Stress Levels Too High?

​Getting professional help if you are feeling overwhelmed is never a bad idea.  Suppose stress continues to affect your ability to concentrate and complete everyday activities after attempting healthy stress relievers.  You can try virtual therapy or contact a health care provider for additional support.
 
Seek immediate assistance if you have any thoughts of self-harm.  The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is there to help at 1-800-273-8255.  No one needs to experience stress alone.

Stress Levels Too High?
By Pierre Mouchette | Bits-n-Pieces

If a potential threat occurs, your brain will frequently respond by activating a fight, flight or freeze response to keep you safe.  By releasing hormones, your body prepares you to do whatever is necessary.  Although that response is helpful in times of danger, your body sometimes overuses it, which can cause stress, causing havoc on the body and its mind.
Different individuals tend to experience stress in different ways.  For example, one person might lay awake at night, senselessly scrolling through social media, unable to rest their eyes.  Additionally, their partner may sleep soundly through the night, forgetting their keys and becoming incredibly irritated around essential deadlines.
The following is what to know about the effects of your fight, flight, or freeze response and how to relieve stress.
 
How To Indicate Stress
Health care providers look at various categories of how stress affects people.  According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), these include health, energy, behavior, and mood changes.  They are relying on your self-reported feelings and can even provide insight into additional symptoms you may have never known were stress causes.
The timing of your symptoms can also help specify the situations or triggers that bring you stress.  Or, perhaps your anxiety and frustration are the results of a chronic state of emotional distress.  For example, if your blood pressure increases after a rough chat with your boss but quickly returns to normal, you may be experiencing a healthy stress response.  But if you constantly replay your boss's words in your head and fixate on the chat days later, or you develop a new obsession with late-night gaming to help cope with anxious feelings, you may be battling chronic stress. 
 
How Does Stress Affect the Body?
Stress is a normal part of everyday life.  But it is when your flight or freeze response does not shut off that your health can become impacted.  Difficulties often arise in several vital areas: psychological, physical, behavioral, and interpersonal.
Psychological - The onset of anxiety and depression can be a cause for concern.  If your brain is always looking for danger, you may experience constant worry.  Or, you can start feeling hopeless due to the never-ending dread. Both of those feelings can cause issues with sleep, concentration, and memory due to an overload of worried thoughts, according to the National Library of Medicine.
Physical - When your body's flight or freeze response activates, your brain releases cortisol, which causes an adrenaline rush.  You may experience a rapid heartbeat or experience an overwhelming amount of energy.  However, excessive cortisol can cause physical changes such as weight gain, high blood pressure, and oral health issues.  You may also experience flare-ups of existing chronic health conditions, such as eczema and irritable bowel syndrome.
Behavioral - Your body is competent.  It knows that being under too much stress is not suitable for you.  Your body may desire things that help it escape negative feelings and relax.  Unfortunately, those are not always the most effective ways to alleviate stress.  Common behavioral changes include increased alcohol or drug consumption, consuming high-carbohydrate foods, and distracting yourself with hours of mindless scrolling on social media.  While these activities can provide immediate relief from stress, they may also lead to an outbreak of new, long-term health problems.
Interpersonal - Have you ever detected that your patience runs thin when nearing a critical deadline?  Well, sometimes it takes calm to be nice.  Your brain works to keep you safe from stressors, not to be pleasant.  You may notice increased irritability or anger, depending on your temperament.  You may also become increasingly reliant on people, seek reassurance, or even unwittingly push others away.
 
Healthy Ways To Relieve Stress
Although stressors can have several emotional and physical effects on your body, there are healthy ways to relieve those negative feelings.  It is important to note that your brain may fight you on relaxing.  When it thinks it is protecting you from danger, your body may recognize slowing down as an additional threat.  Notice the hesitation, remind yourself that there is no imminent threat, and try a few of the following stress relievers.
Buy Yourself Time and Space - Allowing your brain time to adjust and come down from stressful activities helps your system regulate healthily.  If you quickly transition between virtual work meetings to lunch preparations and then onto a stressful phone call, it is easy to become anxious.  Remember to add some space.  Pause before answering your phone, give yourself a few minutes to try deep breathing between work and family time, set an alarm reminding you to stretch throughout the day, and find ways to delegate some tasks.  Each little bit can help stress dissipate.
Experiment With Options That Soothe Your Mind - It may take some trial and error, but finding techniques that reduce stress can be helpful for chronic stress.  You may try gentle exercise (high-energy workouts can increase your heart rate, aggravating your body's fight, flight or freeze response), Epsom salt baths, deep breathing exercises, and guided meditations.  Mindless activities like coloring or crafts can also help distract your brain from worrying thoughts.  As you try different activities, remember to keep track of what works and what does not.  You can save a list of helpful stress relievers and access them whenever necessary.
Reduce Things That Amplify Your System - Consuming caffeine, alcohol, and high-sugar foods and then scrolling through social media can be tempting when stress is particularly high.  These activities offer short-term diversion and enjoyment.  However, according to the CDC, the long-term consequences are often increased anxiety and poor sleep quality.