The impact of stressors on our wellbeing is often overlooked. Many of us are unclear what a stress response is and what affect it has on our health. The excerpt below from a HeartMath article points out the role emotions play in creating the stress response in our bodies.
What is “Stress?”
“Stress comes from our perception and emotional reactions to an event or idea. It can be any feeling of anxiety, irritation, frustration, or hopelessness, etc. Stress is not only created by a response to an external situation or event. A lot of daily stress is created by ongoing attitudes, that is, recurring feelings of agitation, worry, anxiety, anger, judgments, resentment, insecurities and self-doubt. These emotions are known to drain emotional energy while engaging in everyday life. It is emotions—more than thoughts alone—activating physical changes that make up the “stress response.” Emotions trigger the autonomic nervous system and, in turn, trigger stress hormones that cause many harmful effects on the brain and body. Stressful feelings actually lead to a chaotic pattern in the beat-to-beat changes in the heart’s rhythm–indicating that our nervous system is out of sync. When this happens, a cascade of over 1,400 biochemical changes are set in motion that have a wide range of effects on the body’s systems.”
After this release of biochemicals and especially if it occurs chronically, damage to our health and wellness can occur.
Click here to reach the HeartMath website, which contains a wealth of information on stress. It is currently offering “free access to the HeartMath experience” on its website at the time of this update, September16, 2022.
