How Stress Affects Your Body

Among all the factors contributing to poor health and early death, stress is perhaps the most pernicious. In bygone days, the stress response was a lifesaving biological function, enabling us to run from predators or take down prey. But today, we are turning on the same “lifesaving” reaction to cope with

Weight gain and/or difficulty losing weight in general is a common problem associated with stress. What’s worse, stress-induced weight gain typically involves an increase in belly fat, which is the most dangerous fat for your body to accumulate as it increases your risk for cardiovascular disease. Stress alters the

Are You Tending to Your Emotional Health? Keeping your stress levels under control has to be an ongoing commitment, like preparing healthy meals and exercising. Unfortunately, many fall into a vicious trap where their strategies for dealing with stress center on unhealthy activities, like watching TV, drinking alcohol, or eating junk foods; many

Your stress level is a major player in your overall health, impacting your risk of chronic health conditions like heart disease, depression and obesity. But unlike other more obvious risk factors, like over-indulging in junk food or not exercising, stress is more insidious, subtly sneaking up on you over

Ignoring Your Stress Can Devastate Your Health We all experience stress sometimes, and this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Some stress, like exercise, is beneficial. Likewise, the stress response can work to your advantage in some cases to give you a burst of energy and focus when you’re facing

As noted in a recent article by Chris Kresser, stress can also be a factor in polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), a condition caused by elevated androgens, i.e. male sex hormones, which can affect a woman’s menstrual cycles, fertility, weight, and more. This may be especially true if you: The article goes

To give you a quick overview, when you experience acute stress — be it real or imagined, as your body cannot decipher the difference — your body releases stress hormones (such as cortisol) that prepare your body to either fight or flee the stressful event. Your heart rate increases,

Conquer Your Stress with Energy Psychology Besides breathing exercises, there are many other helpful stress management tools. Another favorite is the Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT). It’s an energy psychology tool that can help reprogram your body’s reactions to everyday stress, thereby reducing your chances of developing adverse health effects. It’s

It has been my clinical experience that insulin resistance plays a major role in PCOS, and that restriction of nonfiber carb to less than 50 grams per day can dramatically help. Nevertheless, stress also has an important role. As noted in the featured article: “[W]omen who are under chronic

Breath Work May Reduce Stress and Help You Develop Greater Resilience  There are many breathing techniques out there — virtually all of which can help you get in touch with your body and soothe your mind. One of my personal favorites is the 4-7-8 breathing exercise taught by Dr. Andrew Weil,

Developing Resilience May Lessen the Impact of Stress Clearly, stress is an inescapable part of life — but it’s important to understand that it is how you deal with it that will determine whether it will translate into health problems later on. As noted in a recent article about stress in