Week 4: Stress Management

Stress is linked to more than 50 percent of all sleep-related problems. You face stressors daily. Common examples are work and family demands, traffic jams, and health problems. Some stress helps you to be more productive. Too much or chronic stress can cause damage to your body. High stress levels can cause, or worsen, many health issues. These include heart disease, diabetes, obesity, depression, gastrointestinal problems, muscle problems, headaches, and   back pain.

Your Body’s Response to Stress

•  Heart rate and breathing speed up.

•  Blood pressure rises.

•  Blood moves to major muscles.

•  Muscles tense.

•  Sweating occurs.

•  Blood sugar increases to supply the body with energy.

•  Brain waves increase. You feel more alert and may have racing thoughts.

•  Stress hormones (cortisol and adrenaline) increase. Adrenaline makes you feel “on edge” and amped up.

Cortisol is one of the hormones released when you are stressed. Cortisol increases your appetite, especially for sugar and starchy carbohydrates. Consuming these foods in large amounts promotes belly fat, high blood pressure, and diabetes. During sleep, your body attempts to repair the damage caused by stress. Sleep lowers cortisol (a stress hormone) and raises growth hormone (a repair hormone).

Without enough sleep, levels of cortisol in the body stay high. High cortisol levels keep the body alert, increase blood pressure, and continue to damage cells. This raises the risk for cardiovascular disease and stroke. You may feel like you are in a state of hyper-alertness. Even if you fall asleep, your brain does not enter deep sleep. When you wake, you do not feel rested.

When you do not get enough sleep, you are less able to cope with stress. Improving the length and quality of your sleep is one of the most effective stress management techniques.