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Are you Stressed? … or are you in Denial?

Most people suffer from stress at some point in their lives. There is good stress and there is bad stress and how people cope with these stresses in different for each and every individual. It is all about how you cope with it. Showing signs of stress does not mean that you are a weak person, just human like everybody else.

But, the word stress is probably not used correctly at times. Many people are actually suffering anxiety, or running on adrenalin and then say they are stressed .The word stress is such a broad term. These days the word stress probably means either you have anxiety, or you are busy being busy.

What do we now define as stress?

Stress is the description used for strain, pressure or force on a system. That system may be you. Stress can be the result of trivial annoyances like driving in heavy traffic, or a life-altering major crisis such as the death of a loved one. Stress can also be someone being busy, or someone running on adrenalin too much. Like I said before, stress could also be someone who is suffering from anxiety and then terms it as stress.

Stress can be used both to refer to the event that is causing the disturbance or the effects of that event on your body. Usually when we say we are feeling stressed we are talking about the symptoms caused by our body’s stress response.

There are different forms of stress

There is no doubt that there are different forms of stress and probably the biggest issue for people these days is actually realising that their body is in distress. It is that constant low grade stress that affects so many people and causes so many issues in the body. That low grade stress is the one that eventually catches up with people and can sometimes have very detrimental effects.

Stress can be a cause of many health issues

The one thing we know for sure is that stress is a cause of a lot of our health issues, immune system issues, reproductive issues, gynaecological issues, mental health issues, respiratory and cardiovascular issues, sleep issues and so on.

Nobody is born stressed, or is predisposed to being stress. It is a learnt behaviour that can be unlearnt and that is why seeing someone to help with coping strategies around stress is so important. There are also supplements and medicines that can help to deal with stress more effectively too.

What are the Symptoms and effects of stress?

Some of the symptoms and health problems that can be caused or exacerbated by high levels of ongoing stress include:

  • migraine or tension-induced headaches;
  • insomnia, fitful sleeping or nightmares;
  • anxiety, anger or irritability;
  • low, irritable or unstable mood;
  • memory lapses;
  • shoulder, neck or back pain;
  • fatigue;
  • rapid heartbeat;
  • high blood pressure;
  • skin eruptions and worsening of conditions such as eczema;
  • heartburn, nausea (feeling sick), diarrhoea or constipation;
  • reduced libido;
  • shortness of breath;
  • problems with your immune system;
  • heart disease; and
  • chronic pain.

Like I mentioned before, stress can also affect the reproductive system, cardiovascular system, nervous system, immune system and so much more.

How stress affects your body

At the first sign of alarm, certain sensory nerves in your body are stimulated and hormones are released that automatically trigger physical reactions to stress. Your heart rate increases, blood is diverted to your muscles and brain, breathing rate increases, digestion slows down, saliva production stops (your mouth feels dry), perspiration increases and your pupils widen. You feel tense, you startle easily and your attention narrows to focus on possible threats.

This is the ‘fight or flight’ phenomenon, which makes your body tense, alert, and ready for action. After this reaction to a real or perceived threat, your body stays on alert until you feel the danger has passed. When the stressor is gone, the brain signals an ‘all clear’, and your body gradually returns to normal.

While some short-term stress is thought to be good for you, pushing you to make that extra effort in a sporting event or game, chronic or long-term stress can be harmful to your health. This kind of stress is when you feel under constant, intense pressure, or you just cannot see a way out of a terrible situation. The problem for some people is that they do not realise they are stressed, or they actually have anxiety, and their body is in the state of constant adrenal overload that eventually catches up with them and their whole body shuts down completely. We see this with adrenal fatigue and chronic fatigue

Dealing with stress

Dealing with stress effectively can be complicated, but usually involves:

  • general measures to improve your overall wellbeing; and
  • learning coping skills and setting healthy boundaries
  • specific steps to deal with stress and particular challenging situations.
  • learning what your triggers may be
  • learning ways to deal with stress and how to be more relaxed

It is about getting coping skills to deal with the body having to deal with stress, or at point of perceived crisis.

