stress and our health Archives - Fran's Fitness Over 50

4 ways to deal with stress

Many people are feeling anxious and stressed these days. In fact, everyone I’ve talked to lately is feeling it. The effect of long-term stress on our bodies can actually be harmful. Long-term stress can negatively impact our blood pressure, heart rate, sleep and even our eating habits. (See my article about both long-and short-term stress.)

We naturally try to avoid stress, but when we’re feeling overwhelmed by things that are outside of our control, we feel even more sensitive to outside factors.

There are some ways to deal with this stress, though.

Take some control

One reason that you’re feeling elevated stress is that you feel that there is nothing you can do. This leads to feelings of helplessness, and increased stress and anxiety.

A way to alleviate those feelings of helplessness is to find some small thing that doesn’t take a lot of thought or energy, and cross it off your to-do list. You won’t mess it up since it doesn’t require a great deal of effort, but just the act of crossing something off your list can ease some of your stress.

Take positive steps

Here’s where it gets a little tougher. You know how good it felt to knock something off your to-do list? It will feel even better to take steps toward a bigger goal.

When you’re dealing with anxiety, your avoidance motivation kicks in. Thoughts are racing around in your head, and you want to do anything you can to avoid those thoughts. And when you’re in this thought pattern, you’ll see all the flaws and problems that there could be in this course of action. So it can be difficult to take any action with those thoughts running around in your head.

But when you actually do start putting some energy toward that goal you can start to see the outcome you want. This is hard, though, because you have to overcome those churning thoughts in your head. Once you do you’ll start to become happier and you can start to anticipate that positive outcome.

Meditation is a great stress reliever, but short-term stress may be good for us.

Is stress good for us? There’s a difference between long-term and short-term stress, and our reactions are different.

Long-term stress = not good

We all know that long-term stress is bad for your health. Stress can increase blood pressure and heart rate. Stress can prevent you from sleeping well. Stress can impact your eating and exercise habits. Stress can even have a negative impact on your skin. So, we can safely conclude that it’s best to avoid long-term stress.

But, short-term stress is another story.

Short-term stress can get your blood pumping, charge you up for the challenge ahead.

Studies have shown that stress in short duration can actually help the brain improve. Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, discovered that after rats were place in a short-term stressful situation (they were immobilized in their cage for a few hours), new brain cell growth doubled. The rodents also did better on a memory test later on. “We think the same thing happens in people—manageable stress increases alertness and performance,” study author Daniela Kaufer, PhD, a professor of integrative biology, told Berkeley Wellness. “Moderate and short-lived stress—like an upcoming exam or preparing to deliver a speech in public—improves cognitive performance.” So be assured that the next time you have to speak before a group of people, your brain will grow!

It makes sense that short-term stress helps your memory too. If you’re being chased, you’ll be forced to remember your path rather than just meandering down random streets or alleys.

And a positive short-term stressor will increase our energy. Situations that challenge us, or are exciting and stimulating, place stress on our mind and body—but the experience doesn’t necessarily cause discomfort. Rather, this kind of stress can motivate us, sharpen our senses, and help us solve problems. Good stress actually creates new neural pathways and stimulates healthful endorphins.

The short-term stress you experience when you exercise is great for your body. (But it’s important not to overdo, especially if you’re not used to intense exercise. The short-term stress you’ll experience on a brisk walk may be all that you need to calm your mind enough to be able to focus.)

In fact, this short-term “good” stress can actually boost your immune system. Another study with rats showed that rats who were stressed briefly had a surge of immune cell response. There’s no reason to believe that we are different.

So, get stressed a little! Lace up your walking shoes or take the dog for a walk.