Fight or Flight or Fat
We have discussed stress and its effects on our bodies before, and I know many of us have stress that is related to our families or jobs. So, I thought it would be motivating to post this again, and we can use this is a way to write it down what our stressors are and identify some strategies that we can try to get the stress out of our lives.
First a quick review: When something or someone causes stress, we refer to the thing or someone as a stressor. Our bodies are programed to respond to stress in certain ways for self-preservation. For instance, an attack on our person can create a response that medical folks refer to the fight or flight syndrome. During stress, our bodies give us large amounts of energy and even strength so we can fight the attacker or we can run like hell to get away from the attacker. We have all heard stories of small women or men lifting a car off of someone, or someone reaching into a burning car to save a life...those come from the bodies response to stress. But not all stressors are worthy of energy that we need for fight or flight; however, our body doesn't distinguish between stress from our crazy neighbor or jobs or friends and stress from an attacker so our body's response is the same for any amount or type of stress.
When we are stressed, our brains send a message to our adrenal glands and they immediately produce and release in our blood stream cortisol hormones, and these hormones immediately stimulate the muscles to release glycogen, which is where the muscle breaks down from muscle tissue to the chemical structures muscle is made of, as a means for quick energy. Think of your muscle as ice and heat as cortisol hormones...the more heat applied, the smaller the ice....same with muscle the more stressed and the more cortisol hormones, the smaller the muscles become. As a result of the cortisol release into our blood stream, the taking of glycogen from the muscles mean that the muscles are going to lose mass...once in a while is okay but if you are stressed all the time, your muscles are taking a huge hit...plus, cortisol is one of those hormones that make weight loss difficult because 1) decreases in muscle mass slows down metabolism and 2) cortisol release results in fat storage that is usually stored in the belly.
People who live with constant stress are often unable to lose weight because their bodies are setting them up to fight or flight and since none of our stressors are the kind we fight or run from, our bodies are slowly slowing down the metabolic responses and storing fat....
The final point about stress is that most people who are in stressful situations have huge food cravings such as candy or fatty foods because the adrenal gland's response is to prepare the body for flight or fight and as a result it also prepares the body to restore itself with calories as a quick energy source and with chronic stress as a means to store fat for quick access.
The Mayo Clinic has given some pretty good stress management techniques to combat stress weight gain but most of those are to stop you from stress eating by identifying the stress eating. I have been trying to handle the stressors because by the time my stress has gone on for long enough to cause me to ravish the refrigerator, I cannot stop. So here are a few helpful hints:
- Identify the stressors and rid yourself of them.
- If the stressor cannot be eliminated, learn to avoid the reaction
- Journal. When you keep a journal over a period of a few weeks, you will start identifying when you are getting stressed and what caused it. This helps you to plan.
- Remove yourself from the stressor when you see the stressful situation building. (Take a walk, leave the room, get off the phone.....)
- Avoid the event or person all together and approach the person to discuss some strategies...I've done this with my daughter.
- Meditate if you feel yourself get anxious...I've learned how to meditate during the stressful event.
- Plan for the stress so you are prepared. I know when my daughter is manic so I limit my contact with her.
- When you are stressed out, work on limiting the reaction by going straight into meditation.
- Drink extra water because when you are stressed, your body begins shutting down because during stress the only thing you need working is lungs, heart, and muscles (you will notice fast breathing, rapid heart rate, and your muscles are tense and ready to assist the body. Your body shuts down the other organs such as the liver, kidney, pancreas, and even brain....so when you are stressed, you need to drink water to keep those organs working. You want the kidneys and stomach to work so you can try to stop the fight or flight response.
- Invest in some therapeutic oils and carry some around with you so you can straight for the scent therapy.
Thank you for this...very educational and insightful!
In this crazy world, we are exposed to far more stress than our ancestors...the constant badgering of noise, job demands, relationships, and so much more. STRESS is the highest known reason for absenteeism in corporate America. Stress also weakens our IMMUNE SYSTEM.
When we cannot find balance in our emotions, we become very stressed as well.
MEDITATION really helps but MANY people do not have a clue HOW to mediate or they simply cannot focus long enough to "break from the noise"(both externally and internally).
Studies prove that when one becomes fully engaged in COLOURING, STRESS melts away. They no longer hear the outside world when they are relaxed and "playing" with design. Their BREATHING RATE slows down, their HEART RATE slows down and their BLOOD PRESSURE actually lowers.
Sometimes, they get flashes or lost memories as forgotten emotions bubble up...this can result in old issues now presented in a different perspective that brings clarity to old experiences. I have literally seen relationships mended after many years of misunderstandings because suddenly, one person "remembers" an important element that explains what they THOUGHT was an old "truth".
I see this every time that I present a workshop. My attendees become so lost in the silence, the "MONKEY MIND" chatter, that we all hear, fades away and TRUE emotions can rise to the surface. Imagine, I had a class of 24 women absolutely SILENT for 45 minutes while deep in a meditative state as they coloured mandalas! And THAT is a form of MEDITATION!
This is why I have such passion in art therapy and I use my books to help others heal and find how to unlock old issues, ridding themselves of STRESS. Very healing.
This is based on SCIENCE and the physiology and plasticity of the brain. I LOVE how this works!
Nancy,
I use color and other art therapy for not only decreasing stress reactions in my life but also when my grand babies come up. And, when I am in meetings where emotions run a little high, I doodle....and doodle...and doodle. So, I am right with you on the coloring. I keep pencils and coloring books in my office and there have been a few times when a student came in and was unable to do any constructive writing or who was needing to discuss his or her grade and I could see the stress so I grab my pencils and tear out a page and the student and I color and after the first five minutes, calmness overcomes him or her and we are able to talk. The week before finals, I take my students pages to color and I ask all my students to bring a cheap set of color pencils to class every day because somedays we just need to color. One of my students messaged me the other day and said, you and your coloring kept me grounded....he is on his way to Columbia Law .....yeah.
thanks Jeannie for the insight. Sometime we have stress that we aren't even aware of. I have the usual day to day stress that comes with being alive but I don't have so many of the stressors that many have. As a result I don't think about it. What brought home to me that I actually do have stress is that I realized that I cannot tolerate any music playing in the car except the classical station. My husband thinks that any instrumental music should count, but I find his choice, that I call elevator music is so very annoying. I truly think that is because I am on edge and don't consciously know it. That is one of the reasons I am looking into yoga. Haven't tried coloring yet.
