Stress may affect you in more ways than you know

 

                                      

Changes in our lives can cause us to be stressed. Sometimes the changes are good ones such as a job promotion or the birth of a child. Sometimes the opposite is true. You may be laid off because the company you work for is downsizing. Instead of the joyful experience of your child’s birth you have experienced the death of your child. Divorce after 18 years found me alone with four young boys and limited finances. When these events occurred, every facet of my life was affected from the tip of my head down to my toes. I have come to realize that there are at least five ways the body is affected by stress.

1. Cognitively or the way my brain thought about things was altered to the point of feeling like I was going “crazy” at times.  I withdrew into myself not wanting to talk to anyone, for talking made me cry- yell- it made me feel out of control.  I would have given anything not to “feel”. At times I couldn’t find my keys when I wanted to go out of the house, or I would leave the house and forget where I was going.
2. Physically our body responds to stress the same way we do with grief. Changes such as this in our lives can cause us headaches as well as heartaches. Headaches can come from not sleeping enough, from fear that life will never be safe again, or tension to resolve the situation. Heartaches or feeling weary due to heaviness in the chest is often experienced as a by-product of this exhaustion and can seem as if one is walking through a fog. 
3. Emotional responses are familiar to anyone who has experienced stress. Those suffering from stress may be surprised at the many emotions surfacing. I had bouts of crying, being angry at those close to me, and had a short temper. I did not trust my feelings or the intensions of others All these emotions can come to the surface as one struggles to make sense out of a senseless situation.
4. Socially those suffering from stress may suddenly retreat inward and not want to be around anyone.  The world they knew and trusted to be the same has now changed. The control I thought I had had become a fallacy. Not wanting to experience the hurt I was feeling now, l refused invitations of support and comfort.
5. Spiritually How a person has been raised and their faith beliefs can also be seen in the body. Their faith can be a comfort or cause them additional stress. Many have shared that they were angry with God, as they knew him.  For just as many, their faith helps relieve the stress and brought them a sense of calmness that eased some of their pain.

 Being aware and accepting that stress affects our body in various ways is important to the healing process and the self care that follows. Finding an activity that can take your mind off of the situation can bring some comfort. Journal writing is one of the activities that can be a helpful tool when one is feeling stressed. As one begins to list the problems, they also begin to formulate options and begin writing out a plan to reduce the stress. To reduce that stress your feeling…jot it down - sort it out…and begin to relax.

Visit  www.maryjanecronin.com to see the many ways to learn to de-stress yourself and be on your way to better health