Do You Have a Stress Bod? Why You Feel Awful—and What to Do About It

Stress is a common problem, and one that can be a real drag. But it doesn’t have to be. A stress boad is a more serious condition that can be an on-going part of your life; it can even be worse than regular stress. It is a condition that causes you to feel deeply unhappy on a regular basis. A stress bon is a type of stress that can be very damaging to your health and to your life. This is a condition that you should be aware of and care about.

You know that dull ache that’s been stuck in the pit of your stomach for days? That nagging headache that won’t leave even after you’ve taken two ZzzQuil tablets? That feeling of being overwhelmed and stressed out? What causes that? Chances are, it’s called a stress-bod. If you’re sick of feeling awful, you owe it to yourself to stop it before it gets worse.

Health expert David Kessler, MD, MPH, has written a book called The End of Overeating: Taking Control of the Insatiable American Appetite , in which he claims that what we eat, and how much we eat, and how much we sleep and exercise, affects how we feel. He uses a simple exercise to help demonstrate his point—the stress bode , which asks people to respond to statements such as “I feel overwhelmed” with a number that represents how stressed they feel. Kessler and his co-author, Peter Cappadocia, draw on the experience of thousands of people to develop the following list of factors that affect our stress levels:

The majority of us believe we understand what stress is and how it feels:

  • When the sound of shattering glass wakes us up at 3 a.m., our hearts race.
  • We feel compelled to urinate five times before giving a presentation.
  • When our whole day goes wrong, a rage bomb goes off.

However, there is another kind of stress that may exist under the surface.

It’s what occurs within our bodies when we’re constantly subjected to the din of construction sounds, the fear of a pandemic, the scars of childhood trauma, or the never-ending demands of parenting, job, and money.

These concealed stresses may be so pervasive that we are oblivious to them. They’re a part of the scenery, blending in with our “normal.”

Hidden stresses, on the other hand, may wear us down over time, leaving us feeling confused, listless, fatigued, bloated, and painful.

This feeling of being on the verge of passing out was formerly referred to as “adrenal exhaustion.”

Chronic stress depletes the adrenal glands, decreasing their capacity to pump out the stress hormone cortisol, according to the adrenal-fatigue hypothesis. People were exhausted as a result of their adrenal exhaustion.

And it all seemed so plausible.

Then two physicians from Brazil’s Universidade Federal de So Paulo’s Adrenal and Hypertension Unit decided to investigate the study further. They came to the following conclusion after carefully analyzing and probing hundreds of holes in 58 different studies1:

There is no such thing as adrenal exhaustion. 

“Adrenal tiredness does not exist,” they said emphatically.

Doctors’ strongest arguments against the “adrenal exhaustion” theory: Cortisol levels were normal in the majority of individuals who were tested for the illness. To put it another way, their adrenal glands were far from exhausted.

So… What exactly is going on?

It all stems from a condition known as HPA axis dysfunction. 

In layman’s terms, HPA axis dysfunction implies the stress response isn’t working properly.

The acronym HPA stands for hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis. And the term “axis” refers to how everything is linked together:

  1. The hypothalamus, a part of the brain, interprets stress by secreting a hormone called corticotropin secreting hormone (CRH).
  2. The pituitary gland is told to release adrenocorticotropin hormone by CRH (ACTH).
  3. The stress hormones cortisol and adrenaline are produced by the adrenal glands in response to ACTH.

When your adrenals have pumped out enough cortisol, they notify your brain, “We done our job,” and the stress response is turned off.

That’s how it’s meant to operate, at least.

However, when we are exposed to too many stresses in a short period of time, this delicate mechanism may fail.

Either your adrenals don’t inform your brain that “we done our job,” or your brain doesn’t receive the message. As a consequence, cortisol production remains active when it should be turned off.

Though additional study is required to fully understand that process, some functional medicine specialists think that the body becomes resistant to cortisol’s message as a result of the continuous deluge.

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The “Stress Bod,” as it’s known.

Let’s face it: hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis dysfunction is a mouthful. That is why we refer to the condition as “Stress Bod.” (Yes, we came up with the term.) That seems to be the case.

Even after sleeping for more than 8 hours, we may not feel refreshed if we have a Stress Bod. As a result, we resort to energy-sustaining (and coping) drugs like coffee, sugar, salt, and fat.

And if we reject our bodies’ signals to “relax” and instead attempt to push through an intensive exercise, we’ll likely discover that we can’t do as many repetitions, lift as much weight, or run as fast as we once could.

We may even get ill or harmed.

And if we’re the kind of individuals who keep track of things like morning heart rate and temperature, we’ll note that the one is rising while the second is down.

Let’s get to the good news.

This is crucial: If you’ve been berating yourself for missing workouts, devouring cartons of toaster pastries, or aimlessly browsing around social media when you should be, ahem, working, we have four words for you: Allow yourself to relax.

You aren’t a slacker. 

