Stress Management through Yoga

Yoga and Stress management

Stress

Stress is your body’s way of responding to any kind of demand or threat

When you sense danger—whether it’s real or imagined—the body's defenses kick into high gear in a rapid, automatic process known as the “fight-or-flight” reaction or the "stress response."

The stress response is the body’s way of protecting you. When working properly, it helps you stay focused, energetic, and alert. In emergency situations, stress can save your life—giving you extra strength to defend yourself

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Health problems caused by stress:

1.     Depression and anxiety

2.     Pain of any kind

3.     Sleep problems

4.     Autoimmune diseases

5.     Digestive problems

6.     Skin conditions, such as eczema

7.     Heart disease

8.     Weight problems

9.     Reproductive issues

10.                        Thinking and memory problems

Signs and Symptoms of Stress:

Cognitive symptoms

• Memory problems
• Inability to concentrate
• Poor judgment
• Seeing only the negative
• Anxious or racing thoughts
• Constant worrying

Emotional symptoms

• Depression or general unhappiness
• Anxiety and agitation
• Moodiness, irritability, or anger
• Feeling overwhelmed
• Loneliness and isolation
• Other mental or emotional health problems

Physical symptoms

• Aches and pains
• Diarrhea or constipation
• Nausea, dizziness
• Chest pain, rapid heart rate
• Loss of sex drive
• Frequent colds or flu

Behavioral symptoms

• Eating more or less
• Sleeping too much or too little
• Withdrawing from others
• Procrastinating or neglecting responsibilities
• Using alcohol, cigarettes, or drugs to relax
• Nervous habits (e.g. nail biting, pacing)

Common external causes of stress:

• Major life changes
• Work or school
• Relationship difficulties

• Financial problems
• Being too busy
• Children and family

Common internal causes of stress:

• Pessimism
• Inability to accept uncertainty
• Rigid thinking, lack of flexibility

• Negative self-talk
• Unrealistic expectations / perfectionism
• All-or-nothing attitude

TYPES OF STRESS

Eustress

Eustress occurs when the gap between what one has and what one wants is slightly pushed, but not overwhelmed. 

Eustress is positive stress that is healthful, improves your well being, and results in satisfaction.

ʻEustressʼ (acute, physiologically adaptive) ! Increased delayed type hypersensitivity, associated with acute spikes in corticosterone and decreased leukocytes in blood (by movement to skin)

Eustress, or positive stress, has the following characteristics:

·         Motivates, focuses energy.

·         Is short-term.

·         Is perceived as within our coping abilities.

·         Feels exciting.

·         Improves performance.

Examples of positive personal stressors include:

·         Receiving a promotion or raise at work.

·         Starting a new job.

·         Marriage.

·         Buying a home.

·         Having a child.

·         Moving.

·         Taking a vacation.

·         Holiday seasons.

·         Retiring.

·         Taking educational classes or learning a new hobby.

Distress

Distress is an aversive state in which a person is unable to completely adapt to stressors and their resulting stress and shows maladaptive behaviours.

It can be evident in the presence of various phenomena, such as inappropriate social interaction (e.g., aggression, passivity, or withdrawal).

! ʻDistressʼ (chronic, physiologically maladaptive) ! Decreased delayed type hypersensitivity, associated with chronically increased basal corticosterone and less decrease in blood leukocytes (i.e., less movement of leukocytes to skin)

Distress, or negative stress, has the following characteristics:

·         Causes anxiety or concern.

·         Can be short- or long-term.

·         Is perceived as outside of our coping abilities.

·         Feels unpleasant.

·         Decreases performance.

·         Can lead to mental and physical problems.

Examples of negative personal stressors include:

·         The death of a spouse.

·         Filing for divorce.

·         Losing contact with loved ones.

·         The death of a family member.

·         Hospitalization (oneself or a family member).

·         Injury or illness (oneself or a family member).

·         Being abused or neglected.

·         Separation from a spouse or committed relationship partner.

·         Conflict in interpersonal relationships.

·         Bankruptcy/Money Problems.

·         Unemployment.

·         Sleep problems.

·         Children's problems at school.

·         Legal problems.

ANXIETY

Definition:

Anxiety is defined as “an emotion characterized by feelings of tension, worried thoughts and physical changes like increased blood pressure.”

Anxiety is a general term for several disorders that cause nervousness, fear, apprehension, and worrying.These disorders affect how we feel and behave and can cause physical symptoms. Mild anxiety is vague and unsettling, while severe anxiety can seriously affect day-to-day living.

• Palpitations
• Sweating
• Trembling
• Shortness of breath
• Sense of choking
• Chest pain
• Nausea or other stomach upset
• Dizziness
• A feeling of being detached from the world (derealization)
• Being unable to think, feeling as if the mind has gone blank
• Irrational fear of dying
• Numbness or tingling
• Chills or hot flashes

TYPES OF ANXIETY

Anticipatory anxiety 

Anticipatory anxiety is where a person experiences increased levels of anxiety by thinking about an event or situation in the future. 

