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Your physical health is majorly affected by your stress levels. The stress response can be triggered in many ways. You could wake up late for work, the kids can stress you out, relationships can do it, and even planning for that much needed summer vacation can be a source of stress! Stress is a part of everyday life, but it must be controlled! Do you know that feeling when you get scared to death and it feels like the bottom drops out in your stomach and your heart starts racing like crazy? This is the stress response, better known as the “Fight- or­flight” response. This system was put in to place as a protective mechanism, and the start of the response is in the brain. Once triggered, the hormone, epinephrine, is released into the bloodstream and the cascade starts. Heart rate and blood pressure increase, breathing increases, muscles tense up and senses are heightening. This protective mechanism is meant to be in place. This is the initial part of the response, and it helps us to respond to impending doom, such as running from a bear or jumping out of the way of a run-away car. The second phase of the stress response causes the release of a hormone called cortisol, which causes our system to stay revved up like an engine that idles too high! This is the phase that people tend to hang out in who are chronically stressed, which leads to disastrous effects over time such as high blood pressure, increased risk for heart disease and stroke, and chronic fatigue. So, learning how to idle the engine down and manage this system is imperative to maintaining your physical health. There are many different methods that people use to control stress and learning what works best for you is vital. Deep breathing exercises, self-awareness, use of a social network or even physical exercise can help to idle down the stress response and lead to greater physical health! Find your idle down knob!
Ahhh, finally we get to rest! After all the work we put in to maintain our physical health the last and
the most important thing we can do is get adequate amounts of rest. And by rest, I mean good, deep, satisfying sleep! Making sure to get adequate amounts of sleep is a key part of the recipe in maintaining good physical health. Why do we sleep? If it wasn’t necessary, why would we do it? Sleep is when the body slips in a state to be able to grow, heal, and revitalize from the day’s work. It allows all your being’s energy to be focused on the processes needed to heal broken down muscle, rest our minds and solidify thoughts, as well as reduce inflammation throughout the whole body including the cardiovascular system. Studies have shown over and over the beneficial effects of getting the right amount of sleep. This doesn’t mean sleep all day! Sleeping too much can be bad for your health. But do realize that different people need different amounts of sleep. Small children may need more sleep than older children or adults because of the rapid rate they are growing; have you ever noticed how much newborns sleep?! We must sleep and we must sleep well to provide our bodies with
the optimal state for recovery and healing. Make sure to get at minimum of 7 hours of sleep per day and realize that if you are involved in strenuous types of activity or stress, you may need up to 10 hours a day!
Our physical health is affected by many different things, and a lot of these things are under our direct control. By realizing that our health must be targeted
from multiple angles, we can take a multimodal approach to optimize not only our physical health, but our lives! Health is one of our most treasured possessions and is worthy of our attention and focus. Staying physically healthy will allow you to enjoy some of life’s great moments and for a longer amount of time. Playing ball with you kids or grandchildren, dancing with your daughter at her wedding, carrying your wife across the threshold, and walking up a mountain to see some of the worlds great views are just a few benefits of staying physically
healthy. We cannot change our genetics, but it is up to us to optimize them. Make
sure to eat well, stay active, manage stress, rest as needed and live a happy, healthy life!
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