For many, dealing with stress was part of our modern, hectic, fast-paced lifestyle long before the Covid-19 Pandemic halted our world. Everyday life was filled with accumulation of family events, chores, work, schedules, commitments and endless to-do lists. Some of us loved it, some of us hated it, and some of us were slaves to it and didn’t even know it.
Stress has been a part of our lives ever since sin entered the world. Stress is the mind and body’s way of preparing us to face a challenge, good or bad. A certain level of stress is necessary to not only function, but to motivate us to reach our full potential. In a sense, stress is a double-edged sword. Sometimes, it is the very thing that motivates us to take action and move swiftly. Other times, it is the boulder that makes us feel helpless, causing all movement to stop abruptly.
Even before this unprecedented pandemic, excessive stress and fatigue plagued many of our lives and had a massive impact on our health, families, and society as a whole. Many of us learned to adapt (stage 4, will discuss in a bit) to the fast pace stress, we pushed through, and continued down the path we were on. Doing the things that need to be done; often feeling like we need to do more, be more, have more. Believing that a stress free, happy life is just around the corner. Unfortunately, the fast pace and excessive stress in our lives often lead us to feelings of burnout (stage 5, again we will discuss in a bit) versus feelings of freedom and fulfillment.
Stress often comes from a combination of two sources: the environment around us AND our way of dealing with that environment. The types of stress we experience relate to not only how the stress comes on but also what symptoms are associated with the stress. It’s important to truly understand the kind of stress that we’re experiencing.
There are several forms of stress identified by experts in the field. Today, I want to talk about three forms of stress and the five stages we experience with stress. If we don’t understand what is driving our stress, it’s difficult to know what we need to do.
The first important step in stress management is knowing what kind of stress we are experiencing based on what our body is telling us. Second, it’s important to know which stage we’re in, why, and what we can do about it so that we can continue moving forward, effectively. Learning from our stress can be a total game changer to how we approach and feel each and every day and the impact it has on our health and our life.
Let’s start with the good kind of stress (yes, there is good stress) called – eustress. Eustress is the pressure that motivates us to accomplish something or leads us to a fulfilling goal. For instance let’s say you want to make new connections in your life. You can either stress about your loneliness and remain stagnant or you can use the stress to push you out of your “comfort zone” and take action.
The stress that can cripple our bodies over time is called – distress. Distress is “intense” and “excessive” pressure on our physical or emotional state. It can be acute or chronic and often generate frustration, fear, anxiety, pain and suffering. Our brains have amazing neurotransmitters we access when our stress level increases or spikes. Dopamine and serotonin are just two of the chemical messengers in our brain that provide us with that extra boost to help us through the stress surge and help return our bodies back to a balanced state. Unfortunately, excessive distress depletes these chemicals and forces our brain to “adapt” to an unbalanced way of operating. Rather than helping us conquer our problems, our adaptive behavior has caused us to reduce our competence and make us less able to cope with the problems we need to face. Too much stress can destroy you from the inside out. Symptoms like fatigue, sleeplessness, anxiety, irritability, weight issues, just to name a few, are our body’s way of telling us something is wrong, yet we often ignore them, excuse them, or mask the signs with stimulants like caffeine or medications, without treating the underlying cause. I know it’s sad and you are probably telling yourself thanks a lot, I already know this, but what can I do about it?
I am so glad you asked. Keep reading. I believe information is power, being honest with ourselves is powerful, using the information we gain to transform our perspective, our habits, our life is – LIBERATING! Personal insight allows you to break out of the bondage that is holding you hostage and tells you to keep doing things in a way that produces burnout. Find a way to break through instead, find freedom by filtering out the unnecessary and keeping the things you truly value and give you life.
The graph below from Cornell University is a great visual aid in helping us see the progression of stress over time. Too little stress and we are not performing at our optimal level. Too much stress yields negative symptoms and a diminsited return on our hard work and effort .
