The science of stress
"These mountains that you are carrying, you were only supposed to climb” Najwa Zebian
Life can throw difficulties our way when we're least expecting them so having some robust ways to manage your stress is incredibly important to reduce these short and long term health impacts.
The stress response, is a natural one. Evolution has built this protective mechanism into our bodies so that we can look after ourselves if anything threatens our wellbeing. This is sometimes referred to as the ‘fight or flight’ response. A flood of chemicals are released from the very core of our brains (called the amygdala, pituitary gland and hypothalamus) and adrenal glands (referred to as the HPA axis) when we feel under threat. These chemicals are really useful as they increase our alertness, heart rate, blood pressure, breathing rate and the blood supply to our muscles so that we are prepared to sprint away from that sabre tooth tiger which may be lurking in the forest nearby. So having a well functioning stress response gives us a survival advantage, you could say that anxiety has helped us to survive! Now, this is all well and good if these stressful situations arise now and again. In our world, there aren’t too many sabre tooth tigers hanging around in laneways, but we’ve replaced these with more consistent perceived threats.
The human body is much less well equipped at coping with chronic stress. Chronic release of stress hormones through stimulation of the HPA axis has lots of not so great effects. One, is that stress can contribute to increased body weight, as our body’s tend to perceive chronic stress as a pending famine. This is designed to provide protection for us as it ensures that we have enough fat and carbohydrate stores on board to get us through rough times. Hormones like cortisol increase appetite to support this. So, it’s not hard to see why overeating and consequent struggles with weight are really common in people who are chronically stressed. Understanding this is a great first step to finding ways to short circuit these responses and to stop that self critical unhelpful voice in your head!
How we measure stress
The In2health assessment that you’ve just completed measures 38 factors which can be protective against or contribute to health impacts of chronic stress. Some of these, are skills and habits that can be learned as well as established into structures in workplaces to better support health such as:
using a growth rather than a fixed mindset;
establishing a sense of purpose;
developing the ability to have some level of control over potential stressors that can be controlled;
building resilience and
incorporating healthy strategies into your routine to reduce the impact of stress on your body.
We measured a number of ‘resilience factors’ in your assessment, that help to mitigate the perception of and/or the negative health impacts of stress. These include levels of social connectedness, sense of self worth and purpose, control and having a growth mindset. Check out the detail in your action plan to see how your stress management score card is stacking up and for some tips on how you may improve this. Here’s a bit of information about the factors that contribute to resilience and some strategies about how you may be able to embed these in your life to help to combat whatever life throws at you.
Growth vs Fixed mindset
It’s important to understand that your type of mindset is not set in stone that we’re all capable of having a growth mindset if we choose to understand how and why we think the way we think and recognise the impacts of our mindset on our perception.
Having a growth mindset can also be described as understanding the power of the word ‘yet’ as in ‘not yet’ rather than ‘no I can’t do that’. This can be a very powerful tool but the first step is to observe and reflect on how you think. If you recognise that you do tend to be more fixed in your thinking then we’d recommend taking some time to retrain your brain, to challenge some of your fixed beliefs to cultivate more of a growth mindset.
We love this quote from Prof Carol Dweck, as it’s an inspiring summary of how changing the way you think can create amazing opportunities:
“In a growth mindset challenges are exciting rather than threatening. So, rather than thinking, oh I’m going to reveal my weaknesses, you say, wow here’s a chance to grow.
Teaching people to have a growth mindset, encourages a focus on effort rather than on intelligence or talent, this helps make them into high achievers in life”.
To learn more about training your brain toward sitting in the ‘yet’ rather than ‘never’ check out this 3 minute clip on developing a growth mindset and the amazing world of neuroplasticity.
Resilience factors
Social connectedness
Having people in your life that you trust to debrief and to be yourself with, is very important for good health. We recommend reflecting on who you have in your life and if you’re not doing it already, looking at what you can do to create time and space to nurture the relationships that matter to you.
Finding your ‘Why’
What are you passionate about? Having a strong sense of purpose is strongly connected to perceptions of self worth and mental wellbeing.
We’re big fans of the work of Simon Sinek on the value of being purpose led. Here are two short clips on What's your why? and a Quick way to find your why, from Simon that we hope will inspire you to take some time to reflect on where you’re at and where your compass is leading you.
Perception of control over stressors
There is good evidence that individuals who experience high levels of stress at work, who feel that they have no control over their workload are much more likely to experience negative physical and mental health impacts than peers who feel that they have more control and feel challenged by the stress that they experience.
The In2health team think that this is pretty fascinating and this informs the conversations that we have with organisations about strategies to reduce stress in workplaces and to improve physical and mental health.
Smashing stress strategies
It’s important to find strategies that you enjoy to actively combat stress that may be impacting your health.
Getting some regular exercise that you enjoy whether alone or with a friend or two, finding some time for mindfulness, yoga, tai chi, meditation or whatever suits you as a way of thinking about something else apart from the things that are worrying you, are all good ideas. The key to success is getting this 'you time' into your diary as a not negotiable.
There is so much evidence that learning how to be mindful can have a huge impact on our physical and mental health. It doesn’t have to take a lot of time but it does take practice to do this effectively. T
There are some fantastic apps around to support mindfulness practice of varying lengths of time anywhere from just a few minutes a day. Here are a few of our favourites, Insight timer is free, the others have free options for you to try out to see what works for you: