Monthly Ed Tip December 2021- Stress

Welcome to the most wonderful time of the year, with the sounds of jingle-bells, and everyone being in “good cheer."  And I’m sure that your heart is light because “from now on all your troubles will be out of sight.”

But for others, the holiday season brings unwelcome guests — stress and depression.  And it is no wonder.  The holidays present a dizzying array of demands — parties, shopping, baking, cleaning, and entertaining, to name just a few.

Stress has become such an ingrained part of our vocabulary and daily existence, that it is difficult to believe that our current use of the term originated only a little more than 50 years ago, when it was essentially “coined” by Hans Selye.  Selye, who died in 1982, observed as a medical student that patients suffering from different diseases often exhibited identical signs and symptoms. They just “looked sick”. This observation may have been the first step in his recognition of “stress”.  Hans’ definition of stress was “the non-specific response of the body to any demand.”  We now know much more about how the brain deals with stress and its effects on our bodies and our immune systems.

Today the word stress is ubiquitous in our everyday conversations.  We often hear people say “I am so stressed out I can hardly think” or “What a stressful day I had.”

Addressing stress in today’s society, Dr. Vivek Murthy, Surgeon General of the U.S. under President Obama, said “Stress is an epidemic in our country, and sometimes people turn to unhealthy methods of dealing with it, whether it’s unhealthy foods, or drugs, or violence.” 

What is stress?  Scientists can’t agree on a single definition of stress, but there is no doubt about what happens inside your body when the body’s “fight-or-flight” response kicks into high gear.  Signals from the brain (beginning in the amygdala-the “fire alarm” of the nervous system) release a flood of stress hormones, triggering a variety of biological changes, such as revving up your heart rate and causing the liver to dump glucose into the bloodstream, giving you the energy and strength to flee or swing your fists when danger looms.

One of the organs that the brain signals is the adrenal gland, two small glands that sit on top of the kidneys, that release into the bloodstream the so-called stress hormones- cortisol and adrenaline.  It is this action that triggers the fight or flight response.

Unfortunately, humans are hard-wired to flick on the fight or flight response when we face upsetting or mildly annoying circumstances that don’t require us to move.  As a result, arguing with our spouse, getting hit with a huge car-repair bill or even watching the nightly news can leave you feeling under threat.

Your body doesn’t recognize the difference between one kind of stress and another.  Whether it’s physical stress at the sight of a mountain lion or mental stress caused by your catty co-workers, your body reacts the same way: it pumps out loads of stress chemicals.

When running from the lion, you put the chemicals to use and get them out of your system—no problem.  But when you’re stressed over how your co-worker looked at you, all you can do is go back to your office and stew; leaving a dangerous cocktail of chemicals surging through your body until they’re finally metabolized.

Many people are faced with the latter type—intense mental stress—on a daily basis, and eventually it leads to adrenal exhaustion, especially when combined with excess caffeine and sugar intake, along with a sedentary lifestyle.

As we have all experienced when we try to think under stress, cortisol can damage the brain’s white matter pathways, making it harder for areas to communicate with one another.

Jack Shonkoff, professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, writes that research shows that excessive experience with toxic stress can disrupt the development of brain circuits related to stress response-and to learning and memory.

Long-Term Stress can cause people to gain weight, increase the risk of heart disease and other ailments and may even shrink the brain.

For educators, Judy Willis reminds us that a student’s stress mind reacts in one of three ways; fight (disruptive behaviors), flight (student withdrawal), or freeze (student zoned out) and, moreover bored students create novelty for themselves many times resulting in discipline problems.

John Medina, author of the best-selling book Brain Rules, argues that an increased cortisol level in the bloodstream is directly related to a negative learning environment which rises the learner’s anxiety level, shuts down processing of what is perceived to be low-priority information (the lesson content), and focuses the brain on what it perceives to be high-priority information (the situation causing the stress), so that the stressful situation is remembered rather than the lesson content.

Here are some other ways stress can impact the body.

