Stressed? Aren’t we all.
Between work, family obligations and money worries, it may all feel too overwhelming sometimes.
Of course, there is good stress and bad stress. The first one can motivate you to become more productive. The second kind, the type that makes you lose sleep, can actually be bad for your mental and physical health.
Here’s a handy guide to help you assess whether you’re stressed, how serious your stress is, and how to deal with it.
Stress warning signs
Of course, different people deal with stress in different ways, but here is a list of mental and physical symptoms to help you understand if you’re stressed.
Stress
The mental symptoms may involve you being:
* Angry
* Depressed
* Anxious
* Always hungry, or having no appetite
* Crying often
* Have trouble sleeping and feel tired
* Have trouble concentrating
The physical symptoms may involve:
* Chest pains
* Constipation, or diarrhoea
* Cramps, or muscle aches
* Feeling dizzy, or fainting
* Engaging in nervous behavior like biting your nails
* Twitches, or experiencing pins and needles
* Feeling restless
* Having sexual problems, from erectile dysfunction to lowered sex drive
* Feeling breathless
* Can’t sleep
Having just a few of these symptoms may indicate that you are stressed, and you should address the issue.
How stress works
When you are in a stressful situation, your body releases the hormones cortisol, adrenaline, and noradrenaline, and these go on to cause the physical symptoms of stress.
You may start sweating, and your blood pressure and heart rate may rise.
This, in turn, may undermine your immune system, making you more susceptible to illness, as well as lead your body to release fat and sugar into your blood stream, which may lead you to gain weight.
As stress raises your blood pressure, if you are stressed in the long term, you can develop high blood pressure, which in turn can increase your risk of having a heart attack or a stroke.
Dr Chris Steele’s advice on how to cope with stress
A simple coping strategy involves the word STRESS:
Share your worries, swallow your pride, and admit and talk to someone about your worries (It’s good to talk). A problem shared is a problem halved!
Take stock of your life. Are you living the life you really want to live? Remember, this is the only chance you’ve got! It’s not a dress rehearsal! Do what you want to do. It’s your life!
Stress
Relax. Get a hobby. Haven’t you always fancied doing this or that? Well, do it! A hobby can be totally absorbing and therefore rewarding and relaxing!
Exercise. Basically, you should walk at least 30 minutes each day, that’s 15 minutes out and 15 minutes back non-stop!
Say no! Do not take on extra work. Tell them you won’t do it. Think of you, your health and your family!
Shop at a pet store! You’d be surprised at the amount of medical research which shows that having a cat, dog or pet in the family has reduced stress levels.
If you feel that you are suffering from stress, see you GP, but do not accept long term tranquilliser prescriptions.
Ask for help from a psychologist, stress counsellor, relaxation therapist, qualified hypnotherapist or even alternative therapist. If these do not work, you must go back to your GP for professional guidance.
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High levels of the stress hormone cortisol increase the risk of an early death from heart and circulatory disease, a new study has found.
In stressful situations, the body responds by producing the hormone cortisol to help it to react quickly as part of the flight or fight response.
However, past research has suggested that people with constantly raised levels of cortisol may be at a greater risk of an early death from cardiovascular disease, including heart disease, heart attacks, heart failure and stroke.
Now scientists from the Netherlands say their findings directly link the stress hormone with an increased risk of death from heart and circulatory disease.
In the study, the researchers analysed data from 861 people aged 65 and older. Urine samples were tested for cortisol levels at the start of the study. In the following six years, 41 of the participants died from heart disease.
Those with the highest levels of cortisol in urine samples were five times more likley to die from heart disease compared with those with the lowest levels.
The findings are to be published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism.
However, there was no increased risk of death due to causes other than heart and circulatory disease.
“Cortisol is an important component of the stress system of the human body but in higher concentrations can be harmful,” said study leader Dr Nicole Vogelzangs at the University Medical Centre in The Netherlands.
“Our study shows that older persons with high levels of cortisol have an increased risk of dying from cardiovascular disease.”
Ellen Mason, Senior Cardiac Nurse at the British Heart Foundation said: “Stress is already associated with an increased risk of heart disease and this study throws up more evidence about the role of cortisol.
“However, there are other chemicals in our body besides cortisol which play a part when we’re stressed out. So although this study helps, there is still a lot left to learn.
“It’s important we all try and find ways to cope with stress which don’t involve unhealthy habits that increase your risk of heart disease, such as smoking, drinking too much alcohol and eating foods high in saturated fat and salt.”
Eating walnuts may help the body cope better with stress, as well as lowering blood pressure, scientists claim.
Past studies have shown that omega-3 fatty acids can reduce low density lipoproteins (LDL) or “bad cholesterol” in the blood, and help reduce the risk of heart disease.
So U.S scientists looked at how eating walnuts, which contain alpha linolenic acid, affect blood pressure during stressful situations.
“People who show an exaggerated biological response to stress are at higher risk of heart disease,” said Professor Sheila West, from Penn State University. “We wanted to find out if omega 3-fatty acids from plant sources would blunt cardiovascular responses to stress.”
The researchers studied 22 healthy adults with raised LDL cholesterol levels. Each of the participants tried three six week diets; one without walnuts, one with walnuts and walnut oil and a third with walnuts, walnut oil and flaxseed oil.
The walnuts, walnut oil, and flaxseed oil were either mixed into the participants food or eaten as a snack. An average daily serving of nuts consisted of 18 halves or 9 whole walnuts.
After each diet the volunteers underwent stress tests; they had to either give a speech or immerse a foot in ice-cold water. Blood pressure was monitored throughout the tests.
The results showed that the average diastolic blood pressure – the “bottom number,” or the pressure in the arteries when the heart is resting – was significantly reduced during the diets containing walnuts and walnut oil.
“These results are in agreement with several recent studies showing that walnuts can reduce cholesterol and blood pressure,” said Professor West.
“This work suggests that blood pressure is also reduced when a person is exposed to stress in their daily life.”
Adding flax seed oil – a richer source of omega-3 fatty acids- to the walnut diet did not further lower blood pressure. The study did not look at how flaxseed oil alone affected blood pressure.
“This is the first study to show that walnuts and walnut oil reduce blood pressure during stress,” continued Professor West.
“This is important because we can’t avoid all of the stressors in our daily lives. This study shows that a dietary change could help our bodies better respond to stress.”
The findings are published in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition.