That sounds like a bit of overkill, an outright exaggeration doesn’t it? The National Institute of Health has stated that “research shows that almost every system in the body can be influenced by chronic stress”.
If we take a look at the nervous system we find more evidence that chronic increased sympathetic activity is related to higher cardiovascular and metabolic risk, leading to high chances to develop hypertension, diabetes, stroke and dyslipidemia.
Keep in mind that there is little money or motivation in medicine to research this as there is no drug that is going to negate the impact of chronic stress.
Here’s a post I did on STRESS.
How Stress Affects the Nervous System
The part of the nervous system responsible for coordinating function of your internal organs from digestion to heart to liver and kidneys is the Autonomic Nervous System (ANS). The ANS comprises two divisions with very different functions.
The Sympathetic Nervous System is often called the “Fight-or-Flight” system because this division is primarily tasked with survival. Long ago in human history when we regularly encountered threats to our immediate survival the ANS mobilized all the body’s resources to “Fight” or “Flee” to ensure our survival.
Activation of the Sympathetic System results in:
- Increased heart rate and blood pressure
- Increased breathing rate
- Elevation of stress hormones cortisol and adrenaline
- Increased muscle tension
- Decreased digestion
- Impaired sleep
- Increased inflammation
It’s easy to see how most of these responses would be appropriate if your life were at risk. You don’t need to sleep or digest food if you are fighting for survival.
The other division of the ANS is the Parasympathetic System consisting primarily of the Vagus Nerve. In contrast to the Sympathetic, the Parasympathetic is referred to as the “Rest and Digest” system.
Activation of the Vagus Nerve results in:
- Lowered heart rate and blood pressure
- Lowered inflammation
- Improved digestion
- Better quality sleep and recovery
- Healthy immune response
The Reality of Stress
Stress is much more than what you might think of. Our nervous systems developed during much simpler times when the triggers to the Sympathetic System were occasional and spread apart.
Our modern world is filled with triggers that are not a real threat to our survival but our nervous system reacts as though it is. The Sympathetic System responds to both real and perceived threats and our daily life is filled with perceived threats.
The long term impact to your health is due to the unrelenting activation of the Sympathetic “Fight-or-Flight” System. Over time many people live in a state of near constant activation of the SNS. This compromises the functions that support health, healing, recovery, sleep, digestion, and immune function.
When the Sympathetic System is activated it causes the Vagus Nerve to be suppressed. The longer this goes on the more it essentially weakens the Vagus Nerve. This is devastating to your long term health and is a big reason why chronic stress is killing you.
The Dilemma of Stress
Due to the nature of our world there is no escaping the triggers to your Sympathetic System. There is no effective way to “manage” stress. By all means cut out the stressful people and situations you can. Leave a job with unreasonable demands. Avoid people who are toxic.
But, that still leaves you with many daily triggers that are unavoidable. If you can’t manage your way out of this what can you do?
The Solution to Stress
The answer to the challenges that chronic stress poses to you and your health is to change how your brain and nervous system respond to stress. The consistent exposure to stress has the effect of strengthening the response of the Sympathetic System and diminishing the Vagus Nerve activity. Let’s explore how to reverse that process.
5 Immediate Steps to Transform Chronic Stress
Keep in mind that it has taken you your entire life to reach this point in how your body responds to stress. Anything you do to change this must be done on a consistent basis to rewire your nervous system.
Step #1: Prioritize healthy sleep hygiene: in western culture we have an attitude that we can always catch up on missed sleep. Sleep is critical to your well-being and it is during sleep that your brain cleans the house and you also release stored stress and tension.
Here are a few aspects of a healthy sleep routine
- Consistent bedtime
- Dark room with no electronics
- Cool room
- Enough time in bed for at least 7-8 hours of sleep
- Avoid food for a couple of hours before bed
- No alcohol or caffeine
Step #2: Diaphragm Breathing: Before I explain this, try this. Stand in front of a mirror and take 5 normal breaths in and out. Observe yourself from the waist up and notice what part of your upper body moves when you breathe in.
Does your upper chest move?
Do your shoulders move?
Do you notice any movement in the muscles of your neck?
Any movement in the above areas is a sign you are both breathing inefficiently by using accessory breathing muscles and at the same time activating the Sympathetic Nervous System. This will drive tension in your neck and shoulders and impact everything from your digestion to sleep to the immune system.
Start lying on your back with your hands on your abdomen below your ribs. Breathe in and out slowly through your nose and focus on movement only at your abdomen. When you can do this lying down try sitting. Then move to standing.
Step #3: Nasal Breathing: Many of us are mouth breathers. News flash: the mouth is for eating, drinking, and talking and the nose is designed for breathing. Breathing through the nose filters and warms the air, produces nitric oxide and encourages use of the diaphragm. When you are not eating, drinking, or talking, close your mouth and breathe through your nose.
Step #4: Avoid Excess Stimulants and Sedative: It’s tempting to self-medicate or use prescription medication to deal with stress. This is only going to put more stress on the Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal Axis and perpetuate the stress. Consider giving up caffeine and if you do continue then do not drink any caffeine after 12pm. Alcohol and cannabis will also exacerbate the impact of stress on your body long term.
Step #5: Activate the Vagus Nerve: The long term impact of chronic stress activating the Sympathetic System is a suppression of the Vagus Nerve. As I’ve noted, the Vagus is your antidote to stress. By activating it frequently enough over a long enough time you can move out of a sympathetic dominant state. There are many ways to activate the Vagus Nerve. The easiest place to start after the diaphragmatic and nasal breathing is to lengthen your exhale relative to the inhale. Spend at least 5 minutes twice a day inhaling and exhaling through your nose with the exhale twice as long as the inhale.
What I’ve laid out here is a path out of chronic stress activation of your Sympathetic Nervous System. The process of chronic stress is one that takes place over years and decades. You must commit to doing these 5 steps daily to start to turn this around.
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