Author: Riley Pearce
Director of Social Media
The holiday season: although joyful for many, can also be a stressful time. Whether it is finding the perfect gift, keeping holiday party schedules organized, or being reminded of those who don’t get to celebrate with us this year, we all have a few bah humbug moments.
What happens when stress becomes part of our Christmas past, present, and future? How exactly does chronic stress impact our lives beyond the holiday season?
Let’s first look at the different types of stress we encounter in our daily lives. First we have normal stress. This stress is actually something we need. We experience this when we take on a new task and rise to the challenge of that task. This enables us to grow and learn and isn’t the type of stress we need to worry about.
The second type of stress is tolerable stress. The tolerability of this stress is determined by our own personal perceptions of stress, and also the support systems we have around us to help us deal with the stress. Tolerable stress is also important to our lives as it reminds us of the importance of family, friends, and a strong support system. It also can prove to us that we are more resilient than we may realize.
The final stress is known as toxic stress. This kind of stress is most prevalent in individuals with poor support systems, or early-life events that decreased their self-esteem, their good impulse-control, and their judgement. It is toxic in the way that poison is toxic. Even in small doses it can end up wreaking havoc on multiple organ systems, and causing lasting damage.
No matter what kind of stress we have in our life, the response from the body is complex. Hormones, the brain, and metabolism all adapt to stress in order to protect the body. It is an ancient system that allowed us to adapt to changing environments, threats, and changes in food supply.
But in a world where everything seems to change every day, we have more stress than we have ever had to deal with. We also live in a very cushioned world too. If we don’t like the environment outside, we can stay inside. If we don’t like people, or are afraid of a situation, we can just avoid it. This has made that toxic stress more prevalent in more people, and this is where the issue lies.
Toxic stress can throw our body so out of whack, that it creates a diseased state in the body. Our systems simply cannot keep track of all of the threats, so it puts all of our resources behind protecting us from the threat and we deplete the system. This leaves our internal health vulnerable to disease, metabolic syndrome, our risk for infection increases, and many times we try to treat this constantly stressed state with vices like drugs, alcohol, food, and isolation.
The actual neurophysical (brain-body) mechanisms of how chronic stress can really mess with our health is incredibly complex, and out of the scope of our blog, but there are a few main points to be taken from this article.
The first is that stress becomes more manageable with good support systems. This is why our trainers are encouraging of you and your fitness journey, but they also promote having a healthy circle of family, friends, and colleagues who are supportive of you.
The second is that a little stress is actually very good for you. Simple things like starting a new job, giving a presentation, or going on that first date, although stressful, are actually an opportunity to give your body a challenge it can overcome. By facing these types of stresses in life, we grow and become more resilient, which makes more of our stress tolerable or normal stress.
Finally, during the holiday season a lot of the stress we experience is brought on by our own expectations of ourselves. We expect ourselves to be everywhere, do everything, get the best gifts but also not to destroy our budgets. During the holiday season, the best thing you can do for your health is to set healthy expectations of yourself, be with those who support you, and to take moments to appreciate the little things that are good in life.
