Reduce Stress, They Said. Yeah, Right...

?? In this Nexus:

?? Stress level vs. the quality of performance

?? My recent experience of stress burst

?? Acute vs. chronic stress

?? The link between stress and longevity

?? What is in your stress bucket?

?? Increasing your stress resilience

All of us have heard other people saying 'Why are you so stressed? Relax!' or 'You have to reduce stress.' or 'You have to better manage stress'. It seems like it should be an easy task. Like clicking some button and BOOM??, it happens. Well, from my point of view, it's the exact opposite. You really need to have a good self-awareness and work on it patiently for quite some time to make it happen. When I speak about longevity and stress, I always say that it is very hard to reduce everyday stress, but you can definitely work on significantly increasing your resilience to stress.

In this Nexus I've explained how the level of stress influence our performance, defined the difference between acute and chronic stress, how stress affects our longevity and healthspan. I also shared my recent experience of how I coped with a sudden burst of stress and some tips on how to increase your stress resilience.

Stress Level vs. the Quality of Performance

Human body's response to stress is a finely tuned system designed to maintain homeostasis, when faced with challenging situations. Our performance in various situations is tightly linked to the stress level we experience. Moderate stress, sometimes referred to as "eustress," can actually heighten our abilities, making us more alert, improving our performance, sharpening concentration and motivating action. However, excessive stress, or "distress," can have the opposite effect. It can impair cognitive function, reduce concentration, and decrease our efficiency, leading to burnout and decreased productivity. The relationship between stress level and quality of performance is shown in the image below.

My Recent Experience of Stress Burst

Recently, I had a number of opportunities to get on the stage as a speaker, with an audience varying from 30 to 1000+ people. I never know what day it will be - the "fearless beast" one, or the "Knock knock, guess who's there. Stress!" one. Usually, I don't even understand, on what factors the level of stress depends, as an online presentation can be more stressful than holding a mic in front of a big audience.

One of those appearances got stuck in my head until now. 10 min until I go to stage. I am sitting in the audience, waiting for my turn. I realise I don't hear a word the current speaker is saying. Instead, I hear loudly the beating of my heart and I feel my blood pressure rising. I am calm outside, but panicking inside how I'm going to speak. And then I remembered a video that I've seen from one of the longevity practitioners. It was on how to breathe in such cases when you need to calm down. I tried this deep breathing technique, and couldn't believe how quickly I got back to normal and went to speak in a full confidence. I was so pleasantly surprised!

I am not a person who does yoga, practice meditation or deep breathing. All this time I felt it was not my thing. I like active sports and speed, so it just seemed too boring. But this experience made me rethink at least the breathing practice, so I am planning to investigate it further and share it with you in one of the Nexus editions.

What Does Science Say?

Acute vs. Chronic Stress

It is worth defining what acute and chronic stress is, and how the length of the stress can affect our body in very different directions.

• Acute stress is characterized by brief and intense episodes triggered by immediate stressors.
• Chronic stress emerges from prolonged exposure to stressors, eliciting a sustained physiological response.

Response to stress involves complex interactions between the brain, hormones, and body clocks. One of the key players in this system is the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, which regulates stress hormone production, particularly cortisol (a steroid hormone produced by the adrenal cortex, involved in the regulation of metabolism, immune response, and stress response).

During acute stress, cortisol levels spike, aiding in the body's immediate response to the threat. This surge in cortisol, along with other hormones like adrenaline, helps prepare the body for action, known as the fight-or-flight response. However, if stress persists over time, as in chronic stress, the body's stress response can become dysregulated (1 ).

In chronic stress, changes occur in the HPA axis, leading to sustained high levels of cortisol. This prolonged exposure to cortisol can have detrimental effects on health. It can contribute to conditions such as metabolic syndrome, obesity, mental health disorders, cardiovascular disease, and increased susceptibility to infections (1 ). The effects to the body from acute and chronic stress are shown in the figure below (2 ).

The Link Between Stress and Longevity

Chronic stress leads to premature aging of key allostatic systems involved in the adaptation of the organism to environmental changes. Research indicates that stress experienced at any life stage can persistently affect the epigenome. Scientific evidence has demonstrated that psychological stress significantly impacts human longevity at the molecular level by promoting oxidative processes and accelerating the shortening of telomeres (3 ).