The word that we term “Stress” commonly results when you feel your resources — for example, time, money or skills — are insufficient to deal with your responsibilities. Take check of what is causing you stress and where you examine your demands and resources can be a useful first step in dealing with stress. There is where the practice of mindfulness is very useful and also talking to a counsellor/psychologist can help you identify triggers for stress and have coping skills to deal with stress.

Problem solving techniques and coping skills may help you with problems and issues creating stress. You may also need to work on limiting your obligations, or asking for extra resources to help you cope with stress better. You may need to accept that there are times in life where you simply can’t do everything that others in your life, or you yourself are expecting.

One way to help deal with stress is to maintain a healthier mind and body. Here are some of the things you can do to deal with stress better.

Ways to Deal With Stress Better
  • Regular exercise to help with stress and tension in the body. It also helps with moods.
  • Make sure you get at least 1-4 hours “You” time per week. Treat yourself to sufficient relaxation time so that you can switch off from you daily routine. This will help to give you a refreshed and energetic outlook on life. Learn yoga, meditation or other relaxation exercises such as mindfulness. There are some great mindfulness courses available now.
  • Make sure you get enough sleep. Melatonin is the hormone that helps you sleep and lack of sleep and stress depletes it. Lack of sleep also puts the body into distress.
  • Maintain a balanced diet. Without a balanced and health diet, your body will have inflammation and this will cause stress and disharmony in the body too.
  • Learn to accept what you cannot change but also learn to be more assertive, especially if you are one of those people who always say ‘yes’. Healthy boundaries are so important.  Assertiveness training, setting clear boundaries and learning to say no can be very helpful in avoiding overload.
  • Make sure you do something that you love at least 1-2 times per week. Spend time with people you enjoy seeing, listening to music, playing sport, reading a book, watching a funny movie, gardening etc.
  • Talk therapy and coping skills: Talk therapy with a trained professional that can help you deal with stress and help you with coping skills is very important.
  • Avoid the use of drugs or alcohol as a means of coping with stress.
  • Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine can help with stress and studies have shown that it is as effective as some medication and equal to talk therapy in its effect. ( http://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pumed.1001518)
  • There are natural medicines that may assist you deal with the effects of stress and please talk to a qualified healthcare professional how best these can help and what to use. Do not self prescribe ever.

How do I know if I need help?

Many people think that they can deal with stress on their own, but the truth is it is better to get a trained professional to help you deal with it properly. This way you commit to actively doing something too and you are also learning coping skills at the same time. You should consider seeking help if:

  • you constantly worry and have trouble concentrating;
  • you feel a lot of guilt;
  • your sleep, energy and motivation is poor;
  • you can’t be bothered doing things anymore;
  • you experience several of the physical symptoms associated with stress;
  • you recognise that you are turning to self-destructive behaviours for temporary relief;
  • everything and everybody around you is being affected by the way you feel; or
  • you feel as though there’s nowhere to turn.
  • Friends keep telling you that you look stressed, or look like you need to slow down

There are qualified professionals who can help you with dealing with stress. It is important that you do see the right person to help you and your individual situation. You can always speak to your doctor or healthcare practitioner and ask them for a referral to someone. There are also mindfulness courses and relaxation courses you can do also. Exercise it important and again, it is a good idea help from a professional to get started and keep going.

