With all the pressures of modern life, it’s no wonder that feeling stressed out is a very common complaint. However, stress hormones are actually a very important part of our body’s functionality – it’s what we do with them that counts. In the short-term, stress is designed to help us survive, but the long-term toll of it can be very detrimental to our health.
How does stress work?
A life without stress may seem like a dream come true, but it would actually be extremely dangerous. “Stress is a primitive response built in by nature as a survival mechanism,” explains Neil Shah, director of the Stress Management Society and author of The 10-Step Stress Solution.
“In the stone age, it meant that if a sabre-tooth tiger attacked you, the body would change the way it functions by producing hormones like adrenalin and cortisol to best equip you to fight or flight. It’s this mechanism that allowed the human race to survive all threats and become the dominant species we are today.”
Even nowadays, in certain situations stress is a good thing. If used in its intended temporary capacity, it can help people thrive. “You need to have the right level of stress for the situation,” explains Dr Cosmo Hallström, fellow of the Royal College of Psychiatrists.
“The Yerkes-Dodson principle says that stress increases according to the needs of the situation, as your stress goes up, your performance goes up. But after a while you decompensate in other areas, and it becomes counterproductive.
Secondly, people react differently to different levels of stress. Some people need lots of stress to function, other people constantly feel mildly stressed, and even the smallest thing is too much for them.”
How stress affects your body
Most of us have experienced the physical manifestations of stress. They can be hard-hitting, scary and very debilitating. “Stress tends to have an impact on your breathing, some people find it hard to get a good deep breath or start hyperventilating,” says Rachel Boyd, information manager at Mind.
“People can also develop high blood pressure, chest pains and have sleep problems. A lot of people notice stress in their stomachs – finding it hard to go to the toilet, going too much and suffering irritable bowel syndrome. There’s also a general feeling of being run-down, tired, sick and dizzy. Interestingly, lots of people find that these physical symptoms are the first sign they get that they are suffering from stress.”
The combination of these symptoms is deeply unpleasant and can seriously damage your quality of life. While the stress hormones are coursing through your body, they interfere with its normal functionality. That’s when those ‘fight or flight’ mechanisms begin to do more harm than good.
“A variety of things that are required for well-being are turned off temporarily to do what’s necessary to stay alive through the moment of threat,” says Neil Shah. “Things such as your digestion, high brain function and your pain response.
Being in that state for a few moments is fine but if you stay in that state for days, months, and years, it’ll have a significant impact on your well-being. Also, you are likely to be more susceptible to colds, flu and viral conditions because stress has suppressed your immune system.”
Of course, the psychological impact can be devastating and that, in turn, leads to even more physical problems. “The classic one is people turning up to A&E with heart palpitations,” says Dr Hallström. “Women can experience gynaecological problems, which are very often related to mental troubles.
Men can suffer erectile dysfunction; and then there are back problems, rheumatism and bad posture. But all these things are interactive. The truth is that problems with your health are a combination of multiple factors that work together.
Can stress kill you?
Often people describe their issues with stress by using phrases like, “stressed to death” or “I’ll die of stress”. But can stress actually kill you? “If we think about the top four reasons for premature death – heart disease, cancer, diabetes and stroke – all of them have stress as a significant contributing factor,” explains Neil Shah. So stress can’t kill you but it will definitely lead to things that will. The NHS themselves say that in 85% of serious illnesses, stress plays a major part.”
Looking at the role of stress in these situations and how it works alongside other factors is key. “It’s important not to boil things down to one cause,” says Rachel Boyd. “Other factors like genetics, general health, diet and exercise should all be considered too.
What’s important is to get some help to deal with what’s behind your stress because we know it can link to very severe health problems. So it would be hard to say stress itself causes people to die but it can contribute to poor physical health that is very worrying.”
“I think stress related illnesses are under diagnosed and undertreated,” says Dr Hallström. “They are a major cause of unhappiness and poor quality of life. We haven’t really got a handle on what to do with them.”
How to combat stress
So how can we take stress back to its original purpose and find a way to combat the detrimental effects of experiencing it for a prolonged period? “When you go into a state of stress, your body is expecting physical activity so to get moving is the quickest way out of that state,” reasons Neil Shah.
“Simply taking the dog for a walk, stretching, doing yoga can help. But also being able to talk about your challenges and your problems and get them off your chest is valuable.”
“When it comes to stress a good doctor will treat the whole person – body and mind,” says Dr Hallström. “GPs tend to have to treat psychiatric problems in the community, and that’s difficult in a five-minute consultation. I think it’s a mistake that stress is not considered to be a major mental illness because I think it’s as serious as the others but rather poorly conceptualised and not treated by the psychiatric services.”
It seems that when trying to tackle stress both in the mind and the body, the approach must be a combination of things. “Talking therapies can be great to help you build coping techniques,” agrees Rachel Boyd. “Looking after your physical health can have a big impact on mental health.
You don’t always need to have a medical intervention as Mind has lots of information about relaxation, having balance in your life and support you can access. It might seem difficult to ask to slow down at work or to have help with childcare or any other stress-related problem, but it’s really important for your physical and mental health that you do so.”