They say what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, but it’s not true. In extreme circumstances, a stress reaction to difficult life situations can even be fatal. We should never underestimate the impact of stress, as too much can seriously affect our health. Let’s take a look at the links between psychological stress and mental health, and find out how somatic exercises and body psychotherapy can help you reduce stress.
What’s stress anyway?
The World Health Organization defines stress as a “state of worry or mental tension caused by a difficult situation.” While the main definition speaks of something happening in our heads, WHO adds that stress affects the mind and the body. The American Psychological Association talks even more directly about stress as a “physiological or psychological response to stressors.”
Ask five people about stress, and you’ll get five different answers. Mark will share that he can’t sleep before an important presentation. Sophia will add that she gets sweaty palms. And Dirk will sneer and say, “There’s no such thing as stress.” Stress is subjective, and it’s important to consider its many faces.
Is All Stress Bad?
In psychology, we talk about two main types of stress: eustress and distress (although some scholars believe the distinction is artificial). Eustress is the “good stress.” We all need it in reasonable amounts. Think of the time before an important presentation at school or work. That feeling in your body as if it’s ready to jump up and go, the drive to give it your best, and awareness that once you have started, there is no going back. This is the type of nervousness that motivates you and helps you do the hard things. Usually, it’s temporary, and once it’s done, you feel more relaxed and relieved.
Distress, on the other hand, is the bad kind of stress. Say, you work at a company where everything is a priority, and everything has a tight deadline. People walk around snapping at each other, and your boss offers no words of appreciation, ever. If that goes on for months, years even, it starts to affect your body and mind. In the work context, it can lead to burnout.
To summarize, good stress is moderate in intensity, doesn’t last too long, and motivates you to do or be your best. With bad stress, it seems there is no relief in sight, and the experience itself is very intense. Usually, it doesn’t help you improve your effectiveness or become a better person… To the contrary, it turns you into an irritable mess.
For some people signs of stress are not that easy to spot. That's dangerous because if we don’t realize we are chronically stressed, the buildup may one day have devastating consequences.
Check out the upcoming workshops of somatic exercises for stress
Physical symptoms of stress
Most of us have an idea what stress feels like. And we’re usually correct in our assessments – many of the symptoms are easy to spot. For some of us, however, it may not be as obvious. That’s dangerous because if we don’t realize we are chronically stressed, the buildup may one day have devastating consequences.
Let’s take a look at the common signs of stress:
- Tense muscles. Stiff shoulders and neck are the classic scenario here. If you have a desk job, you may wrongly assume it’s just the result of sitting all day. Sometimes there’s more to it. Nervousness can show up as muscular tension. If you’ve ever had a massage, you may have heard that your shoulder muscles are as stiff as a rock – don’t take this sign for granted.
- Tension headaches. This specific kind of pain is often linked to stiff shoulders and neck. If your head starts to pound, it may be a sign that mental tension is rising.
- Higher pulse. Some people feel on edge all the time. Stress is the body’s reaction to perceived danger. This means the whole system is preparing for a fight, flight, or freeze response. It may show up as an increased heart rate.
- Tummy trouble. Anyone who has ever experienced stage fright has probably been there – you can’t eat, get a stomachache, or have to rush to the toilet. Digestive symptoms can accompany demanding situations or stressful life periods.
And what are the less obvious symptoms of stress?
- Teeth grinding. Tension related to restlessness may be more local, for example, in the jaw area. You may feel pain on the sides of your face and grind or clench your teeth (a condition called bruxism), especially at night. This can lead to tooth damage.
- Low back pain. We tend to associate stress with shoulder and neck tension, but some people feel it lower in the back. Here again, you may assume it’s just poor posture or the lack of physical exercises but stress may be the hidden culprit.
- Excessive sweating. Our sympathetic nervous system responds to stressors in many ways, including regulating temperature through perspiration. This could mean sweating profusely or noticing that your sweat smells stronger.
- Sexual problems. Since I’m not only a psychologist and body psychotherapist, but also a sexologist, I often see clients with intimate concerns. Most men don’t realize that erectile dysfunction could be linked to nervousness. Psychological tension leads to cardiovascular changes, which have a negative impact on the ability to get an erection. And the other way round – too much stress may be a psychological cause of bedroom difficulties. For women, psychological strain may be behind the lack of sex drive or inability to have an orgasm.
