I want to continue on the theme from part 1 where we were identifying the negative stresses in our lives. Now it is important to realize how stress can negatively affect your body. As I previously stated there can be both positive and negative stresses. The positive stressors force your body to adapt by becoming stronger and more capable of performing its daily functions. The negative stressors act to break the body down.

In order to have a good understanding of how stress affects your body it is important to understand how the nervous system works. Your body has two main branches of the nervous system, the peripheral and the central nervous systems. The peripheral nervous system controls conscious movement while the central nervous system controls the actions that don’t require any thought, like your heart beat. The central nervous system contains the autonomic nervous system which is broken up into two branches, the sympathetic and the parasympathetic.

The sympathetic and parasympathetic branches of the nervous system are an integral part of normal body function. The sympathetic nervous system (SNS) produces the “flight or fight” response within your body. The parasympathetic nervous system (PNS) is responsible for repairing your body. Normally the SNS and PNS are meant to remain in relative balance helping you survive dangerous moments while also providing the capabilities to repair your body. Unfortunately in today’s society the SNS has become overactive which puts a great deal of stress on all of our body’s functions, which can lead to disease and death.

The SNS is responsible for releasing stress hormones that elevate your blood pressure and heart rate. The SNS, in response to a perceived threat, transports blood from your internal organs to your muscles and skin while also increasing sweating to allow you to escape the danger. The SNS is a catabolic, or tissue destructive, system. When your SNS is activated your levels of the stress hormone cortisol are elevated. The prolonged production of cortisol, under perceived situations of stress, will result in fatigue of the adrenal glands and overall tissue destruction. With time, the adrenal fatigue will lead to the inability to maintain balance between stress and immune hormones, resulting in immune system dysfunction.

While the SNS is constantly overactive the PNS is suppressed. The PNS stimulates digestion, the release of tissue building hormones, and most importantly for weight maintenance, metabolism. The constant suppression of the PNS will create the inability to properly digest food and repair the body. This will create an environment within your body where your body is progressively fatigued without the ability to repair itself. Ultimately this will lead to illness and death.

All of the previous stressors from the previous article to some extent stimulate the sympathetic nervous system while suppressing the parasympathetic nervous system. In order to better understand how the systems work in your life it is beneficial to examine a typical day.

The typical person will wake up in the morning to an alarm without adequate rest. This immediately begins the stimulation of the SNS. Overnight your body works to reduce the level of the stress hormone cortisol so you can wake up relaxed and healthy. However, getting an inadequate amount of sleep does not allow your body the necessary time to lower the level of cortisol within your body, immediately creating a stressful environment. On top of that your body will perceive the loud beeping noise as a threat, putting you in a fight or flight mode.

After waking most people wander into the kitchen to prepare a pot of coffee in hopes of waking up. Again you are further stimulating the SNS. Coffee contains caffeine, a stimulant, which stresses your adrenal glands. To make matters worse, few people eat a well balanced diet in the morning, which can offset the body’s response to the coffee. The majority of people, if they eat breakfast at all, opt for a bagel, cereal, or doughnut. All of these provide high amounts of sugar and carbohydrates, which quickly elevate your body’s insulin levels without providing the protein or fiber to help stabilize you blood sugar levels.

A few hours later, as your blood sugar drops dangerously low, your body again perceives a stressful situation, further stimulating the SNS. In order to raise your blood sugar quickly, to prevent serious health complications, your body begins to crave sweets. Most people grab the quickest and sweetest thing they can find, which is generally a form of candy or chocolate. The same response is created, where the sweets provide a quick source of carbohydrates without the nutrients to stabilize blood sugar levels. This process is repeated all day long. On top of the poor food choices, people continue to drink coffee to stay awake and alert, further increasing the stressful environment within the body.

All of this is created strictly through food choices and coffee. Then there is all of the stress that accumulates at work. Your boss hassles you more and more waiting for you to finish the project before the deadline. Then you have co-workers who aren’t pulling their own weight, which continues the stressful situations. All day at work you are bombarded with stress, continuing the increase of cortisol levels and the suppression of your PNS.

Upon arriving at home you are immediately attacked by your kids who are full of energy and ready to play, again a stressful situation. There is food to be made and a spouse or significant other who demands attention. All of these demands can be considered stressful situations, furthering the SNS stimulation. While at home you look at the mail and notice all of the bills that are accumulating, which needless to say stresses you out even more.

You then spend the majority of the night worrying about your workload at your job, the demands of your spouse and kids, and how you will afford all of the bills. Then you need to take into account the environment you live in. The quality of the air you breathe is fairly poor as more and more pollution accumulates. The quality of tap water stresses your body. You are then exposed to different pesticides on your food and are forced to take pharmaceutical drugs in hopes of relieving the increasing number of ailments within your body. All of this takes place in just one day.

This may seem like an exaggeration, but unfortunately it is true for the majority of society. All that time your body is getting more and more stressed out without the ability of your PNS to help repair your body. This leads to illness and fatigue. Not only that, it greatly reduces the chance of you ever getting the ultimate results that you seek in the gym. All of the stress doesn’t allow your body to gain the benefits of your workouts and the attempts to improve your nutrition. You continue to work hard and eat right, but unfortunately the results don’t seem to come. This can lead to more stress in your life and lead to giving up the hopes of changing your physical appearance.

In the third and final part of the negative affects of stress I will briefly examine how the increased stress sabotages your workouts and results followed by some ways to alleviate the stress in your life. As with before, continue to acknowledge the different stressors in your life so that you can begin to reduce and ultimately eliminate them. You have complete control over your environment, it is just a matter of making the decision to take back control and improve your life.

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