(Published 2023 June)
5 Ways to Fight Toxic Stress
Stress is part of life. In fact, our stress response is a survival mechanism that allows us to react to threats. Some stress is good for us—think a new project at work that helps you stretch your strengths and learn new skills, meeting a weight-lifting goal, or receiving a standing ovation for a speech in front of a large crowd. Good stress, also called eustress, produces positive feelings of excitement, fulfillment, meaning, satisfaction, and well-being.
It's when stress turns toxic--when we are overwhelmed--that it becomes negative. You can combat negative stress in healthy ways. Try these five:
- Seek social support. Be strategic about this. Some folks in your life may be good listeners, while others excel at practical help, like delivering a home-cooked meal or helping you reschedule plans.
- Relax. Stress can cause tense muscles, headaches and other body pains, and fatigue. Combat this tension with a massage, stretching, warm baths, or progressive muscle relaxation. To practice progressive muscle relaxation, get in a comfortable position and choose a muscle group, like your lower leg muscles. Inhale and contract the muscles for five to 10 seconds, then exhale and release the muscles suddenly. Relax for 10 seconds, and then move to the next muscle group.
- Get better sleep. Daytime stress can derail your sleep patterns. Unhealthy sleep leads to mood swings and an inability to focus. Follow a consistent sleep routine.
- Keep the pleasure in your life. When we’re overwhelmed, we tend to play party pooper with our fun. Canceling leisure activities is counterproductive. Find time in your schedule to read a few chapters in a novel, go for a short hike, dance in the kitchen, binge a few episodes of your favorite streaming show.
- Eat well. Acute stress can dampen your appetite, but the release of the hormone cortisol during chronic stress can cause you to crave fat and sugar. Research suggests high cortisol combined with high sugar consumption may lead to fatty deposits around our internal organs, creating a path to heart disease and type 2 diabetes. You don’t have to give up cake or swear off red meat. Just make sure you eat a variety of fruits and vegetables on a daily basis.
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