Musculosketal system:  Muscle tension is almost a reflex reaction to stress.  Taut and tense muscles for long periods of time may trigger other reactions of the body and even promote stress-related disorders.  Both tension-type headaches and migraine headaches are associated with chronic muscle tension in the area of the shoulders, neck, and head.

Respiratory system:  Stress makes you breath harder and faster triggering hyperventilation that can bring on a panic attack or possibly a heart attack.

Cardiovascular:  Repeated acute stress and persistent chronic stress may also contribute to inflammation in the circulatory system, particularly in the coronary arteries, and this is one pathway that is tied to stress related heart attack.

Endocrine:  The hypothalamus signals the autonomic nervous system and the pituitary gland and the process is started to produce epinephrine and cortisol, the stress hormone.  The liver then produces more glucose for energy.

Esophagus:  When you are stressed, you may eat much more or less, eat different foods or use tobacco or alcohol.  This may cause heartburn or acid reflux.  Digestion and absorption are compromised, indigestion develops, and the muscle lining becomes irritated and inflamed.  Ulcers are more common during stressful times.  Irritable bowel and colitis have been found to improve after stress is managed.

How to tame or at least cope with stress?  Try some of the proven stress-reducing techniques below.

Writing in the Harvard Health Blog of the Harvard Medical School, Francesca Coltrera, Senior Content Writer, Harvard Health Publishing offers some pointers to deal with stress.

Breathe deeply: When your emotions run high, breathing speeds up, too. Deliberately slowing your breathing relaxes tense muscles, bringing shoulders down from ears, calms roiling emotions, and helps disarm the hormonal cascade within the body that feeds anxiety.

Try this: close your eyes and breathe in deeply through your nose while counting upward. Hold for a few seconds. Breathe out slowly through your nose while counting downward. Make each out-breath a few counts longer than each in-breath. Repeat for five minutes.

Or try a calming yoga breath, such as alternate nostril breath, described in a blog post by Marilyn Wei, MD.

A wide world of mindfulness apps for smartphones or tablets can show you many more ways to breathe deep and seek calm. Some are available for a one-time fee or by monthly subscription. Others allow you to tap samples for free.

Move fast: Investing time and effort in regular exercise helps people manage anxiety. A systematic review of 15 randomized, controlled trials found that regular aerobic exercise successfully reduced anxiety in people who had been diagnosed with anxiety disorders and people with raised scores when tested for anxiety. Those who engaged in high-intensity exercise (such as jogging) gained more relief than those who did low intensity exercise (such as walking), although both approaches had positive effects.

Can’t find the energy or time to exercise regularly? Even so, the distraction factor and chance to burn off anxiety through bursts of activity can help you feel calmer. Run in place, sprint up and down stairs, do jumping jacks, or take yourself out of the mix for a while and go for a walk outside.

Deep breathing: Deep-breathing exercises switch your body from fight-or-flight to rest-and –digest mode, boosting healing blood flow and rebalancing your hormone levels.  Just 3 to 5 minutes twice per day of deep breathing.  It is one of the best ways to manage stress.  Not only does deep breathing reduce muscle tension and emotional stress; it can also temporarily lower blood pressure and heart rate and deliver a quick rush of oxygen to cells.

Indoor plants: Having plants in the home or office has been found to decrease stress and enhanced productivity by 12 percent

Listen to music:  complete tasks quicker and come up with better ideas, plus it reduces stress, especially when you choose the music

Get Outside:  In a study published in the June 2014 issue of Journal of Environmental Psychology, participants who spent time in a wooded, natural setting felt more restored and had better moods, more creative and vitality, and lower levels of cortisol (the stress hormone) compared to those who spent time in an urban setting.

Have sex:  A good romp can be good for your health.  A satisfying sex life will lover your blood pressure as well as your risk of heart attacks, relive stress, improve your sleep, boost your immune system, and burn a few calories

The holiday season is surely a time of happiness and “good tidings,” but it also can be stressful given certain elements.  Similarly, all educators must remember the classroom can be a stressful environment for children when particular stressors are present.

Wishing all a joyful holiday and best wishes to you and your family for a happy and happy New Year, and to all educators, a less stressful classroom in 2022.