Stress Makes You Sick and Fat

Author: @SilviaBürkle - HQ @Metabolic

As early as 1880, the American psychiatrist Beard discovered in New York, that overstimulation and striving for over-achievement had taken on such proportions that people were becoming ill with nervousness, sleep disorders and exhaustion.

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Beard coined a new term: neurasthenia – a popular diagnosis for the beginning of the 20th century – which was developed further by Sigmund Freud. If too many external stimuli and an overload of sensory impressions burden the body, we grow tired, become exhausted, and feel stressed. Hassle, noise, anxiety, work overload, negative environmental influences – to name a few examples – result in an overtaxed nervous system.

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There are two sides to Stress!

Stress also has its good sides:?at the sight of danger (for example, a wild animal in the forest!) we run away as fast as we can.?Not only does this save our life, but also trains the cells of our immune system. These positive stress stimuli are called eustress; without them our body would practically ‘rust away’ and would not be able to react – which is often important for our own survival.

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Despite this, permanent stress can make you ill.?If you are constantly under pressure, your body will inevitably produce too much cortisol.?And what happens to all this cortisol??It gets stored as belly fat, which coats the internal organs and settles in the entire abdominal cavity. This is because fat cells have more receptors for the cortisol to dock onto. Cortisol causes fat to be released from lipoproteins, at the same time fat cells are stimulated to absorb more fat – which in turn causes an increase in abdominal fat.

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In addition, many body systems run at full speed under stress (e.g., the cardiovascular, endocrine, and nervous systems) whereas other systems like (the digestive system slow down - triggered by the many stress hormones that reach the organs via the bloodstream.

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Get off the Hamster Wheel

Is there nothing we can do??Yes, there is – avoid stress! Easier said than done in this fast-paced day and age – not to mention the demands of school, work, and family.

Our ancestors were able to reduce a large amount of stress using the flight-or-fight response, which required a lot of movement. In this case the enemy was either chased off or one happily escaped.

Nowadays if we are under stress our range of movement is often restricted to a desk. Therefore, after a stressful situation it is advisable to move your body.

-???????Do some basic stretching exercises at your desk

-???????Go for a walk on your lunch-break

-???????Use the stairs instead of the elevator

#Stress #Stressful #Health #HealthyEating #Mindfulness #SilviaBürkle #MetabolicBalance