Are you experiencing high stress? or are you managing your cortisol?

So, this could be a very long article and as we start the year, it's important to understand what we may encounter over the year. The body of research that has been done to try and understand the stress response in humans is significant. And it can all add value to our lives if we are willing to understand it, and act on it. Especially as leaders, where stress and elevated arousal levels are par for the course.

I will try to condense what psychologists have learnt about the impacts of long-term stress on our bodies. At the same time, I encourage you to take a step back, and look at your work, your life, and your emotional state, to unpack if stress is either currently affecting how you function, or if it is likely to in the future… if you continue to lead a high stress and high cortisol lifestyle.

What happens when you get stressed?

Health Direct explains that Cortisol is a?hormone that is mainly released at times of stress.?Cortisol plays a number of different roles in the human body, with the main one being to regulate the release of adrenalin from the adrenal glands. This regulation happens in the pituitary gland (or master gland), which is responsible for regulating the body’s hormones, and neurotransmitters, the chemicals that allow neurons to communicate (sorry, too much information).

Stress is a natural reaction to threat… whether those threats are real or perceived. Thousands of years ago, our ancestors required a highly attuned stress response system to warn them of imminent and physical danger. In a split second, their amygdala glands fired, and they made the immediate decision go into flight, fight, or freeze mode. And that response was not just related to predators, it was also related to confrontations with other humans (or other species of humans, which depending on what literature you read). This amygdala response can now be measured, and when it comes to facial and expression recognition in particular,?the response to stimulus can be as fast as 130 milliseconds. Following our response, and once we have reacted to the real or perceived threat, our body self-limits the stress reaction, and returns our functions to normal.

But, in 2022, it is not predators or physical threats (generally) that we need to be worried out (it is public speaking??– very stressful for some people – also known as?Glossophobia). We are constantly stressed by our workloads, our work colleagues, or the type of work we do… and our stress response system can tend to remain on alert for far longer than it should.

What happens when you stay stressed?

When we remain in a stressed state, and we experience long term (or chronic) activation of our stress response system, cortisol (and other stress hormones) continues to be released. This continual release or cortisol affects the normal functioning of most of the systems without your body. The result is everything from headaches and muscle tension, to anxiety and depression. Your sleep will be affected by your continuous levels of arousal, and you will likely put on weight and struggle with your memory and your concentration. In short,?stress can cause an imbalance of neural circuitry?affecting cognition, decision making, anxiety and mood.

So, what is long term stress. It is different for every leader and every human, of course, as stress reaction is a result of both genetic disposition and life experience. Think in weeks when it comes to long term stress (a good rule of thumb).

Remember that this conversation is about long-term stress. Short-term stress can be motivating and can induce productive action and activity if?arousal levels?are optimal.?The optimal level of stress is termed eustress. Low arousal levels (the opposite of what we are unpacking here) will lead to low activity levels, and even boredom or apathy (which come with their own set of issues). High arousal (or distress) most often results in an anxiety like state – the first sign that your have been stressed for too long, and your cortisol system is being over utilised.

As a final note here, the real concern relating to stress is death. Yes, death. In Japan, the term for ‘overwork death’ is Karoshi. Karoshi, or something similar to it, accounted for over 745 thousand deaths in 2016, based on World Health Organisation data.

But what makes you stressed?

If you are looking for ‘THE’ resource on stress, and everything related to it, look no further than Contrada and Baum’s?‘The Handbook of Stress Science’. Interpreting the myriad articles and research papers referenced in this Handbook is stressful in itself (tongue in cheek), but there are some key elements that are important to consider when it comes to understanding stressors and what leads to leadership stress and work stress in general.

There is a body of evidence that work stress is generally thought about in relation to job demands and working hours. And while this is very much the case, particularly for leaders, who have demanding roles, there are other workplace stressors that are less well understood, but just as impactful on wellbeing and stress levels. Sadly, the four contemporary stressors cited by Contrada and Baum include bullying/violence/sexual harassment, politics/political behaviour, justice and fairness in the workplace and emotion work. The first three of these are somewhat self-explanatory. Emotion work is work that deals with high emotions (like leadership or customer service), where workers are required to manage their own emotions, and the emotions of others.

How can you reduce stress?

If your workload is high, if you are bullied, if politics are invasive, if you are not treated fairly or if you do emotion work – like all leaders do – it is time to evaluate if you are in eustress or distress. If the answer is distress, and it has been long-term (or you expect that it might be), it is time to take charge, and take control of your situation.

With my coaching clients we use the ‘TGG Eustress Diagnostic’, to unpack what areas of work life are causing a cortisol response, and why. From there, we work through what they are doing from a stress reduction perspective, and everything from journaling to breathing and hobbies would be considered as part of the cortisol control strategy.

So, if you are stressed, and have been for a while, please think about how you can reduce it. Your life depends on it… literally.

Coming Up...

Our first webinar for 2022 is coming up on Thursday, 27 January at 11.30am. This webinar is one you don't want to miss, as I'll be talking about How to Lead Under Pressure, and is a great way to set yourself up for success as a leader in 2022.

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About Anton Guinea

Entrepreneur, Speaker, bestselling author, and founder of The Guinea Group of Companies. For over 15 years, Anton has helped leaders to be better at ‘leading under pressure’ through control, care factor and courage. And to move their teams to become psychologically safe, physically safe and overall better versions of themselves.

To learn more about Anton and The Guinea Group, please visit our?website.