Stress not only affects our health and well-being but also shortens our lives. Getting old itself is a stressful experience! Like aging, stress is a natural part of life. When we’re young and resilient, stressful situations are easily handled by our bodies and minds. But as we get older, the body’s natural defenses gradually begin to break down, making it harder to cope with stress and anxiety.
As a normal occurrence that everyone experiences, stress is triggered by a stressor or perceived threat. Stressors can be events that are potentially life-threatening, like experiencing an earthquake or veering to avoid a car crash. But stressors can also be less dramatic, such as dealing with difficult people, meeting deadlines, lack of sleep, career stagnation, parenthood, financial worries, health concerns, etc. When we’re physically or emotionally distressed, our bodies release stress hormones such as cortisol and adrenaline. These stress hormones can be helpful for providing short-term energy and focus so we can appropriately deal with the stressful situation at hand.
But chronic stress can lead to an overload of stress hormones, resulting in harmful imbalances and inflammation in the body. Excess stress hormones have been linked to heart disease, high blood pressure, weakened immune systems, and memory loss.
Over time, the brain loses its ability to regulate stress hormone levels. An individual who experiences chronic stress is more likely to make unhealthy lifestyle choices, which causes additional health problems. In other words, stress accelerates aging, and aging causes stress…it’s a vicious cycle.
Fortunately, reducing stress levels can improve your overall health and improving your health can in turn slow down aging. And the good news is that Healthy Options shall have Mastering Your Stress seminars on Oct 25 at EDSA Shangri-La Hotel and on Oct. 27 at Radisson Hotel in Cebu. For more details, see our ad inside.
The speaker is Dr. Doni Wilson, author of Master Your Stress, Reset Your Health (an Amazon bestseller). In her new book, Dr. Doni reveals that the key to breaking the cycle is finding and treating your unique stress type. And how do you know what your stress type is? Well, come and attend her seminar next month. It could very well add many more years to your life!
Best of health,
Romy Sia
romy@healthyoptions.com.ph
Download the full issue of the September-October 2023 Healthy Options News Digest here.
