Everyone experiences stress in their lives.
Short-term stress can come from a tiger chasing you, or an upcoming test. The body’s reaction to these situations would be increased heart rate and muscle tension to run from the tiger, or increased focus and motivation to study for the test. Once you escape the tiger- or take the test- your body’s stress response is over and you can relax.
Unfortunately, in today’s world our bodies often get stuck in the “I’m constantly running from a tiger” mode. This is known as chronic stress, where your body is caught in fight or flight, day in/day out.
Being chronically stressed can disrupt your immune, digestive, cardiovascular, sleep, and reproduction systems. It can cause headaches, sleeplessness, sadness, anger or irritability. Over time, chronic stress may lead to health consequences such as heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, and other illnesses.
All hope is not lost however, there are plenty of things you can do to reduce the effects of chronic stress.
Examples:
Yoga/Tai Chi
Meditation/Mindfulness
Being in Nature
Deep Breathing
Gratitude Journal
Enjoying a Hobby
Spending time with Loved Ones
By engaging in some of these techniques, your body will essentially “hit the brakes” on the stress response and allow relaxation to begin.