How Stress Affects Your Health and Fitness Goals
Stress is a natural response to challenging situations. We’re told to avoid stress at all times, but it’s actually an adaptive human response that helps us survive. Stress, in and of itself, isn’t problematic, chronic stress, however, can have a negative impact on the body and cause implications to your health and your fitness goals.
When you experience something that causes you to stress, your body activates its fight or flight response which releases hormones (like adrenaline and cortisol) to prepare you to respond to that perceived threat. Need to run from danger in a split second? Terrific. Boss stressing you out at work 7 days a week and not much can do? Not so great. When your hormone levels remain elevated for long periods of time, they can lead to a variety of physical and mental health problems. Ultimately, stress affects all systems of the body including the musculoskeletal, respiratory, cardiovascular, endocrine, gastrointestinal, nervous, and reproductive systems. Let’s take a look at a few below.
A consequence of chronic stress is increased blood pressure. When the body is under stress, the heart pumps harder to provide extra oxygen to the muscles, which causes blood vessels to constrict. Not necessarily a bad thing in small doses (like when you exercise), but if the body continues in this state for long periods of time, this can lead to hypertension, or high blood pressure, which increases the risk of heart disease and stroke.
Chronic stress can also negatively impact your immune system. The hormones release when you’re stressed suppress the immune system and make it more difficult for the body to fight off disease and infections. Over time this makes you more susceptible to getting sick. Ever been really stressed for a long period of time, and then when that stress is over you immediately get sick? That’s what happened.
The digestive system is also impacted by chronic stress. Stress causes tension in the body. Tension makes our muscles contract, so, when our gut muscles stay contracted for longer than they should, it can lead to gastrointestinal problems such as stomach aches, diarrhea, acid reflux, and constipation. In extreme cases, chronic stress can even lead to inflammatory bowel disease.
Stress can also affect the nervous system, leading to conditions such as tension headaches, insomnia, and fatigue. It’s also been shown to cause skin issues such as acne and eczema.
Finally, we all know chronic stress affects mental health, making people more prone to depression, anxiety, and other mental health conditions.
So, while stress is a normal part of life, it can have serious effects on the body when it becomes chronic. The goal is not to avoid stress, but to learn how to manage and mitigate it through techniques such as meditation, mindfulness, breath work, exercise, boundary setting, etc., to reduce the risk of developing physical and mental health problems.
Now, let’s talk about how stress can impact your fitness goals.
As I mentioned before, when the body is under stress, it releases a hormone called cortisol, which is associated with increased appetite and cravings for high-calorie foods. Furthermore, cortisol can disrupt normal metabolic processes as I mentioned above, and cause the body to store more fat as a natural survival response. It can also disrupt normal eating patterns, leading to irregular meals or skipping meals altogether which can cause blood sugar levels to fluctuate, and lead again to cravings for higher caloric foods.
In addition to affecting our metabolism, stress affects our sleep. It makes it hard to fall asleep and/or stay asleep which leads to fatigue and decreased energy levels which then makes it harder to exercise and feel inclined to move throughout the day and do things like cook a meal.
If you experience chronic stress, finding ways to manage and mitigate it will improve your overall well-being and, honestly, change your life. Here are a few things you can experiment with today:
Exercise: Exercise helps the body release endorphins, which are chemicals in the brain that act as natural painkillers and mood elevators. Finding ways to exercise on a daily basis will significantly improve your health. If you’re new to exercise, start with 15-20 min 3x/Week. This can be as simple as going for a walk outside and at a moderately fast pace or experimenting with different workout classes on YouTube: Yoga, HIIT, Weight Lifting, Barre, Pilates, Etc.
Mindfulness Practices: Mindfulness practices like yoga, meditation, forest bathing, grounding, breathwork, etc., can help calm the body by focusing the mind on the present moment to help bring a sense of inner peace and tranquility as well as lower heart rate and blood pressure. The best part is, you can practice mindfulness anywhere, anytime. All it takes is being as present as possible. So, if you normally walk listening to an audiobook, try walking in silence and noticing everything around you. If you cook while listening to a podcast, try cooking in silence and really being in the moment of what you’re doing. Every time you notice your mind wander, just politely bring it back. I also love the 5-4-3-2-1 practice (used to calm panic attacks): 5 Things You Can See, 4 Things You Can Touch, 3 Things You Can Hear, 2 Things You Can Smell, 1 Thing You Can Taste.
Humming: Humming, as well as other activities that involve controlled breathing or vocalization, can stimulate the vagus nerve which is our longest cranial nerve that plays a crucial role in the body's autonomic nervous system, influencing heart rate, digestive processes, and many other functions. The vagus nerve is connected to the vocal cords and the muscles at the back of the throat which is why activities such as humming, singing, chanting, and even gargling can stimulate it. Stimulating the vagus nerve can help reduce stress, lower heart rate, and better digestion. Try it for 1 min whenever you feel stressed.
Get Social: Get emotional support by talking to friends and family about what’s going on. Surround yourself with a community of like-minded individuals that evaluate you. Seek help from a therapist or coach.
Time Management: Learning to prioritize your time and setting boundaries is crucial. This means putting self-care into your calendar and holding yourself to it. It means saying “no” when you don’t have the mental/emotional capacity to do something. This means recognizing that you can’t help others unless you help yourself first - you can’t pour from an empty cup.
Sleep: Sleep is CRUCIAL to your physical and mental well-being. Sleep is when your body focuses on nothing but recovering. If you’re not getting good quality and quantity of sleep, you’re not giving your body the recovery time it needs. It just put in WORK for 16 hrs. Give it at least 8 to recover. Learn my tips and tricks to getting your best sleep: Click Here.
Mindset: Learning to reframe negative thoughts and challenging unhelpful limiting beliefs can help to reduce stress by changing the way you think about stressors altogether. You experience enough external stress, don’t be your own source of unneeded stress. Become your own best friend. Be a positive self-coach, not a mean one.
Want some more suggestions?
Read my blog post, How to Hack the Chemicals In Your Body to Start Feeling Happier Today!
What works for one person might not work for someone else. So please lead with compassion and find things that make YOU feel good. If this all feels like too much and you don’t know where to start, apply to Health Coaching today!
If you’re looking for a safe space where you'll receive support and guidance in achieving your health goals, you're right where you need to be :) Submit a client application to receive your free 15 min consultation with me. I work with clients all over the world-changing their relationship with their health and wellness so that they can reestablish trust in their bodies and feel empowered and confident that they’re always making the best decision for themselves.
Hi, I’m Azul Corajoria, an Integrative Health Coach, Personal Trainer & Yoga Instructor. I support my clients in making step-by-step changes so that they can live a healthy and balanced life. By recognizing the interdependent roles of mindset, nutrition, and movement I educate and hold my clients accountable for achieving their health goals through lifestyle and behavior adjustments with an emphasis on self-care. Together, we navigate the contradictory world of nutrition through intuitive eating, practice mindful movement, and implement small mindset and lifestyle shifts that empower them to be their best selves in the easiest way possible.