Let’s talk about the third type of stress we are all experiencing at some level right now – traumatic stress. Traumatic stress happens during or following a shocking event that is often unexpected, senseless, or outside of our control such as; a severe traffic accident, plane crash, violent crime or an unprecedented global pandemic. Traumatic stress can shatter your sense of security, leaving you feeling helpless and vulnerable in a world that feels unsafe and dangerous. Often during Traumatic stress we feel as if we have lost all control and someone else is deciding our faith. So in addition to the stress level each of us were already experiencing, it has now been compounded by traumatic stress. Heavy stuff right? So, let’s take a minute and breathe in deep and give yourself grace.
To some of us this compounded stress may feel physically and emotionally draining, we may feel overcome with grief out of the blue, or find it difficult to focus,sleep,orcontrolouremotion.Somemayattimesfeelp aralyzedandnot know what to do. This form of stress is out of the “norm” and often punctuated by a fear of the unknown. These are all normal responses to “abnormal” events. For some of us, the feeling we are experiencing is relief and reprieve for the first time in a long time. Some of us have been able to use this time to recover and recharge and we feel more balanced, more rested and more alert. Most of us know the things that we should do to reduce our stress and find balance; get a good night’s sleep, eat better, drink plenty of water, avoid processed foods, exercise, relax, spend time with loved ones and take care of ourselves.
The most common mistake we make is trying to make BIG changes all at once. The surprising extra time and motivation can give us a great burst of energy to make BIG changes right now, but it’s making small, manageable changes to routines that drive long-term health. Big changes, all at once during normal times are typically unsustainable and overwhelming when we can’t maintain the changes. So we give up, go back to your old habits, and then beat ourselves up for failing. We need to take this time to assess the information our body has given us, understand from where and how our stress affects us, and identify what stage of stress we are trying to maintain.
Let’s take a look at the five stages. I encourage you to read them through your experience and see which one resonates with you the most. (www.stress prevention.org)
1. Alarm Stage
The moment we first feel stressed, our body lets us know. It sounds the alarm, and activity in the thyroid and adrenal glands is increased. When we don’t pay attention to these alarms, other things within our body start happening. There is an increase in stress hormones, heart rate, blood pressure, and even a decrease in short-term memory and feelings of stress, fear, anxiety and depression. This stage is intended to solve an immediate problem and then return levels to normal.
2. Damage Control
Our entire system does its best to keep things as normal as possible while our body works overtime. Anti-inflammatory hormones (cortisol) are secreted in order to control the inflammation that’s happening. But this is not a long-term solution. It’s a quick fix to keep things moving while issues are sorted out.
3. Recovery
At some point, hopefully we acknowledge that we’ve been running at sprint pace and decided it’s time to take a step back. When we begin recovery, our body does its best to return our internal systems to their original and healthy levels. In order to recover, though, we have to rest, sleep, and reduce overall output.
4. Adaptation
Essentially, what we’re telling our body is that this level of stress isn’t going to go away anytime soon. So, what does it do? It begins to settle into the feeling of constant stress, and adapts accordingly.
5. Burnout
Should we ignore the first four stages of warning, we will eventually find ourselves completely and utterly “burned out.” We are our most important asset. If we don’t keep ourselves balanced, we will suffer (mentally, physically, emotionally). The impact of burnout can drive up symptoms such as caffeine and sugar cravings, digestive issues, fatigue, low self-esteem, headaches, body aches and pains, sleep disturbances, irritability, hormonal and thyroid imbalances, anxiety, weight gain or loss, fluctuating moods and autoimmune conditions. Left untreated, the long-term effects of these symptoms can lead to more serious chronic conditions.
Once we understand ourselves better, we can take it step by step and make small incremental changes. During this pandemic, the idea is to not become overwhelmed, give up and lose the lessons we learned about ourselves.
When we look back at this time in our lives, let it not just be a time that halted our life and traumatized the world. Let it be a time that we stopped the insanity of the stress that plagued our lives and made life altering, lasting and fulfilling changes.
-Tundi