Stressed?

If things are making you persistently tense and worried, it’s not just in your mind—your body’s getting in on the act too. Here are some ways to chill.

We hear a lot these days about stress. But the first thing to know is that it’s not all bad. “Stress has many wonderful attributes,” wrote Alia and Thomas Crum in theHarvard Business Review a few years ago. “It reminds us that we care; it connects us directly with the most challenging and important aspects of our lives.” Still, many of us would respond that we know we care; we’d actually like to stress a little less.

You’re not living in the wild anymore, with dangers around every bush, as your distant ancestors once did. But try telling that to the built-in responses in your own body. They seek to help you by putting your organ systems on high alert in reaction to any perceived threat. In our complicated modern world, however, too much of that, sustained for too long, can be a hazard to your health.

Acute (short-term) stress elicits our fight-orflight response to a dangerous situation. Your blood pressure, heart rate, breathing rate and levels of muscle tension may skyrocket for a short time. Chronic (long-term) stress occurs over time and can lead to insomnia, anxiety, depression, panic attacks, weight gain, memory problems and headaches. It also can increase inflammation in the body, contributing to metabolic disease, fatigue, brain fog and cardiovascular illness.

Though there’s no one-size-fitsall approach to dealing with stress, handling it is crucial to one’s well-being. Poor stress management can lead to actual physiological changes in the body such as increased heart rate, gastrointestinal issues, body aches and pain, says Jessica Tasca, Ph.D., a clinical psychologist with offices in Montclair and New York City. When patients come to Tasca with health issues related to stress, she explains how they can use a variety of lifestyle tools to navigate stressful situations.

“The first step to managing anxiety and stress is to identity where that stress is coming from,” Tasca says. “Is it from work, home, social or is it coming from unresolved stress, trauma, upset from the past that has been suppressed, neglected or ignored?”

Once stress triggers are identified, life can be a bit more predictable and manageable, and actions can be taken to decrease the impact of the trigger itself. For instance, prioritize activities in your life that bring you joy and peace; they can be restorative and help you inoculate yourself against chronic stress. Another way to reduce stress is to reduce time spent in front of a screen (including computers, TVs, tablets and smartphones) and re-engage with nature, family and friends. And there’s also:

• Healthy eating. An old proverb states, “You are what you eat,” and if you eat well, you’ll feel well too. The body’s gut-brain axis, which directly connects the brain with your gut, can play an important role in helping to regulate mood, stress and cognition. Eating foods like yogurt with probiotics, leafy greens and prebiotics can help sustain a healthy gut-brain axis and have a positive impact on overall mood. On the other hand, foods high in sugar can negatively impact mood, as they cause rapid spikes and crashes in blood sugar levels. And highly processed foods can cause inflammation, which also negatively impacts both physical and mental health.

• Getting enough sleep. Resetting your body with rest can have a positive impact on stress and mood. Adequate sleep is essential for overall well-being—it helps people cope with the stresses of everyday life, regulate emotions and maintain a healthy and positive outlook on life. Too little shut-eye can have the opposite effect. “Sleep is vital to human functioning, and lack of sleep can impact concentration, memory formation, judgment and mood,” Tasca says. “When these areas are impacted, it can make life more difficult in the domains of work, relationships and home life.” She adds that sleep quality is correlated with stress, in that adults who sleep less than eight hours a night report higher stress levels than those who sleep at least eight hours per night. However, she notes, “Sleep and stress are kind of like a chicken before the egg situation: The lack of quality sleep impacts stress levels, and stress levels impact sleep.”

• Meditating. Holistic approaches to stress such as breathwork and meditation also can reduce tension and anxiety. That’s because the body’s sympathetic nervous system activates a “fight or flight response” when faced with stress, resulting in a racing heart, increased blood pressure, feelings of tension, dilated pupils, trembling, upset GI tract and more. “Breathing is the anecdote to the fight or flight response,” Tasca says. “By focusing on slow, controlled breathing, we activate the parasympathetic nervous system (PNS), which is known as our ‘rest and digest’ system, because it slows our system down. By focusing on breath, we tell our body and our mind that we are safe. Utilizing breathwork, mindfulness and meditative practice, all of which rely on the breath and the PNS, we harness the power within our body to achieve a sense of calm and control in the face of stress and anxiety.”

Tasca reminds those who are battling excessive stress that help is always available. “Psychologists can help you to identity the sources of stress in your life and problem-solve the best course of action tailored to your circumstances and needs,” she says. “Prevention is always preferable. Learn stress management techniques and strategies prior to high stress situations to cope most effectively.”