The link between stress and inflammation
We are living in a strange time. It has been many years since a common thread wove around the earth, connecting every person, leaving none untouched. As we move forward into history, we may find our perspectives reshaped as a unifying equality levels us all. This is not a time for fear and unrest. This is a time to reclaim the life that has run away with us, to calm the pace that has overtaken us. A time of forced rest before we buckle under the synthetic pressure of what has become the norm.
No longer can we ignore the effect stress has on us. Who among us has not grumbled at the humble kettle for not boiling fast enough, or lost our cool with a laptop that innocently decides to reboot? Whilst the body is built to deal with acute stress, it breaks when it has to deal with it long-term.
Stress triggers an inflammation cascade in the body. Inflammatory cells activate the famous fight-or-flight response of the sympathetic nervous system and stress hormones, like adrenalin and cortisol, are released. In response, your heart and respiratory rates increase, glucose is pumped into the blood and digestion takes a back seat. Now this is where it gets interesting. Under chronic stress your body gets stuck in this fight-or-flight mode and your immune system gets suppressed. That is why, when this goes on for months, you may experience all the symptoms of colds and flu. You may feel a bone-weary tiredness that no amount of sleep alleviates, or feel generally unwell with vague hints of a sore throat and sniffles. You may feel nauseas, have muscle aches, get chronic headaches or insomnia. These are signs that your body is battling to cope. And in this time of the COVID-19 pandemic, with daily reminders to check for flu-like symptoms, this can cause understandable fear and anxiety, oxymoron though it is!
It is vital to our health that we reduce stress as much as possible. So squeeze into those running pants again. Treat your body to healthy meals. Step outside and soak up nature. Focus on breathing out all the way. Revisit your hobbies. Learn to ask for help. Be vulnerable and grab onto an outstretched hand.
This is a time to rediscover what really matters, to shift through our gripes and discern what is relevant. A time for families to eat around the dinner table again, for parents to get to know their children, for couples to reconnect. This is the time to turn the worst around for good. Our bodies are crying out for change! This is the time to look at ourselves and truly see, to listen and finally hear.