Chronic stress is bad for your body in many ways. You might even end up with a fattened waistline and belly because of chronic stress.
We all have more things to do today than we can handle. How organized you are today will probably determine how good or bad your day goes. Of course, something unexpected could happen that would "mess up" your day and drastically change your mood.
The events of life bring on stress. A certain amount of stress and tension helps us take on challenges and perform better. Too much stress (left unchecked) over a prolonged period is not good and it causes health problems and affects metabolism. Also, some people respond to stress better than others. One person might crumble under the same workload that causes another person to thrive.
The body's normal state (homeostasis) is changed by stress. The hormones, adrenaline and cortisol, are secreted in response to a stressful situation. The "fight or flight" response to stress is intended to give you the energy to take on or run away from a particular situation. Stressful situations that go on for months or years signals to your body that the normal state includes excessive amounts of adrenaline and cortisol.
As it relates to metabolism, adrenaline makes the fat cells more efficient at turning fat into energy and speeds up metabolism. On the other hand, cortisol increases the amount of glucose in the blood and creates more energy. If you have an office job, this excess adrenaline and cortisol builds up. Unused excess energy will be stored as fat. Regular exercise will burn your fat.
Chronic stress or stress with no end in sight has major health implications. Adrenaline will continue to be secreted but the body and the fat cells will build up a tolerance to it. This means that the fat cells won't be converted to energy and cortisol will continue to increase glucose in the blood. This means the fat gain and weight gain begins to happen if left unchecked. Many times, this fat ends up in your waistline and belly.
So what's the bottom line? Situational stress can improve the efficiency of your metabolism. Chronic or prolonged stress changes the body's normal state and can negatively affect your metabolism. Left unchecked, this can lead to weight gain and other health problems.
We all know this: life continually has stressful situations and life sometimes brings unavoidable prolonged stress. Regular exercise helps me to deal with stress and brings my body back to the true normal state (or as close as possible).
Check in your stress to the doors of exercise, healthy nutrition and rest.
Mark Dilworth, BA, PES, CPT is a Certified Personal Trainer and former NCAA Division I athlete. Mark’s Fat Blaster Athletic Training System has been proven to give his clients the fit, sculpted and athletic-type bodies they want. Visit Mark’s sites:
My Fitness Hut http://myfitnesshut.blogspot.com
Her Fitness Hut http://herfitnesshut.com
Sports Fitness Hut http://sportsfitnesshut.blogspot.com