Please take the risk of burnout and running on Adrenalin tests below and see how you are fairing (see below)

Take care

Regards

Andrew Orr

-No Stone Left Unturned

-Women’s and Men’s Health Advocate

Risk of Burnout Challenge
  1. Do you feel let down by other people around you?
  2. Are you too busy for close friends and family?
  3. Are you too busy to do even routine things like send out thank-you notes, return phone calls or mail birthday cards?
  1. Do you tire more easily than you used to?
  2. Are you working harder but accomplishing less?
  3. Are you increasingly cynical and disenchanted?
  4. Are you often invaded by a sadness that you can’t explain?
  5. Do you forget appointments, deadlines, possessions?
  6. Are you increasingly irritable? More short tempered?
  7. Does you body ache or are you having trouble shaking a cold?
  8. Are you finding it harder to be happy and joyful?
  9. Have you lost your sense of humour?
  10. Have you lost interest in sex or have a low libido?
  11. Are you less talkative than you used to be?
  12. Do you think of work all the time, even at rest?
  13. Do you find it hard to say ‘no’ to people or things that require your own personal time?
  14. Do you take time-out for others but do not take time-out for yourself?

Your score

To find your total , add up your “yes” answers.

(0 – 5) >> Cruising along nicely

(5 – 10) >>  Borderline burnout

(10 – 17) >> Burnout candidate

Running on Adrenalin Challenge

  1. I feel there isn’t enough time in the day to do all the things need to do.
  2. I speak more quickly than other people, even finishing their sentences for them.
  3. My relatives and friends say I eat too quickly.
  4. I would rather win than enjoy a game.
  5. I am very competitive at work, sports or games.
  6. I tend to be bossy and dominate others.
  7. I prefer to lead than follow.
  8. I feel pressed for time even when I’m not doing something important.
  9. I become more impatient when I have to wait for something or when I’m interrupted.
  10. I tend to make decisions quickly and compulsively.
  11. I take on more than I can accomplish.
  12. I become irritable and even angry, more than other people.
  13. I feel a strong compulsion to be doing something while at home or even on holidays.
  14. I fidget often and become restless, pacing, leg kicking, or fast gum chewing.
  15. I get a vague sense of depression whenever I stop an activity.
  16. I have forgotten how to, or don’t know, how to relax.

Score description

0 – This does not apply to me

1 – This statement applies to me less than once per month

2 – This statement applies to me on a regular basis

Total score

Out of a possible score of 32 you would have fallen into one of the 4 following categories…

(0 – 10) >> Relaxed

(10 – 15) >> Typical

(15 – 20) >> On the edge

(20 +) >> Adrenalin Junkie!

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The Toxic Consequences of Sugar on Mental Health

When sugar cravings set in, the last thing we might think of is how this may affects our long-term mental health. There is now so much research to suggest that we should be thinking about the toxic consequences of sugar much more.

After a stressful day and when our moods can sometimes be low, it is all to easy to reach for sugary treats. But sugar can also be in the form of savoury things too. We need to remember that savoury things convert to sugar and may have hidden sugars as well. There is so much evidence to show the link between sugar and chromic inflammation and now the evidence around it affecting mental health and mood disorders is increasing.

Previously, I shared some new research in post about the greater risk of depression in men and women who consumed significant amounts of sugar in their diet. A few people commented that feeling depressed may lead to increased sugar consumption, rather than the other way around. However, what was really interesting about this study was that the researchers, from University College London Institute of Epidemiology and Public Health in the United Kingdom, used a mathematical model to exclude exactly that. This is known as reverse causation.

Using data from a large group of civil servants in the U.K. – they showed that sugar consumption came before depression, rather than being a consequence of it.

Diet and mental health are linked

When people ask me for help with mood disorders, I always tell them that a multimodality approach is needed, which encompasses changes to diet and lifestyle. It isn’t just about taking a pill. To be honest, there are no magic pills for mood disorders so people need to stop looking for them. True help come from changes to diet, changes to lifestyle, talk therapy, medicines and treatments that have been shown to help mood disorders.

In 2002, a study from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas showed that the overall sugar consumption per person in six different countries (Canada, France, Germany, Korea, New Zealand, and the United States) implicated sugar as a factor in higher rates of major depression.

There have been many other research teams that have investigated the effect of diet on mental health. For example, consumption of processed food, take-away foods and fast food – including hamburgers, pizza, and fried foods – was found to be higher in both children, teenagers and adults with increased rates of depression.

