I don’t believe anyone would disagree with the blanket statement that 2020 has been stressful for each and every one of us. With quarantining, social distancing, mask-wearing, and the current political season, many people, including myself, are finding their daily routines disrupted and less energy spent on the things that used to bring joy and fulfillment.
What is stress really and what does it do in our bodies?
The physical effects of stress are quite interesting. The environment around us impacts our entire body, including muscles, tendons, and nerves. With greater exposure to a stressor, the greater the change within the body produced by it (1). That is not to say that every biological response to a stressor is bad; it is incredibly wonderful that we can continuously expose our bodies to the stresses of working out and reap the rewards of increased muscle mass. And it is also advantageous that our bodies warn us that our current workload may be too much, by giving us different sensations such as increased fatigue. But problems arise when we cease to listen to our body’s warning bells and continue to allow stressors to impact our physiology. Have you noticed an increased prevalence of neck tension or headaches lately whenever someone so much as mentions a particular political ideal? Or are you feeling a lack of enjoyment in anything you used to love? We cannot halt stress, but mindfully limiting our exposures to it is incredibly beneficial to living a happy, healthy life!
How does participating in self-care negate these effects stress produces?
The same pathways in your brain that are associated with pleasure, reward, and motivation, have been shown via functional MRI imaging of the brain to be involved in pain relief (2). By acting on the autonomic and central nervous systems of the body, participating in activities that fuel our system with reward, motivation, and pleasure provides an incredible outlet for stress and pain. That is essentially what self-care boils down to what fills your cup up and is your cup filled up enough so that the stressors of life have to pass through the barriers of positive regard, self-worth, and joy, to make a lasting impact on your body?
Participating in activities that fill you up is thus one way of many to limit exposure to stress by giving us more bandwidth to deal with stressors. The key is to find a few things you love and try to make time for one of those things often for the simple pleasure it provides. You may start to see a change in your pain as you do so.
1) Yaribeygi H, Panahi Y, Sahraei H, Johnston TP, Sahebkar A. The impact of stress on body function: A review. EXCLI J. 2017;16:1057-1072. Published 2017 Jul 21. doi:10.17179/excli2017-480
2) Navratilova E, Morimura K, Xie JY, Atcherley CW, Ossipov MH, Porreca F. Positive emotions and brain reward circuits in chronic pain. J Comp Neurol. 2016;524(8):1646-1652. doi:10.1002/cne.23968