More recent studies have identified that lifetime stress leaves an apparent imprint on the epigenome, as evidenced by changes in DNA methylation profiles, particularly in glucocorticoid response elements that align with markers of epigenetic aging (4 ). This altered glucocorticoid signaling in individuals with high cumulative stress could account for differences in biological age of up to 3.6 years between individuals.

Stress is a risk factor of numerous diseases, and can significantly shorten our lifespan and healthspan. Those diseases include, but are not limited to:

• Cardiovascular disease (CVD). Chronic stress is an underappreciated CVD risk factor. It triggers HPA axis activation, behavioural and cardiometabolic changes, increased sympathetic and decreased parasympathetic nervous system activity, heightened leukopoiesis (formation of white blood cells), and immune dysregulation. Stress also increases the prevalence and severity of CVD risk factors, including hypertension, diabetes mellitus, and obesity (5 ).
• Cancer. The research evidence points to a prominent role for chronic daily life event stress, severe life events, depression, and social isolation in cancer growth and metastasis. Recent epidemiological evidence generally suggests psychosocial factors may be considered risk factors for specific types of cancer and play a key role in the cellular aging process (6 ).
• Alzheimer's disease. Chronic stress is increasingly recognized as a risk factor for Alzheimer's disease. Chronic stress primes microglia and induces inflammatory responses in the adult brain, thereby compromising synapse-supportive roles of microglia and deteriorating cognitive functions during aging. Substantial evidence demonstrates that failure of microglia to clear abnormally accumulating amyloid-beta peptide contributes to neuroinflammation and neurodegeneration in Alzheimer's disease (7 ).
• Cognitive and psychiatric disorders. Long-term or chronic stress, particularly in childhood and adolescence, consistently affects cognitive mechanisms. It is widely accepted that experiencing early life stress can result in deleterious effects such as psychiatric disorders, depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder. Research has also linked early life stress to dementia, cognitive impairment and chronic inflammation in later life (8 ).

What is in Your Stress Bucket?

While writing this article, I found a stress bucket analogy, which originated from the work of Brabban and Turkington, and really resonated to the topic (9 ). Picture a bucket that you carry around, that gradually gets filled as you encounter various forms of stress. There are times when you might feel capable of handling a great deal of stress, but it's crucial to engage in activities that help reduce this burden.

1. What causes you stress?
2. What helps you reduce stress?
3. How can you keep those activities going when other pressures build up?

Also consider: What size is your stress bucket? How full is it right now? What are the signs that your bucket is getting too full? Are all of your taps working? Do you turn to unhealthy ways to release stress and what does this look like? This is a really good exercise for self-awareness and better stress management.

Increasing Your Stress Resilience

Mitigating the damaging effects of stress requires the adoption of complex coping strategies. Here are couple of those that can provide you with the best effect:

1. Physical Exercise: Physical activity is a key part of managing stress, as it boosts the release of endorphins and supports the neurogenesis, which helps build your resistance to stress-related problems. Incorporate regular aerobic exercise or strength training into your routine to capitalise on the mood-enhancing and stress-alleviating benefits of physical activity.
2. Healthy Lifestyle Choices: Under stress conditions we tend to be more vulnerable and go "the wrong way" to reduce stress. Prioritise nutritious dietary habits, adequate sleep routine, and try to avoid the maladaptive coping mechanisms such as sweets, alcohol consumption or substance abuse to fortify your resilience against stressors.
3. Mindfulness Practices: Mindfulness-based stress reduction have demonstrated beneficial effects on epigenetic aging markers. Studies have found that meditation can reduce epigenetic age, with each year of meditation practice correlating with a 0.24-year decrease in biological age. Try to dedicate time for mindfulness, meditation or deep-breathing exercises to cultivate present-moment awareness and alleviate stress.
4. Effective Time Management: Our work and daily routine can be the biggest stressor of all. Try to organize your daily tasks methodically, delegate responsibilities when feasible (this was very hard for me to learn), and establish realistic goals to mitigate the tendency of stress-induced overwhelm.
5. Seeking Professional Support: Consultation with mental health professionals, psychologists, can provide invaluable insights and equip you with tailored coping strategies to navigate stressors adequately. I had a chance to do couple of sessions with an organisational psychologist, and I use some of those advices received to date.

Understanding stress mechanisms helps us recognize the importance of managing stress effectively. By adopting strategies to reduce stress and promote resilience, we can mitigate the negative impact of chronic stress on our health and longevity. Hope you enjoyed the read. More on longevity and healthspan in 2 weeks. Make sure to subscribe and share your thoughts!