What is stress and what’s its purpose?
Simply put, stress is our physical, mental, and emotional response to perceived threat.
But stress, as it turns out, has a specific purpose to help us survive.
If we think about our ancestors homo habilis who lived a couple of million years ago, they developed this stress response as a way to survive in the eat-or-be-eaten world of the savanna. Our ancestors had to be ready to run from or fight with predators, like lions. Can you imagine yourself being up against a lion? My heart pounds at the thought!
Basically, our bodies knew we needed some help so our bodies evolved to give us that help. When faced with a perceived threat, we release certain hormones, like adrenaline – to increase our heart rate, letting blood flow to our limbs to be able to run or fight. Our lung airways expand, giving us more oxygen. Our digestive system slows down to allow these other systems to take over. Vision changes. Our fast, reactive emotional system in the brain takes over from the slower, thoughtful prefrontal cortex.
So our stress response evolved millions of years ago and that is the reason we experience stress today. We may notice when we’re under stress that we have shallow breathing, sweaty palms, increased heart rate, changes in appetite or stomach discomfort, muscle tension, intense emotions with a decreased ability to think clearly. These physical symptoms are just signs that our bodies are mobilizing us for a threat. You may have heard of this response referred to as the fight, flight, or freeze response. This response is put into motion by our autonomic nervous system
Why does stress get a bad reputation?
The stress response is great….when we are being chased by a lion. But things that cause our stress response in today’s world tend to be long-lasting. They may be things like worrying about money, worrying about our health, arguing with a spouse, trying to impress someone, caregiving for a sick family member. These things cause a prolonged stress response.
Chronic increases in stress or anxiety puts our autonomic nervous system into overdrive.
The consequence of chronic stress can impact our health. We are learning more everyday about how stress impacts our biology. But we do know that chronic stress can raise blood pressure, cause inflammation, and causes certain hormones 
to be released, all of which affects many systems of the body including the cardiovascular, musculoskeletal, respiratory, endocrine, gastrointestinal, nervous, and reproductive systems. Chronic stress increases the risk for chronic conditions, like diabetes and heart disease. So you can see how stress could make us physically unwell.
What is certain is that for many people, chronic stress impacts our behaviors, which, in turn, impact our health. If you think about the last time you were under stress, maybe you noticed you ate more unhealthy food like candies and chips. We like those types of foods because they are comforting and feel good when we’re stressed. Other people turn to substances like alcohol or nicotine. Sometimes when we’re under stress we will drop healthy habits like exercise or connecting with loved ones.
So while stress itself may or may not directly cause ilness, it causes these changes in our bodies and in our behaviors that can put us at greater risk of developing illness or of having poorer outcomes if we already have a chronic illness.
What can we do to manage stress?
Three things: 1) prevent stress, 2) cope with stress, and 3) leverage stress
Prevent stress.
Learn what stresses you out in the first place and, if possible, try to avoid those things or engage in problem solving strategies around those stressors. Start by learning your individual signs and symptoms of sterss, because everyone is a little bit different.
One big indication for a lot of people is that they may start worrying more. Other indications are things like changes in heart rate, shallow breathing, sweaty palms, muscle tension, becoming more irritable or emotional. Your sleep might change or perhaps you notice you were exercising but now you’re not and you’re eating junk food instead. Maybe you’re adding on an extra glass of wine with dinner and then drinking more coffee in the morning. Maybe you stop talking to friends and family. You may even get sick more.
Here are some other potential signs of stress:
- Headaches
- Stomach ache
- Muscle tension or pain
- Chest pain (though this should be checked by a doctor)
- Restlessness
- Decreased motivation
- Fatigue
- Feeling overwhelmed
When you recognize your signs, you can try to identify the things that tend to cause those signs so you can avoid these situations. If you can’t avoid the stressor, the next option is to cope with stress
Cope with stress.
When you notice your signs and symptoms of stress, this is the time when you want to increase your coping tools. What are coping tools?
Coping tools are any behavior or experience that either creates feelings of calm and safety or that calms your nervous system.
Examples include learning breathing techniques that calm the sympathetic nervous system. Moving the body (exercising, walking) to get rid of excess stress hormones or to trigger feelings of calm and safety (yoga, stretching). Walking is a great way to move the body for most people.
Reaching for one less cookie – unless that stresses you out more, then let go of that for now and revisit it when you’re less stressed. Same goes for trying to drink water or herbal tea instead of alcohol or caffeine.
Engaging in activities and hobbies that normally bring you joy is a great way to cope.
Yoga and meditating can also be really helpful for some people. Seeing a therapist or doctor.
Calling a friend or someone you trust even if you don’t really feel like it – actually social connection is possibly one of the best things you can do to cope with stress because of the impact it can have on our nervous system.
Leverage stress.
Remember how I said stress serves a purpose? It basically protects us from threats. And some stress is actually necessary for a healthy life. If we had no stress at all, we would not feel a need to do much of anything. Stress mobilizes us! if we didn’t worry about getting enough food to eat, we wouldn’t go out and get money to buy food to eat; we would just lie about not worrying about anything but also not doing anything productive.
So remember that stress can be your friend! In fact, research indicates that there are two distinct stress responses that have slightly different impacts: The challenge response and the threat response. The threat response is what I’ve described to you so far – this is the fight, flight, or freeze response that is our adaptive survival response to a perceived threat.
But when people perceive a threat, they can see that threat as a challenge instead. So while there is still an element of threat, rather than feeling fear, they feel excited and courageous to overcome this CHALLENGE! People who have this mindset have many of the stress responses in their body I’ve already discussed, EXCEPT that their blood vessels actually relax (so their blood pressure doesn’t increase) and their heart keeps a stronger, healthier beat!!!
How do you shift from the threat response to the challenge response? When you notice your physical symptoms of 
stress – sweaty palms, quickening breath, increases in heart beats, muscle tension – instead of thinking, “Oh no, what’s going to happen to me?” think to yourself, “Isn’t it wonderful that my body can tell me when something is important to me AND that it can prepare me with the energy to take action that is consistent with my values!”
Final Thoughts
I’ll end with a quote from Philippe Petit, who was a French daredevil who walked a tightrope between the World Trade Center Twin Tower in New York in 1974. He wrote about his secret for coping with his stress caused by fear of being so high up!
“A clever tool in the arsenal to destroy fear: if a nightmare taps you on the shoulder, do not turn around immediately expecting to be scared. Pause and expect more, exaggerate. Be ready to be very afraid, to scream in terror. The more delirious your expectation, the safer you will be when you see that reality is much less horrifying than what you had envisioned. Now turn around. See? It was not that bad – and you’re already smiling.”
If you’re interested in learning more about your own stress or how to leverage it, consider individual therapy.