The Impact of Chronic Stress on the Body, Mind and Spirit

Expect Stress. Stress is inevitable.

Being chronically stressed is optional.

We have the power within us to heal.

When we experience chronic stress from an early age, our body learns to breathe too shallowly

and rapidly.

• The oxygen and carbon dioxide levels in our body become unbalanced.

• Our body gets stuck in reactivity and can’t calm down.

• Our Sympathetic Nervous System (SNS) maintains a chronic heightened level of fight-or-

• flight, believing that it is under continuous threat, even when danger isn’t present.

• The fight-or-flight reaction causes a chain of events that leads to:

• Increased heart rate and blood pressure

• Shift of blood flow away from the core organs and into the extremities

• Increased production of stress hormones such as cortisol, adrenaline, and

• norepinephrine

• Decreased production of relaxation, feel-good hormones like serotonin, oxytocin, and

• prolactin

• Decreased oxygen supply to the brain, thus perpetuating the fight-or-flight reaction in a

• vicious cycle.

When the SNS remains chronically activated, we feel symptoms like prolonged tension,

anxiety, racing thoughts, anger, irritability, fear, or depression.

• Trouble sleeping,

• Difficulty concentrating and focusing

• Chronically distracted with worries and fears

• Develop beliefs about ourselves, about relationships and our emotions that perpetuate

• the suffering.

Forming the Myths about the Self – Negative Self Talk

Our brain goes into overdrive criticizing, finding fault with, shaming and otherwise making us

feel awful about ourselves. It’s a result of repeated relational disappointments and failure in trying to get our emotional needs met despite our best attempts to connect. We start to

believe that it is our fault that we can’t seem to figure it all out, and so we put ourselves down

and think that we are the failures when we’re not.

Notice the stories your over-stressed mind has made up about you. Some of those stories

might be:

• “I’m a failure. I’ll never pass. I’ll never get it right”

• “ Everyone is better than me. (prettier, smarter, more popular….)

• “No one cares”.

• “Why try? There’s no point.”

• “I’m not lovable or likeable.”

• “No one is there for me – to help, advise, support, care..”

• “I can never do or be enough.”

Practice Challenging the Myths with Reality

What are the stories your mind has made up about you, about others and about life? How does

the mind try to fool you into believing them as if they were really true?

• Write down the stories, the repeating self-shaming talk.

• Ask yourself the question: “Is that true? Is that really true?”

• “If what I’ve believed weren’t true, what difference would it make? How would I feel about me, about others?”

• “Rather than believing what others taught me, what do I choose to believe about myself? About others?”