Stressball, IX;
When you’re dealing with chronic stress, your cortisol (those steroids that get into your DNA and change your genetic expression!) is increased. Your blood sugar and your insulin levels are both increased, which can be dangerous and lead to diabetes II. Your immunity is “dysregulated.� (Today I am absolutely feeling dysregulated, I may write another entry about this later!)
There are actual tests that one can have done to see if they’re in a state of chronic stress (as though you could not already tell!). You can have a cortisol test done (normally by a naturopath). Your salivary cortisol will vary throughout the day, however, so speak with your naturopath before you settle on a final cortisol number. You can have your catecholamines tested as well.
Acute stress in females suppresses testosterone, but in other stresses, it can be elevated. Speaking with your physician about this will help you decide if a testosterone test is the best test for you.
Finally, there is a waist to hip ratio test that will work to show chronic stress as well. For women, it is best to have a waist to hip ratio of .8 or less. For men, it should be less than one. (To figure this out, divide your waist measurement by your hip measurement; it’s really that easy!)
There are ways to cope with this stress (and the stress of stress). Coping is, by definition, a “response to a perceived threat in the environment or within oneself.� You can have adaptive coping (problem solving & emotional regulation - keeping yourself put together during stress & then picking yourself up afterwards) or you can have maladaptive coping (with avoidance or overconsumption - of cigarettes, food, television, alcohol and whatnot).
There are hundreds of studies available that show humans who are less stressed are more healthy. We need to learn to manage the regular stressors in our lives so they don’t turn our bodies against us
mental & emotional health, stress, cortisol, coping with stress
October 18th, 2007 at 11:08 am
[...] Read it all here. [...]
November 26th, 2007 at 10:29 pm
[...] about holiday eating, now I’ll address something else holiday related … stress. I’ve written a very long series on stress and what it does to your body, and if you didn’t read it, I recommend you check it out – stress [...]