You’ve probably heard it a hundred times already that stress is the ‘silent killer’. That statement is true to a great degree. The reason being is that stress doesn’t always manifest itself in ways that most people would recognize as stress.
If you’re involved in some fitness or health improvement actions, you’ll find that stress will diminish with changes in diet and an active lifestyle.
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Stress, The Real Deal
Getting confusion off of what stress is, is the first step. There are several types of stress 1 and each can be debilitating or even deadly.
There’s the stress the body undergoes when it’s been in a series of situations of trauma or malnutrition or disease. Often people will either work so hard or play so hard they don’t realize the damage they’ve done to themselves. When the aches and pains show up and the hospital visits occur, they suddenly realize they’ve not been paying attention to themselves. Being too busy is how this occurs and not having the where-with-all to keep tabs on oneself can lead to serious conditions.
There is also the stress put on the mind. When social pressure or life’s general challenges occur, one might not know how to solve them easily. Sometimes we don’t have the courage to face the problems at hand and running away won’t help.
When the mind is under stress, it can create serious and perhaps deadly consequences. Your mind brings about disruptions in the way the body monitors or repairs itself. One’s metabolism can be set off center as well as one’s immune system when stress on the mind occurs. Fear, confusion, conflict, all can contribute to mental stress. So can diseases and toxins, not enough sleep, and a bad diet. Once the mind goes, the body will follow.
Diseases
Not all diseases will manifest in ways that we can detect. It often takes deep medical analysis to get to the bottom of an illness. When the body is battling a disease, it can receive stress on several levels. The minute one feels one is facing an illness, a doctor should be consulted.
Don’t listen to homemade remedies or old housewives tales. Get to a doctor and get checked out. The body knows when is in trouble but it may take a while for the mind to catch up, meanwhile, the body gets worse and put more stress on its systems.
Emotional Stress Is murder
Emotional stress can be a murderous one. We often hide or suppress our true feelings and that leads to those emotions sitting in the background simmering and slowly dissolving you from the inside out.
Those little bits of emotional distress that you might not find important, may soon congeal into a mass of worries and frets that bring about stress that can disrupt every system in the body as well as bring about mental disorders thus turning into a constant downward spiral that only serious therapy can remedy.
If things get so bad that treatments are mandated, then you’re in for trouble. Doctors have to do a series of tests regarding stress. This can take lots of time so the patient needs patience. The doctors will try several remedies to see which ones work the best.
They do the detective work and you’ll need to be willing to follow the doctor’s orders. Once the possible source or sources of stress are detected then a smart and safe series of treatments can be administered. Don’t try solving things on your own. Stress calls for precise and professional medical help. Going it on your own might exacerbate problems.
Remedies & Prevention
Often, stress can be avoided by engaging in simple needed rest, diet changes, and exercise. Education about stress works too. We’ll look at the preventative measures and remedies that help with stress.
First and foremost, see your doctors often. Don’t miss appointments or scoff at lab work. This is how doctors determine whether you’re undergoing one or more stress events. Doctors will tell by doing their detective work whether you’re a candidate for excessive stress and if you’re in need of stress related treatments. This can take a while as some lab work takes time, but the bottom line is that seeing your doctor comes first.
Follow Doctor’s Orders
The doctor will know what types of stress you’re facing and how to prevent more incidents or how to treat the ones you’re suffering from. They may prescribe drastic changes I lifestyle, diet, or even social associations. This will require several specialists to diagnose so expect to visit quite a few doctors and getting a number of analysis.
Diet
If the doctors determine you’re suffering stress due to your diet, they’ll suggest you see some kind of nutritionist specialist. The nutritionist will look at the collective medical data and determine which systems are being compromised by diet.
Often people will discover they suffer an allergy to foods or substances consumed that they never knew before. Not all allergies can manifest in ways we can detect without professional analysis. Even medications, pollution, toxins in the environment that affect the foods we eat can cause undue stress on the body’s systems.
A new diet may remedy it, even if it involves foods that you can’t stand like vegetables. You might need to add more whole foods and cut back on certain meats. Confection foods like cakes and pies might have to be cut out or switch to organic versions. Whatever the dietary changes are that are going to be prescribed, it is wise if you follow them.
Sleep
Far too many people are suffering from insomnia nowadays. Either that or they’re just not taking the time to get a good night’s sleep. Sleeping is where our body and minds do their best repair. 2
While sleeping the body can examine and diagnose what’s wrong with the body and the innate systems can kick in and do the proper repair. Sometimes insomnia can be brought on by a lack of exercise or dietary problems. If a person is under mental stress due to life’s challenges, then those challenges must be faced and resolved. If not, the mind can’t rest and neither can the body, and that’s when just about everything starts falling apart.
Take the time to get in that night’s sleep and a daily nap wouldn’t hurt. Listen to soothing music and have that glass of warm milk or anything that is safe that smooths things out for better relaxation. Try to stay away from drugs as one can become dependent on them and prolonged use may be detrimental. If the doctor prescribes a fitness regimen then follow it and see how that works. Overall, you can go without food for weeks, but you can’t without sleep.
Exercise
The double benefit of exercise and stress is that it is preventative and remedial. Not exercising doesn’t allow the body to operate correctly. It can cause the body not to be on top of its game and thus diseases and afflictions can take root. This is how compounded stress occurs. It will take time for doctors to diagnose everything and they’ll need to be extra cautious to make sure exercise doesn’t exacerbate the problem.
Once doctors diagnose that exercise can remedy or treat your stress, the challenge will be put forth to find an exercise regimen that works. In some or most cases, simple walking or light jogging will do the trick. Bicycling or hiking or any sport that keeps your body active and systems repairing themselves will suffice.
Doctors will have to monitor your progress so you’ll need to keep precise statistics of your workouts. This can be easily done with today’s apps and exercise equipment. Your vital data can be recorded and stored and transmitted to your doctor’s office where they’ll be able to see at a glance where you stand.
Blood work may be required as well, so be prepared.
After a while, doctors will have analyzed your physiological changes and note where exercise has been beneficial to alleviating your stress problems. Not only that, but doctors will be able to determine if your exercise regimen has prevented certain stressful parameters from taking root.
Final Word
Yes, stress is a dangerous menace. Often it’s due to our own ignorance and fear and negligence that brings stress on. One will have to face the fire when the doctors hand out the final prognosis and you’ll have to stick to their guidelines or you’ll be right back at square one.
We don’t always know we’re under stress or how devastating stress can be on us. This is why knowing the warning signs are so important. By the time the warning signs become apparent, stress has already begun its damage. This is why regularly scheduled medical exams are mandatory. Do not give stress a chance. Sure ewe all do stressful things on a daily basis, but when we’re not aware of those stress inducing things that go under the radar, stress can sneak up on you and put you in the hospital, long term treatments, or even death.
Don’t compromise regarding stress. Be observant of yourself and don’t think you know it all. If you use alcohol or illegal drugs to de-stress, you’re going to only create a problem that will inevitably bring about a greater series of problems. Yes, some pharmaceuticals can be as detrimental as alcohol and dope, and we need to be cautious in this area. If you doctor prescribes drugs, you had better ask them all the pertinent questions and a list of known side effects.
So now you’re armed with the basics regarding stress. Hopefully it has helped you de-stress already.
References
- Types of Stress (Healthline.com, Medically Reviewed by Timothy J. Legg, PhD, CRNP) What’s Your Stress Type?
- The importance of sleep (WebMD.com, Reviewed by William Blahd, MD) The Healing Power of Sleep
