What is stress?
Stress is the body's reaction to certain pressures from a situation or event. These reactions can take forms in physical, mental, or emotional responses. Stress can vary person to person, and differs depending on their social and economic circumstances.
How Does Stress Affect Our Body and Health?
The human body can experience different kinds of stress and can have different reactions to it. Stress can be beneficial, where it keeps us alert, focused and ready to avoid dangers. Or stress can be harmful when the person is continuously facing challenges without relaxation. Having to face constant stressors can place a tremendous burden on the person’s personal health, commonly resulting in an overworked body as the stress related tension starts to build up.
To combat this bodily function, the body undergoes a stress response, known as the “fight or flight’ response. However, undergoing prolonged stress can disturb the body’s homeostasis, which can lead to physical symptoms such as headaches, elevated blood pressure, sleeping problems, and etc. Further complication may result in more severe symptoms that can lead to death
Does This Impact Our Physical Fitness?
Psychological stress has a damaging effect that can lead to a wide range of physical and mental health outcomes, however, evidence shows that developing good behaviors and health practices can prevent these undesirable outcomes! As mentioned before, being exposed to high stress can lead to the development of health complications, which may also result in severe cases. Not only that, stress is also associated with mental instability, examples such as cognitive dysfunction, dementia, and chronic fatigue. Proposed by two authors, Zillman and Bryant, people who are stressed are more likely to engage in unhealthy, maladaptive behaviors, such as inconsistent exercise.
What can we do to alleviate stress?
Green Space!
The location of the environment of where physical activity takes place has an effect on the activity's health benefit. It has been speculated that outdoor physical activity, particularly in nature, can provide additional health benefits, prevent diseases, and enhance overall health. Having access to natural environments, such as parks, fields, and woodlands, would provide the space to foster an active lifestyle.
Exercise to Relax!
Exercise has a unique effect on our body, as it gives us a "physical stress", despite of not being harmful to our mind and body. It has the capacity to be exhilarating while relaxing, to provide stimulation and tranquility, to counter depression and alleviate stress. Exercise can reduce the amount of stress hormones that are in the body, while stimulating the "good feeling" hormone, known as endorphins. Endorphins are responsible for being the body's natural painkillers and mood elevators.
Which exercise should I do?
Almost any type of exercise will help! From yoga to weightlifting, virtually any form of exercise can act as a stress reliever. Even if you're not an athlete or an active person, discover what fits best for you!
References
The American Institute of Stress. (2020, May 4). Retrieved from https://www.stress.org/
Harvard Health Publishing. (n.d.). Exercising to relax. Retrieved from https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/exercising-to-relax
Stults-Kolehmainen, M. A., & Sinha, R. (2014). The effects of stress on physical activity and exercise. Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.), 44(1), 81–121. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40279-013-0090-5
Lahart, I., Darcy, P., Gidlow, C., & Calogiuri, G. (2019). The Effects of Green Exercise on Physical and Mental Wellbeing: A Systematic Review. International journal of environmental research and public health, 16(8), 1352. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16081352