What Happens to Our Body When We Are Distressed?

Symptoms of stress are very easy to determine. We could feel pit in our stomach, our muscles become tense, we feel slightly light-headed, our palms are cold and sweaty. Unfortunately, although many people recommend us to take a deep breath, it only provides a short respite and can’t eradicate the stress itself. The most effective way to deal with stress is by expecting it to occur and prepare ourselves. Many people accept stress in their lives, but this mental condition has been suppressed to a negligible level. It is clear that stress could take a huge toll on our mental and physical conditions. We will be affected emotionally, mentally and physically. In reality, this is a hard-wired reaction that we need to consider. Our body is essentially designed to take some amount of stress. Stress is essential among our ancestors. It allowed that to have heightened senses during a hunt and they could run away quickly from threats. However, modern people are less threatened physically, despite the prevalence of crime in our society.

Fight and flight responses are not needed when we seek to find food. Stress is currently more associated with inter-personal relationships. People could be struggling to make ends meet and dealing with huge workload. Each day, millions people need to drive in rush hour and take care of their family. Even holidays and finding a great place to relax during the weekend can be very stressful as we compete with others. These situations could make us feel tired, tired and defensive. We may think that we are constantly under attack. Fortunately, there are ways we can do to deal with stress. We should be able to manage our emotion when our fight and flight responses start to kick in. This is the moment when we unconsciously or consciously think that we are under attack. In some cases, we could be dealing with upsetting news and specific things could start to occur. At first, our body releases some amount of adrenaline and it could dilate our blood vessels and increase our heart rate. It is essential when we want to supply our body with more energy and nutrients to allow increased physical activity.

It doesn’t stop right there. Our body also releases cortisol and it is needed to increase the presence of blood sugar. This provides more energy to deal with the fight and flight responses. Cortisol also does other things to our body, such as altering our immune system, slowing the regeneration process and suppressing the digestive functions. It means that stress could actually disrupt specific vital functions in our body and this could lead to various conditions, such as chest pain, increased blood pressure, sleeping problems and headaches. People who don’t want to deal with stress could have poor perspective and outlook in life. They could have heightened mood swings and decreased energy. When we are distressed, it is a good idea to temporarily stay away from stressors, relax and do things that can make us feel excited.