What Is Stress Really and Why Does It Matter?
Dr. Coleman is licensed in Kentucky, Virginia, and Florida. She is welcoming new patients into her family medicine practice on HealthTap and inviting you to schedule a virtual consult with her!
Stress in the past
Years ago, patients did not really know what stress was and how it affected their bodies. In the past, when patients said they were stressed, some doctors would prescribe nerve pills just to numb the ailment. Now we know we must do more than just numb the body. We must figure out how stress truly affects us.
What is stress?
Our bodies contain hormones including estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, and cortisol; the first three are released when we are at ease, and the last one is released when we are in a stressful state. Hormones like these are all produced on the same assembly line, from the same core base component — cholesterol.
When we enter fight-or-flight mode, the body sends an order to the hormone assembly line which says, “folks, we are going to need more cortisol because we don’t have enough to help our body into a more relaxed state.” This request for more cortisol robs our body of the balance of production of the other hormones. We must realize that our state of reactiveness can wreck havoc on us with our own resources.
Fight-or-flight
In fight-or-flight mode, our muscles tense and the nerves underneath those muscles become compressed, which causes arm numbness and tingling. When this occurs, people tend to think something is terribly wrong because they don’t normally associate stress with physical pain. After we conduct a few tests to rule out other causes, we can rest easy, knowing that the physiological pain throughout our bodies is in fact stress. Now we feel justified, validated, and even empowered when we feel stress in the body knowing that it’s not just a figment of our imagination or a character judgement.
Relax
Rest assured, stress can be maintained if we understand how it affects us. There are many ways to handle stress no matter what your situation is. For example, you can integrate a variety of treatments, including exercise, meditation, and therapy.
If you want to learn more about stress and ways to treat and maintain your stress you can consult with Dr. Coleman virtually on HealthTap!
