Stress!!!! I am probably wrong when I say this, but I feel like there is no one more acquainted with it than I. Personally I have found myself crying uncontrollably at the littlest things because my emotions were so sensitive due to stress. I have had nights where I couldn't sleep because I was stressed. One night at three in the morning I was in my family room crying and watching a movie, drinking herbal tea, and just trying to let my mind relax so I could go to sleep and not be tired all day at school. Just this past week during the play I found myself unable to eat because I was nervous and stressed for the performance. I felt nauseous and I thought I was going to throw up on stage. My fight with stress comes and goes but I have felt that if bad enough can even cause me to get sick. As a whole stress is not a bad thing. Short-term stress is normal and once the threat is gone the body returns to normal conditions. However in today's society I think that stress is not a good excuse to not getting things done. We as a society are so concerned with deadlines and understanding things to a certain standard that we do stupid things to our health to get our homework done or just accomplish certain things. I am stressed out all the time but if I were to tell my teachers that I didn't do it because I needed to go to bed on time so I could be less stressed or I was late to school because I didn't want to fall asleep behind the wheel because at night I just can't relax they would laugh at me because it is only when something bad happens that it becomes an o.k. excuse. So that leads me to the story of my life: Long term stress. The article about stress at the bottom says "For those constantly dealing with excessive and chronic stress, the body’s fight-or-flight response is constantly on. In turn, the resulting stress hormones released are chronically high." Cortisol helps the body handle stress. In long term stress this lingers to help return the body to normal but it also increases appetite. However in our society the things that cause us stress don't usually burn calories so this response can cause us to gain weight. The article continues, "Another physiological reason that was found recently for why stress leads to obesity is a molecule that the body releases when stressed called NPY (neuropeptide Y). NPY appears to unlock certain receptors in fat cells, causing them to grow in both size and number." Long term stress can cause weight gain which can cause stress and continue. Long Term stress is a vicious cycle that can start the effects can lead to more stress. Long Term stress is unhealthy to normal body functions because it leaves the body in a state of fight or flight for a long time and can set normal functions out of wack. When I took the Stress inventory I had a total of 490 points. I could only cope to a total of 35 points. This is unhealthy. My body feels like I just go and go and it doesn't have time to relax or recope. This week ( I am not starting out to a good start) I will try to get more sleep. I will try to also go to my dance class again since the play is done. I think if I can manage to do that my stress will go down. For now I feel like I am piled under a mountain of stress and lists of things to do. But I haven't cried and hyperventilated like I did first semester so I think I have learned to cope a little bit more this year. The video on this page was interesting and I really liked it. It looked so relaxing to me. I am now looking eager to try out relaxing. I also thought I would go to yoga this week too because I have missed the last two!!! So that's all for now and I hope you enjoy!!!
So some time has passed and so I thought I would update you about my goals to go to my dance class and to get more sleep. I can tell you that I don't feel so stressed and I have somewhat accomplished both. I have gone to my dance class every week since this post, but I haven't reached my goal for sleeping more the way I wanted to. I wanted to go to sleep at 9:30 and I don't think I have ever done that once, but when I wrote this I was going to bed at 12 or 1 in the morning. I have been able to go to sleep at 10 or 11 so that is a ton better and with spring break I have been able to sleep in and rest. It is definitely helping and I feel a lot happier and peaceful.
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