Less than 3 weeks to go! I know – you probably didn’t really need the reminder, huh?
Have you got everything sorted or are you rushing to get it all prepared for Christmas?
How are you going with your stress levels?
I’d love you to take a moment to see if your stress levels are functional or toxic.
How do you do that?
I’m glad you asked! Hehehehe
Stress is a necessary part of life – if our bodies and mind didn’t experience stress, we would be dead. For example, muscle contraction/relaxation causes functional stress with a functional reaction, i.e. movement.
Toxic stress however comes when our bodies and minds don’t have enough time to recover from Stage 2 of the Stress cycle and we enter Stage 3. But before we go there, Stages 1 and 2.
Stage 1: The initial reaction – Alarm.
- MUSCLES: tense in readiness for action.
- LUNGS: air passage dilates, breathing more intense to provide more oxygen to feed increase blood supply.
- LIVER: glycogen converted to blood sugar to give ‘short distance’ energy.
- DIGESTION: processes shut down as blood diverted elsewhere. Mouth goes dry to avoid adding extra fluids to stomach.
- SKIN: pales as blood diverted to vital organs.
- HEART: starts to pound sending blood around body carrying sugar (energy) & hormones (eg. adrenalin)
- BLOOD: thickens to help it carry more oxygen, fight infection & stop bleeding.
- SWEAT GLANDS: start up to cool the underlying and overheated muscles
Stage 2: The coping reaction – Resistance.
If the stressor resolves:
- Blood Pressure and heart rate are both raised at the start of this phase but gradually come back to normal.
- Sugars are available for instant use in your blood stream, but the hormones levels gradually normalise if the stressor goes away and sugars that are not used, begin to be stored again.
- Your body is on high alert and gradually settles.
- You may be experiencing irritability, frustration and poor concentration.
Stage 3: The rest stage – Exhaustion.
Prolonged or chronic stress will push you to experience:
- Fatigue
- Burnout
- Depression
- Anxiety
- Decreased stress tolerance
Whether you progress to Stage 3 or not depends on recovering from Stage 2. And here’s the ‘kicker’:
Everyone recovers from Stage 2 differently.
For some people, a few moments to hours is enough for recovery and be ready to face the next stressor. For others, the same stressful event may need hours to days for recovery. Also depending on the accumulating stress, someone who would normally only take moments to recover, could take days to weeks.
Your Health Type will give you great insight into the ‘rule of thumb’ when it comes to recovery and what to expect. If you have identified that stress is troublesome for you, reach out. I’d love to help you bring ease back into your body and mind.
Would you like to know your Health Type?
Message me for a link to a free Health Type Test.