It is a negative projection about an unknown outcome. This mental health condition is usually not seen as a specific disorder, but rather a symptom of certain anxiety-related disorders, including panic disorder, generalized anxiety, and social phobia.

Symptoms of Anticipatory Anxiety

• hyperventilating
• chest pain
• muscle spasms
• rumination
• difficulty concentrating
• feelings of apprehension

Depression

Depression (major depressive disorder) is a common and serious medical illness that negatively affects how you feel, the way you think and how you act

Signs and symptoms

·         depressed mood

·         reduced interest or pleasure in activities previously enjoyed, loss of sexual desire

·         unintentional weight loss (without dieting) or low appetite

·         insomnia (difficulty sleeping) or hypersomnia (excessive sleeping)

·         psychomotor agitation, for example, restlessness, pacing up and down

·         delayed psychomotor skills, for example, slowed movement and speech

·         fatigue or loss of energy

·         feelings of worthlessness or guilt

·         impaired ability to think, concentrate, or make decisions

·         recurrent thoughts of death or suicide, or attempt at suicide

CAUSES

·         genetics

·         biological - changes in neurotransmitter levels

·         environmental

·         psychological and social (psychosocial)

Nervous System

The nervous system has several divisions: the central division involving the brain and spinal cord and the peripheral division consisting of the autonomic and somatic nervous systems. The autonomic nervous system (ANS) has a direct role in physical response to stress and is divided into the sympathetic nervous system (SNS), and the parasympathetic nervous system (PNS).

When the body is stressed, the SNS generates what is known as the "fight or flight" response. The body shifts all of its energy resources toward fighting off a life threat, or fleeing from an enemy. The SNS signals the adrenal glands to release hormones called adrenalin and cortisol. These hormones cause the heart to beat faster, respiration rate to increase, blood vessels in the arms and legs to dilate, digestive process to change and glucose levels (sugar energy) in the bloodstream to increase to deal with the emergency.

The SNS response is fairly sudden in order to prepare the body to respond to an emergency situation or acute stress, short term stressors. Once the crisis is over, the body usually returns to the pre-emergency, unstressed state.

Chronic stress, experiencing stressors over a prolonged period of time, can result in a long-term drain on the body. As the SNS continues to trigger physical reactions, it causes a wear-and-tear on the body. It's not so much what chronic stress does to the nervous system, but what continuous activation of the nervous system does to other bodily systems that become problematic.

Endocrine

When the body is stressed, the hypothalamus signals the autonomic nervous system and the pituitary gland and the process is started to produce epinephrine and cortisol, sometimes called the "stress hormones."

Adrenal Glands (near kidneys)

Stress signals from the hypothalamus cause the adrenal cortex to produce cortisol and the adrenal medulla to produce epinephrine. This starts the process that gives your body the energy to run from danger.

Liver

When cortisol and epinephrine are released, the liver produces more glucose, a blood sugar that would give you the energy for "fight or flight" in an emergency. For most of you, if you don't use all of that extra energy, the body is able to reabsorb the blood sugar, even if you're stressed again and again. But for some people — especially people vulnerable to Type 2 diabetes — that extra blood sugar can mean diabetes. Who's vulnerable? The obese and races more inclined to diabetes, such as Native Americans.

Studies show that if you learn how to manage stress, you can control your blood sugar level, sometimes nearly as much as with medication.

The Hypothalamic Pituitary-Adrenal (HPA) System

• The stressor activates the Hypothalamic Pituitary Axis
  
  
• The hypothalamus stimulates the pituitary gland
  
  
• The pituitary gland secretes adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH)
  
  
• ACTH stimulates the adrenal glands to produce the hormone corticosteroid
  
  
• Cortisol enables the body to maintain steady supplies of blood sugar
  
  
• Adequate and steady blood sugar levels help person to cope with prolonged stressor, and helps the body to return to normal

The adrenal cortex releases stress hormones called cortisol. This have a number of functions including releasing stored glucose from the liver (for energy) and controlling swelling after injury. The immune system is suppressed while this happens. 

Cerebral cortex

The following sequence of events is proposed: the cortex responds to acute physiological stress (asphyxia, overstimulation, chemical or physical irritation, etc.) by releasing intracellularly bound cations (K+ and possibly Na+). The increased intracellular osmolarity results in the absorption of water from the e.c.f. space. Passage of water across the blood-brain barrier is restricted; thus the e.c.f. space of the cortex does not swell, but becomes hyperosmotic. Under these circumstances, swelling of the cortical cells is limited by the volume of e.c.f. available. 8. It is proposed that the release of intracellularly bound cations is a result of their displacement from their binding sites by NH4+ which is released to, and recovered from, these cation binding sites by a glutamateglutamine interconversion.