Understanding the Body’s Stress Response

You are not alone in this fight. Everyone endures some type of stress at least once in their lifetime. It is all about how you react and how you understand the stress that matters. According to Harvard, “a stressful situation — whether something environmental, such as a looming work deadline, or psychological, such as persistent worry about losing a job — can trigger a cascade of stress hormones that produce well-orchestrated physiological changes.”

Stress Hormones 

Stress hormones are like little messengers within your body. They play a vital role in how your body reacts to physiological and behavioral stress. By understanding what stress hormones are then you can learn how to approach a stressful situation appropriately. Stress hormones include adrenaline, dopamine, and cortisol.
Just to name a few. 

Adrenaline 

Adrenaline is also known as epinephrine. This is a hormone that is made and released by your adrenal glands. Adrenal glands are the organs that sit right on top of your kidneys. According to the Cleveland Clinic, adrenaline is released when you experience fear, anxiety, or stress. It triggers your fight-or-flight response. When your adrenal glands produce too much adrenaline it can cause hypertension from something called pheochromocytoma. Some signs and symptoms of pheochromocytoma include high blood pressure, bad headaches, lightheadedness when standing, sweating too much, and a quick heart rate. Some signs and symptoms of an adrenaline rush are remarkably similar. These include a quick pulse, faster breathing, slowing digestion because blood is now going to your muscles, and feeling very alert. You can experience a panic attack, traffic accident, or a fearful situation. There are certain activities that can cause an adrenaline rush. These include rock climbing, snowboarding, zip lining, and base jumping.

Dopamine

According to Healthline, “dopamine is a hormone and neurotransmitter that is an important part of your brain’s reward system.” Dopamine is produced by your brain by neurons at the base of your brain. When you do not have enough dopamine it can cause stiff movements, like Parkinson’s Disease. Dopamine plays a vital role in your body. Dopamine involves movement, memory, pleasurable reward and motivation, behavior and cognition, attention, sleep and arousal, mood, learning, and lactation. If you have a deficiency in dopamine, it can also cause mood changes, lack of motivation, and concentration. Some signs and symptoms of low dopamine include tiredness, unhappiness, memory loss, mood swings, sleep problems, and low sex drive. Certain diseases are related to low levels of dopamine which are ADHD, Parkinson’s Disease, and restless legs syndrome. If you need to increase your dopamine you can consume chicken and other types of poultry, dairy foods, avocados, bananas, pumpkin, sesame seeds, and soy. If your dopamine is too high you will feel euphoric, energized, have a high sex drive, have trouble sleeping, poor impulse control, and being more aggressive. Some diseases that are related to elevated levels of dopamine include mania, obesity, and addiction. According to the Cleveland Clinic, “dopamine also causes blood vessels to relax, increases sodium and urine removal from your body, reduces insulin production in your pancreas, slow gastrointestinal (GI) (gut) content movement and protects your GI lining, reduces lymphocyte activity in your immune system.”

Cortisol

According to the Cleveland Clinic, “cortisol is a steroid hormone that your adrenal glands, the endocrine glands on top of your kidney, produce and release. Cortisol affects several aspects of your body and helps regulate your body’s response to stress.” Cortisol aids in suppressing inflammation in all tissues, muscles, fat, and bones. Cortisol is seen as an essential hormone that affects every organ and tissue in your body. Cortisol aids in regulating your body’s stress response. Cortisol also helps control your body’s use of fats, proteins and carbohydrates, or your metabolism. Some other functions of cortisol include regulating blood pressure, regulating blood sugar, and helping you control your sleep-wake cycle. Acute stress can be caused when you are in sudden danger for a brief period like a car accident. Chronic stress happens when you experience ongoing situations that can cause you to become frustrated, or anxious. Traumatic stress happens when you experience a life-threatening situation that causes fear and causes you to feel hopeless, like a tornado. Cortisol is regulated by your hypothalamus, pituitary gland, and adrenal glands. Your doctor can order tests to check on your cortisol levels that include blood, urine, or saliva tests.

How Do I Control My Stress Hormones?

There are things you can do to control your stress hormones or your fight-or-flight response. The Cleveland Clinic recommends getting good sleep, exercising regularly, relaxation exercises like yoga, keeping a journal, organizing, and focusing on tasks at home, limiting stress and stressful thinking patterns, practicing deep breathing exercises, enjoying yourself and laughing, maintaining healthy relationships, and seeking professional counseling. Staying away from unhealthy ways of managing your stress, like alcohol or drugs, is important. When you can manage your stress in a healthy way your body will thank you! Having good social support provides a life-enhancing social net and may even increase longevity. According to Harvard, you can receive emotional support that can indirectly help sustain stress hormones at times of chronic stress and crisis.

Conclusion

There are many situations that can cause a stress response. It is important for you to learn what is causing the stress response, ways to cope and decrease stressful situations, and leaning on your social support. By taking care of our stress response, we can help and respond to people around us appropriately. Self-care and learning ways to cope with stress can help the quality of your life. Take care of yourself because you are important!

If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to Danielle Herndon, Practice Leader of Population Health and Wellness at dherndon@hilbgroup.com.