Stress, whether physical or mental, can impact our health, weight, and even food choices. Stress in small amounts can be beneficial to the body. Physical stress from running or lifting weights helps our body become stronger. However, long-term daily stress can have the opposite effects. 

What happens to our body when stressed

When our body is stressed, it responds to the stress through the fight or flight system. This response releases a cascade of hormones that prepare our body to either stay and fight or get running. These hormones increase blood sugar by stimulating the liver and converting muscle protein into sugar along with stopping the actions of insulin. 

The result is a body that has the energy available for the brain and muscles to fight off the danger or get to safety.

Prolonged daily stress

The stress reaction is a very beneficial evolutionary reaction to increase our chances of survival. However, in today’s world we are activating the stress response system too often.

Think of a day that you got cut off by someone during your morning commute. Then while at work your password is not working. You finally get logged in only to get bombarded with emails. 

Your fight or flight system was activated three times already if not more and it’s not even lunch yet. There’s a good chance that by the last email you find yourself craving a chocolate bar or something salty and crunchy. 

The worst part is that your day is not even close to being over yet and the stressors just keep coming in. This constant stimulation of our fight or flight system over the day overwhelms the body and makes us feel drained.

We have a tendency to look for sweet or savory foods when stressed to trigger the feel-good receptors in our brain and hopefully offset the stress. The problem is that until you do something about the stress itself, food does little to actually tame the stress response that has been running on high throughout the day. 

The result is a cycle of increased stress that leads to increased highly palatable high calorie food intake causing more stress and so on. This results in a prolonged state of chronic stress on the body which can trigger many different diseases or even turn on specific genes. 

Stress has been linked to heart disease, cancer, IBS, diabetes, and countless more. Reducing your overall stress burden on the body is essential for long-term health.

What can you do to tame the stress response?

The stress response releases a cascade of hormones to prepare our body to face or evade the danger. Regardless of your choice to stay and fight, you would be active in some way. 

The key to reduce the stress response once it has been activated is to do something physical. Doing something active will utilize the energy from the stress response and bring the increased hormone levels back to normal. 

A few simple activities you can do when stressed:

• Take a walk, jog, or run

• Go on a bike ride

• Do push-ups, squats, jumping jacks, etc. 

• Lift weights

• Clean the house (this can help reduce anxiety as well!)

• Do yardwork

Some activities you can do while at work:

• Take a walk through the hallways or outside your building if possible

• Go up and down the stairs a few times

• Do push-ups off your desk

• Shadow boxing (best if you have a private space)

Regardless of the activity, once the body is stressed the key is to use up the energy released in response to the stress. Depending on the stressor, a short walk may be all you need. 

Once you have essentially burned up your initial increase of energy from the stress response it’s important to calm the mind as well. If you skip this key step, you most likely will still find yourself craving something sweet or savory to give you a feel-good response and short-lived pick me up. 

Some great ideas to calm your mind after calming the physical stress response:

• Go chat with a friend or co-worker that can listen well (texting works too but not as well as talking)

• Write down what you are upset about on paper or email then throw it away

• Give yourself 5-10 minutes alone of sitting in a quiet room (your car works too)

• Meditate, focusing on your breath or listen to a guided recording

• Read a book or magazine

• Tend to your garden or water your house or office plants

The key here is to choose an activity that will calm your mind and not stimulate your stress response again. For example, talking with a friend who argues with you instead of listening or scrolling through social media can trigger your stress response again and start the cycle all over again.

The key takeaway

Stress is a normal response to danger however, in today’s world we are exposed to non-stop stressors causing an over-stimulation of our stress response. Calming the stress response by using up the energy through physical activity and then calming the mind is key to stopping the over-stimulation of stress on our body. 

Ideally, it’s best to avoid too many stressful situations to help reduce your overall stress burden and prevent the triggering of disease. With this in mind it may be good practice to think about what is worth getting stressed over.

There’s not much you can do to prevent the instant reaction to the jerk who cut you off, but you can choose to avoid certain stressors such as watching the news, reading emails in the evening or even going to the store during busy times. 

All of these little stressors add to your overall stress burden. When you feel that you cannot control your stress reaction, use the stress reducing tips of physical activity and mental calming.

At the end of the day try doing a relaxing activity like taking a walk, doing a puzzle, reading a book, playing with your kids, etc. to calm the mind and body. This will give you a much more restful sleep and a positive start to your day the next morning.

Written by Adam Skowyra MPPD, RDN, LD