How to stay calm in the face of stress?

How to stay calm in the face of stress? I'll spill the beans and tell you the answer right away: by knowing how to recognize what type of stress it is and understanding your reaction. Read on to find out everything!

Types of stress

There are roughly 2 types of stress, acute stress and chronic stress. All stress, whatever it may be, affects the body but will do so in different ways. Let's start by looking at the differences between the two.

Acute stress

Acute stress is short-lived. It can be triggered, for example, when you're stuck in traffic or before an important presentation.

This type of rather immediate stress can be beneficial since the hormones released help the mind to control the situation. Our body knows how to handle cases of acute stress and recovers quickly. Blood pressure, heart rate, or body temperature may rise for a short time, but usually return to normal within a short time.

Chronic stress

Chronic stress is long-lasting. It builds little by little over time. It can be caused by repeated exposure to situations that cause the release of stress hormones. Over time, chronic stress can cause serious health problems.

Understanding the stress response

Now that you know the difference between acute stress and chronic stress, let's take a look at what happens to your body when you're stressed.

Fight or flight

When the body perceives a threat, it goes into alarm, triggering a fight or flight response. For example, you are walking in the forest and come face to face with a mother bear! Immediately, stress mechanisms are activated. The decision will be to stay and defend yourself (the fight option) or run away and run away (the flight option). No matter what choice you make, there will be a sudden release of stress hormones such as adrenaline and cortisol. These hormones will have the effect of helping you increase your strength tenfold with the ultimate goal of surviving this encounter.

Invest your energy wisely

Cortisol, which is an important stress hormone, increases sugars in the bloodstream and inhibits functions not essential to fight or flight. It also alters the reactions of the immune system and inhibits the digestive system. There's no point wasting your precious energy reserves digesting your snack when you have to ensure your survival against the mama bear!

When the exception becomes the rule

In the presence of acute (short-term) stress, this reaction is necessary and effective. Once the threat of the bear is no more, the body's systems return to normal. However, if you encounter the bear every day, that same fight or flight response goes from a beneficial state to a harmful state for your body. It becomes chronic (long-term) stress.

Tips to support your body

Stress is inevitable and we cannot always control when and how it will occur. On the other hand, what is possible to control is the duration of it and its influence on your general condition. By practicing good stress management techniques and taking care of your lifestyle, it is definitely possible to limit the damage caused by a bear that is a little too insistent!

This is exactly what the article Stressed? 5 tips to help your body . We present ways to support your body when stress hormones slow down certain functions, such as digestion and immunity.