another 10 direct reports onto our plate in return for achieving our targets. Gee thanks!
I’m reminded of the old adage of the British Army that continually promoted people until they reached a level that was beyond their level of competence then left them there. The result, of course, being an entire hierarchy full of incompetents. Sadly, in the real world we wind up with an organisation full of people stressed to the eye-balls, many eventually fall by the wayside, as they get sick.