The Chemistry of Stress

It's no surprise that constant stress can make people sick, and now a team of researchers has figured out why. A STUDY focused on 119 men and women who were taking care of spouses with dementia. The health of the caregivers was compared with that of 106 people of similar ages who were not living under the stress of constant care giving. Blood tests showed that a chemical called Interleukin-6 sharply increased in the blood of the stressed caregivers compared with blood of the others in the test. Previous studies have associated IL-6 with several diseases, including heart disease, arthritis, osteoporosis, type-2 diabetes and certain cancers.[via MSNBC]

If we look at this study as well as work that has looked at the stress hormone cortisol, we see how damaging chronic stress is to the human organism. Yes, we were designed to have a strong survival instinct and to be able to respond to life-threatening situations. Yet when we stay in that "mode" without a break for months or years to finish a project, take care of a sick loved one, or just because we're addicted to the stress high, our body starts to fail.

I highly recommend that individuals with a lot of stress take small breaks: meditation can be done in 5-20 minutes, same with exercise. Go fishing if that takes your mind off it. Massage is a wonderful way to deeply let go of stress and let your whole body remember what it is like to feel relaxed. While you may then return to your own stressful world, your body WILL remember and be better at healing and recovery.