Every day in our lives we are subject to physical, emotional as well as psychological stress. To cope with stressful situations, our body's response is to release hormones and chemicals to handle these stressful situations efficiently. Unfortunately these chemicals may linger in our bodies even after the stressful events have ceased.

Sources of stress

The moment you wake up in the morning, potential stress events already linger. For example if you're a mom and you have little kids who will go to school. Doing all those chores so as not to let your child be late for school may be stressful especially when you wake up late.

Anger which may be difficult to avoid when your work requires frequent interaction with people can also trigger stress response from your body. Driving your car, meeting deadlines, being shouted by your boss, and many other daily activities can release stress related chemicals in our body.

What happens when we are stressed?

When stressful situations occur, our body can shift to a 'fight or flight' mode. This activates the adrenal glands to release hormones such as cortisol and epinephrine(adrenaline). The release of these hormones makes us more alert by pushing more blood to our brain and raises our blood sugar levels. Other bodily functions that are not needed in a fight or flight situation such as our digestive system functions below normal levels to give way for the more important bodily functions for an 'emergency' situation as our body sees it.

This bodily reaction was meant only for the body to cope with a stressful situation which means it was designed to last only for a short period of time. For example, imagine that you are in a jungle and you encounter a lion. The body then will react to prepare you either to fight or flee. Your senses sharpen and you gain temporary strength. Whichever way you choose, the stress hormones get spent and your bodily functions return to normal levels.

In our modern lifestyle, we are bombarded with stress one after another without using the effects the stress hormones has provided us. We get angry, get overworked or whatever stress we encounter and the extra energy and other manifestations the stress hormones has prepared us are not put to use and it accumulates overtime which could be detrimental to our health. It could lower our immunity system, decrease our bone density, increase body fat and many more negative effects.

How to spend the stress chemicals

One way to take those stress hormones and chemical out of your body is to exercise or physical activity which the fight or flight mode wss intended to be. At least 12 minutes of exercise that could make you sweat and breathe heavily will do. Doing that 5 times a week is very good.

Getting a regular and quality sleep can also very well help. To sleep uninterrupted for the duration that's fit for you, 7 to 8 hours, can make your body's healing and repair mechanisms do its job efficiently including those stress hormones that are beginning to accumulate in your body. To sleep in a comfortable bed that eliminates physical stress in your body like air mattresses can greatly help.

Remove stress stress from your body and you'll always be in your peak performance.