A study of Chinese adults, who traditionally drink unsweetened tea , also showed that those who drank soft drinks and other sweetened drinks had higher rates of depression.

The science of sugar

Sugars are simple carbohydrate molecules. While being essential for cell and organ functioning, our bodies have sophisticated machinery to break complex carbohydrate molecules into simple sugars. Sugars therefore do not need to be added to the diet and our bodies do not need added sugar to function properly. Refined carbohydrates (bread, cereals, pastas, sweet drinks etc) all convert to sugar very quickly. This makes the blood sugars spike and causes the body to store fats and also stop the burning of fats. It also causes inflammation in the body, which is the cause of many disease states and health issues that we all face.

What is really important understand is that our bodies do not differentiate between sugars from different sources. Whether it comes from white sugar, honey, molasses, corn syrup, concentrated grape extract, fruit, or milk, our bodies use the sugar in exactly the same way. Sugar is sugar, not matter what sources it comes from. We can try and sugar coat it (pardon the pun) and dress it up to look healthy, but at the end of the day, it is not healthy for us and is causing major issues with our health, both physically and mentally.

The daily recommended intake of sugar is roughly about 6 teaspoons of sugar for women and 9 teaspoons for men. Even that is probably way too much. To put that into context, a can of Coca-Cola contains up to 10 teaspoons of sugar, while a small banana contains about 3 teaspoons. When people add up what they have in a day, they might be very surprised. Add in some bread, some pasta, some dried fruits, some juice, some sugar in your tea and coffee and it all starts to add up exponentially. We really do consume a lot of sugar.

Sugar affects on the nerves and brain

Neurons are very sensitive cells and are not well prepared for sugar level spikes. In fact, individuals with diabetes are at risk of neuron and nerve damage, and scientists now understand how high blood sugar causes this.

Researchers from Huazhong University of Science and Technology in Wuhan, China, performed studies on diabetic rats and showed that high blood glucose led to chronic inflammation and neuronal damage and death in the brain. Importantly, there is a strong link between diabetes and Alzheimer’s disease, further supporting the claim that sugar toxicity has a role in brain health.

How to cut down your sugar intake

Cutting sugar from our diet may be easier said than done and these we are bombarded with advertisements for convenience foods and tasty treats. But even seemingly healthful foods can have high levels of hidden sugars. This is where many people get caught out. Food such as breakfast cereals, sauces (including ketchup and pasta sauce), dried fruits, gluten free products, flavoured milks, wholemeal bread, and many products labelled as low fat, such as fruit yogurts, low fat milk etc.

The other food that often get overlooked are fruit juices and so called healthy smoothies. A study published in the British Medical Journal last year showed that over 40% of the smoothies and fruit juices for children contained at least 19 grams of sugar. That is a lot of sugar for an to ingest, let alone a child. High levels of sugars are also in many toddler and baby foods too.

The best way to keep tabs on sugar consumption is to become familiar with nutritional labels. While some products may claim that they have no added sugars, the nutrition facts panel will show the amount of carbohydrates and sugars in the product. It is really important to read these panels because some of what you are ingesting may shock you. Just beware of clever marketing and advertising.

It is so important that we all start to look at foods and start to choose foods that are low in refined ingredients, such as sugar and other additive, but high in protein, omega-3 fatty acids, vitamins, minerals, amino acids and other nutrients that can relieve the symptoms of depression. Scientists are now seeing that these foods are promoting good brain health, which is great to see.

The next time stress and low mood threatens to spoil your day, remember that good foods can help you and remember where that sugar can actually make your moods worse.

Let’s not forget that trying to withdraw off sugar can be harder than coming off some hard core drugs. Sugar is highly addictive and does have drug like effects on the body. Don’t believe me?

Try it sometime and see how hard it is.

Take care

Regards

Andrew Orr

-Women’s and Men’s Health Advocate

-“No Stone Left Unturned”