Health Consequences of Stress
It’s not an overstatement that stress can lead to death in extreme circumstances. Researchers, such as Hans Selye, observed that at some point, our bodies cannot effectively cope with stress. The body goes into overdrive, and the physical health suffers.
Here’s how stress can affect our health:
- Heart and cardiovascular strain. Keeping our pulse up while exercising is good for fitness. If, however, our heart rate is chronically elevated due to stress, this places strain on our circulatory system. In addition, stress has been linked to higher cholesterol.
- Weakened immune system. When the organism is in a never-ending state of alert, our sympathetic nervous system is on high alert. In chronic stress, our body produces high levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines. This in turn puts us at risk of cardiovascular disease as well as mental health problems, including depression and anxiety. In addition, the brain-hormone connection is activated, driving increased production of stress hormones and affecting immune cell activity. As a result, we become more susceptible to disease.
- Gastric ulcers. Stress is a major risk factor for the development of digestive system ulcers. According to a Danish study, stress increases the risk of gastric and duodenal ulcers. One of the possible links here is that under stress, our bodies tend to produce more stomach acid. Another possible connection has to do with gut microbiota.
How to Reduce Nervousness in the Body
Doctors routinely recommend that their patients “reduce stress”. Why then do we ignore this scientifically backed piece of advice? We’d rather grab a sweet treat, an after-work drink, or convince ourselves that vaping is harmless than do something that helps us relax without the side effects.
If you don’t know where to start your stress management journey, pick at least one small habit. Here are some ideas to implement right away:
Get Good Sleep
If there’s one thing you can do to be more relaxed, sleep should be your focus. According to the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, two-thirds of Americans experience sleep difficulties due to stress. Make sure you’re snoozing enough (for most people, it’s at least 7 hours). Another thing to look at is the percentage of nourishing deep sleep and REM phases.
A touch of Mindfulness
Living a modern life is a powerful stressor. Chased by work deadlines and mobile phone notifications, we rarely get a chance to stop and feel.
Mindfulness is a simple tool to regulate your nervous system and teach you to slow down, even if the world is telling you to keep pushing on. Start with a quick midday check-in: take five minutes to see how you’re feeling, how your body is doing, and notice the thoughts running through your head.
Exercise to Relax
Sport is one of the widely accepted forms of stress release. We run to clear our heads, and some people swear by the meditative effect of swimming laps. Others love team sports, often not realizing they make a perfect outlet for bubbling emotions.
When you’re under a lot of stress, pick your physical activity wisely. Some forms of fitness, such as HIIT, can increase cortisol levels, putting your body and mind on high alert.
Somatic Exercises for Stress
Alexander Lowen was a psychiatrist who saw that people stored emotions in their bodies. In his groundbreaking body psychotherapy method, Bioenergetic Analysis, he used simple exercises to help clients soften what he called “armor”.
Somatic exercises for stress have several functions:
- They help us feel grounded, which helps the nervous system stay out of fight-or-flight mode.
- They reduce muscular tension, which often leads to psychosomatic symptoms, such as headaches or back pain.
- They provide a safe outlet for intense emotions and prevent anger or anxiety from building up inside.
Body Psychotherapy for Stress
For some people, chronic stress has roots in early life. Perhaps they grew up in an unsafe environment or experienced trauma in childhood. Many of my clients had parents who were not able or didn’t know how to soothe them as babies.
Even if you grew up in a safe home, you may have some underlying issues or relational dynamics that contribute to chronic stress in your life. Body psychotherapy can help you dig into the roots of stress when somatic exercises alone are not enough. In a safe, one-on-one environment, you can discover the body’s defenses to emotional difficulties. You learn to create a sense of safety in yourself and recognize when you’re going into overdrive.
Your Path to More Calm
Stress is part villain, part motivational coach in our lives. It provides the necessary drive in work and everyday challenges. The excess of it, however, can damage your physical and mental health.
Take a moment to think about your current stress level. Are you able to recognize that you’re stressed? How do you know? What are your current ways to reduce stress, and are any of these unhealthy?
Learning the basic somatic exercises for stress is a great next step. They help you understand your body’s signals and take immediate action. I regularly organize workshops of somatic exercises for stress. Check out the current dates here or book an individual session to learn more about the body psychotherapy approach to stress reduction.
