Is Stress Dampening Your Holiday Spirit?

It is the holiday season and I am sure you are being bombarded by as many stressors as I am or perhaps more. Stressors may include long working hours, long waits to buy the latest Christmas gift for your favourite person, long commutes, holiday parties, buzzing cell phones or sleep deprivation. Of course, this is a very short list of stressors that can make you feel overwhelmed, anxious or ready to scream. While the initial “fight or flight” stress response is key to survival, prolonged chronic (long-term) stress increases risk of various physical and psychological health conditions. Chronic stress requires the adrenal glands to adapt and try to re-build themselves in order to continue coping with ongoing stress. This process is exhausting and leads to sleeplessness and irritability.

NEGATIVE EFFECTS OF STRESS

Decreases nutrient absorption and increases excretion of certain minerals resulting in nutrient deficiencies
Increases LDL (bad cholesterol), triglycerides, blood pressure and aggregation of blood platelets, which may lead to increased susceptibility to cardiovascular disease
Reduces good gut flora resulting in lower immunity and increases digestive issues
Decreases healing ability
Increases oxidative stress which means accelerated aging
Sleeplessness and non-restorative sleep

To say that stress can affect proper sleep patterns seems obvious, but new research has found that sleep disturbances are directly related to increased sensitivity to arousal-producing stress hormones such as cortisol. Researchers compared patients with insomnia to those without sleep disturbances and they found that insomniacs with the highest degrees of sleep disturbance secreted the highest amount of cortisol, particularly in the evening and nighttime hours.

Cortisol is excitatory; it arouses us, wakes us up and leaves us primed for action long after the trigger stressor has been subdued. But, when as a result of prolonged stress, cortisol levels get stuck at higher levels, never coming down and giving the adrenal glands an opportunity to recharge for the next stress alarm response. Chronically high cortisol from overloaded adrenals is bad news for a good night’s sleep and the spillover is the affect it has on your health.

What happens when you don’t get a good night’s sleep? An occasional sleepless night usually doesn’t leave lasting symptoms. However, several sleepless nights in a week quickly pile up and throw off your delicate Circadian rhythm that is intertwined with your cortisol, serotonin and melatonin levels. Serotonin and melatonin govern your appetite and mood. If fluctuations in your sleep cycle cause you to overeat (which cortisol is known to do) or eat at erratic times, keeping a level head becomes very difficult.

Your mood rises and falls with drastic dips in blood sugar (glucose levels), followed by sugar or fat binges. Basically, your body is trying to get quick energy to battle the stress. Unfortunately, the battle isn’t physical but mental or emotional and doesn’t require the same amount of readily available energy. Poor eating habits, an additional stress on adrenal glands, perpetuate the adrenal alarm response encouraging cortisol levels to stay high. This, of course, gets us right back to that restless, keyed-up feeling at bedtime. You know the feeling where you went to bed ready to crash only to have sleep elude you. Or perhaps you did fall asleep only abruptly awaken a couple of hours later and can’t fall back to sleep.

While it may feel like you’re caught in a vicious cycle of stress, sleep deprivation, poor nutrition and mood swings, it is possible to break free of the cycle at any of its check points. For example, make a point to eat a nutritious breakfast every morning at the same time and include protein and fibre to prevent blood sugar dips later in the day. In fact, include protein, fibre and healthy fats at all meals and snacks to aid in balancing your blood sugars.

[Tweet “Start each day with a nutritious breakfast #stressbuster #weightloss”]

If you have a habit of watching the news before bed, create a new routine and opt for a relaxing Epsom salt or bubble bath or move through a series of yoga stretches to help your mind and body relax before you turn in. Stress is part of our economic-driven holiday preparation, but it does not have to rule your moments of treasured memories. Take control back and spread joy with a simple smile. That simple action will lower your stress response and those who receive your joy and gratitude. And this has been scientifically proven and featured in professional journals.

Smiling, gratitude and happiness are choices. The best part is you can start by smiling at those people around you. Your blood pressure will lower, you will relax and your stress hormones will reduce too. The opportunity to make positive health-giving choices is happening in every single moment of your day, every day of your life.

My challenge to you for today is to smile and offer words of gratitude to three people (or more). It’s simple and it starts with a decision. Then do it again tomorrow and the next day. Before you know it, it will be Christmas and you will have blessed others and yourself with a gift that keeps on giving and cost nothing more than a lifting up of your mouth muscles — you know, like turn the frown upside down.

EXTRA RESOURCES

Click here for “How Stress Affects Your Body”

Click here for 5 strategies to unwind by Meghan Telpner

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