Given the overall condition of uncertainty and turmoil that is happening all around us, you may find yourself in a position that is very frequent, particularly this year. For example, in April 2020, the proportion of individuals in the UK suffering severe mental anguish increased to 27% of those polled, up from 19% the previous year. 2

You are not stranded. You have the power to make a difference.

  1. Take the quiz below to find out. It will assist you in determining your present stress level.
  2. Take a look at the infographic below. It will assist you in better understanding your symptoms, identifying underlying stresses, and incorporating therapeutic activities to feed and repair your body.

How much stress do you have on your plate?

Use these questions to assess your overall stress level as well as your ability to cope with it.

They’re based on the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), which is the most often used stress test. 3

1. How frequently have you been angry in the past month as a result of anything unexpected?

  • 0 points if you never do it.
  • 1 point for almost never.
  • Occasionally – 2 points
  • Quite often – 3 points
  • Frequently – 4 point

2. How frequently in the past month did you feel that you couldn’t manage the essential things in your life?

  • 0 points if you never do it.
  • 1 point for almost never.
  • Occasionally – 2 points
  • Quite often – 3 points
  • Frequently – 4 point

3. How frequently have you been anxious or stressed in the past month?

  • 0 points if you never do it.
  • 1 point for almost never.
  • Occasionally – 2 points
  • Quite often – 3 points
  • Frequently – 4 point

4. How frequently in the past month did you find that you couldn’t keep up with all you had to do?

  • 0 points if you never do it.
  • 1 point for almost never.
  • Occasionally – 2 points
  • Quite often – 3 points
  • Frequently – 4 point

5. How frequently have you felt enraged in the past month as a result of events that were beyond your control?

  • 0 points if you never do it.
  • 1 point for almost never.
  • Occasionally – 2 points
  • Quite often – 3 points
  • Frequently – 4 point

6. How frequently in the past month have you felt as if your problems were building up to the point that you couldn’t deal with them?

  • 0 points if you never do it.
  • 1 point for almost never.
  • Occasionally – 2 points
  • Quite often – 3 points
  • Frequently – 4 point

7. How many times in the past month have you felt confidence in our abilities to manage your personal issues?

  • 4 points for never.
  • Almost never – a three-point score
  • Occasionally – 2 points
  • Quite often – 1 point
  • – 0 point – 0 point – 0 point – 0 point

8. How many times in the past month did you feel things were going your way?

  • 4 points for never.
  • Almost never – a three-point score
  • Occasionally – 2 points
  • Quite often – 1 point
  • – 0 point – 0 point – 0 point – 0 point

9. How many times in the past month have you been able to manage annoyances in your life?

  • 4 points for never.
  • Almost never – a three-point score
  • Occasionally – 2 points
  • Quite often – 1 point
  • – 0 point – 0 point – 0 point – 0 point

10. How many times in the past month did you feel on top of things?

  • 4 points for never.
  • Almost never – a three-point score
  • Occasionally – 2 points
  • Quite often – 1 point
  • – 0 point – 0 point – 0 point – 0 point

Your result is:

0-13: You have a low level of stress perception. That’s fantastic!

14-26: You have a moderate stress level. You’re already doing a lot of things well, yet there’s still space for improvement.

27-40: You have a high level of stress perception. That’s OK; you can make a difference.

Now that you’ve established your position, you may utilize this infographic to:

  • Recognize the signs and symptoms of Stress Bod.
  • Identify the hidden stresses that cause Stress Bod.
  • Learn a 6-step method for dealing with stress so you can go back to feeling like yourself!

Download it now so you can refer to it when your life changes for the better.

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References

To see the information sources mentioned in this article, go here.

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We live in a modern age of busyness. We’re so overworked as a society that we’re becoming increasingly stressed. So many of us are under a lot of pressure and are coping with internal stress, and yet we’re not really adding to our stress levels. So, why are we feeling so awful? The answer is that we may be carrying out what’s called a stress habit. A stress habit is when we secretly treat ourselves poorly, which is often the same as treating ourselves poorly in front of others. If you’re not sure if you have a stress habit, you can do a self-appraisal, asking yourself how it feels to be treated badly, to be criticized or ignored, and to be left out of things.. Read more about chronic stress symptoms and let us know what you think.

Related Tags

This article broadly covered the following related topics:

  • how does stress affect the body
  • stress symptoms
  • symptoms of stress
  • symptoms of stress and anxiety
  • stress symptoms checklist

Una is a food website blogger motivated by her love of cooking and her passion for exploring the connection between food and culture. With an enthusiasm for creating recipes that are simple, seasonal, and international, she has been able to connect with people around the world through her website. Una's recipes are inspired by her travels across Mexico, Portugal, India, Thailand, Australia and China. In each of these countries she has experienced local dishes while learning about the culture as well as gaining insight into how food can be used as a bridge between different cultures. Her recipes are often creative combinations of traditional ingredients from various different cuisines blended together to create something new.