Stress is a response. Not a disease - Until it becomes one.
- Frederik
- Apr 20
- 6 min read
Stress is most often ( especially in the corporate world ) addressed from a mental perspective. A way of viewing the condition as a load the mind cant handle, or that the main reason a person are experiencing a stress reaction is because they could not intellectually or structurally figure out the needed solutions to counter the adversity life exposed them to.
It is no secret that we can feel pressure from the workload.
From the perceived demands from our surroundings and from our own expectations to ourselves. But the solutions to fixing the issues are not exclusively found in the psychological challenges alone. The interconnection between how we think and how we feel becomes very reel. What we experience is first and foremost a performance and survival response. People that have experienced severe stress reactions know to well that it is very much a physical feeling as well. Stress can manifest itself in many different forms and situations. But the reason for its existence is the same. To protect us.
Yes that deadline is important, and you may have extremely high standards when it comes to the quality of the deliverance. But you still need to balance the homeostatic system. You still need calories to fuel your metabolism, make your heart beat, feed the muscles that drives your respiration, maintaining brain function, and to dispose and detox the burden of living.
The inherited survival systems is a remarkable and fascinating physiological skill.
In fact we should not call it the stress response. We should name it the anti-stress response.
It is what will keep us alive when we dont get enough food.
It will help us free up some of the stored resources we have at our disposal
It will make us faster in our decision making - even though it will make our accuracy less precise
It will direct blood flow towards the most essential organs and tissues
It will raise our pulse and blood pressure allowing for a faster distribution of nutrients and oxygen to tissues
It is what makes it possible for us to allocate most of our resources towards the very specific goal of survival.
It is basically trying to fix our resource needs in times where we do not have enough
It is designed to help bring us back to homeostasis as fast as possible
When we experience stressfull events in our lives we will often just push harder.
We might notice a shift in our energy. We might even feel more energized and a bit more focused. That is normal due to the release of adrenaline and cortisol. But over time, if we do not make sure to re-set and refuel, we will begin to experience a physiological counter pressure. Fuel is a premise for survival. And in times of higer fuel demands or when availability is scares, the stress response is here to save the day. Our ability to initiate the hormonal shift is there to protect us. It is what are recuired for growth. The stress load must be enough to make us pay attention so we adapt, but not so much that we are being thrown over the edge. Pushing our system into chronic survival mode is a very bad survival strategy.
If we do not address the physical and mental load we will slowly but surely be forced to.
We might begin to miss short term memory. We might find ourselves having a shorter patience and losing our temper more easily. We have a harder time falling a sleep and we might wake up around 2 or 3 in the night. The long term effects of a stressed state will over time break down our tissue in order to free up stored energy. Often in the form of muscle tissue. This will release amino acids that we can turn into glucose. Stress is catabolic in nature by design. Tearing down what is there to compensate for what is not.
if the stress continues for a very long time the body will eventually shut us down.
Making sure we do not move too much as it possesses a threat to our survival. If prolonged it can become a depressed state. When we are depressed we move less. When we move less the chances of survival increases short term. Because we use fewer resources.
When we shift into the stress response we will burn resources faster. Minerals will be lost with a higher rate, and glucose will burn more quickly. This can set us up for deficiencies both in nutrients and energy. Which over time will dig an even deeper hole.
Decrease our gut integrity - making way for edotoxins to enter systemic circulation causing all sorts of health issues like inflammation, affecting nutrient uptake, immunesystem suppression, allergies, headaches, poor health status
Burn of your protective hormones faster
Facilitates hyper ventilation - which will further raise the hormonal cascade and make it harder for you to utilize oxygen which will make you hyper ventilate even more
Potentially make your hypoglycaemic
postpone repair, recovery, and restitution
Make you more anxious
Disrupt your digestion and nutrient baseline
Suppress hunger
Sleep disturbances and insomnia
Break down tissue, and bone
Produce migrane type headaches
Slow down your metabolism resulting in cold hands and feet
Fat gains
But stress can also be induced by not meeting our nutritional demands.
The last couple of years fasting has gained a lot of followers. Even though many high performers had done it for years unintentionally, it sounded a little cool. And the narrative was fitting in with the high performing lifestyle where work was the number one priority and everything else had to take a backseat. Not eating in the morning saved time. The most valuable resource. But the survival system mechanism still applies. Being in an already high stress state and adding fuel on the fire in the form of more adrenaline and cortisol surges, is a pretty bad strategy for long term health for most. We can't escape the evolutionary systems. They will try to bring back homeostatic order.
Short lived stress and long term chronic stress are two very different beasts. Knowing which is activated is a must. Knowing how to modulate it and use it when it is an advantage is paramount to our health and performance.
The top 7 advice to counter stress in a stressful performance culture
Awareness - Its all starts with you being able to sense what state your nervous system is shifting towards. Many high performaners struggle with the awareness part. The consciousness is what makes you able to deal with it, modulate it and apply the appropriate tools.
Sleep - enough - it's often more than you think - nap - sleep some more.
Nutrition must support performance - Carbs - protein - some fat in that order unless you are metabolically damaged. Fruits, milk, root vegetables, honey, potatoes, rice, Orange juice to name few. Muscle meat can interfere with your health if you consume too much too often. Make sure you include organ meats, eggs, seafood, some fish, dairy products, collagen. Cooked vegetables are great too. Try to avoid plant oils, seeds, and nuts. Use them as a treat more than a staple. And - get enough calories please.
Breathe and learn how to do it the right way - Oxygen depends on it. And so do carbon dioxide which is essential for us to use oxygen in the first place. Burn glucose in the cells and in that process produce more carbon dioxide.
Hydrate. But don't drink 3 l. of water - Too much will dehydrate you. If you lack minerals in the first place ( Because of high stress load ) you will flush even more minerals and salts out when you sweat and pee. Go for a mix. Milk, orange juice, coconut water, or put something in the water you drink. Like salt and sugar. Get nutrients.
Movement matters - Make your brain healthier by moving - ideally lift some weights too. If you are under stress avoid extreme endurance and long bouts of HIIT. - even though real hit is very short lived. We are talking crossfit, marathons, spinning, etc...
Be purposeful - if what you do do not make any existential meaning to you, like purpose, or values you will become stressed over time.
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