Stress — Part 4

Stress and disease

I’ve shared with you how stress can account for your lack of results with weight loss, but it’s not just the scales that stress disrupts.

When you’ve been chronically stressed for a long time there are a lot of other normal bodily functions that go awry and cause disease.

Problems associated with chronic stress, from any source, can lead to the following diseases.

• Obesity – greater fat storage, breakdown of muscle and increased appetite.
• Heart disease – increased cholesterol, triglyceride levels and blood pressure.
• Depression / anxiety – brain chemistry problems.
• Alzheimer’s disease – shrinking brain cells.
• Diabetes – high blood sugar levels and insulin resistance.
• Osteoporosis – increased breakdown of bone.
• Reduced sex drive – lowered estrogen and testosterone.
• Increase chance of colds, flu and infectious diseases – lowered immunity.
• Memory and concentration – reduced synthesis of neurotransmitters.
• Fatigue and insomnia – reduction in ability to relax or sleep well enough each night.
• Digestive disorders – poor digestion and absorption and ulcers.
• Ageing – none of us want that now do we? 🙂

As you can see this is not a happy picture and a pretty good reason to ensure we keep our stress as manageable as possible.

What’s the answer in this busy world of ours?

Here’s a few more ideas (easier said than done, but worth considering nonetheless)

• Take mini breaks away from your desk during the day. Stand up, walk to get some water, get out at lunchtime.
• Get your 5-10 minutes you time each day.
• Take one full day off per week. No work, just downtime (my toughest one to follow)
• Take long weekends a couple of times per year to pep yourself up. It doesn’t have to be a spa break, or 5* hotel. There are some great deals on Premier Inn like hotels if you book them early enough. It’s the different environment that counts.
• Cut or reduce caffeine, alcohol, cigarettes, junk food.
• Exercise. If you’re not exercising add in some activity. If you are exercising are you over-training? This can be as detrimental as doing too little.
• Sleep enough. Yep, I’ve mentioned it before but it is that important.
• Eat enough of the good stuff, (low calorie diets will cause your body to go into stress) but limit junk food by choosing natural foods.
• Drink. Dehydration will slow down fat burning. Now that’s an easy win. Drink water, lose weight! You can do that.
• Portion control. Eat to 80% full. Wait and see if you need any more before adding any more in. You don’t want to overload your digestion.
• Supplement if necessary to boost falling natural reserves.

And there you have it. A four day whizz over the implications of stress in weight control, the hidden enzyme that could be nobbling your results and which diseases are shown to be prevalent when chronic stress has been present.

I hope you’ve found it useful.