Is stress making you ill?

Is stress making you ill?

“Try not to stress!” We’ve all heard that before, but it’s easier said than done!

Stress is often undiagnosed, the silent cause of many illnesses and injuries. Cortisol tests can determine the levels of cortisol (the stress hormone) present in your adrenal glands (See Adrenal Fatigue blog) and these will be high if you are particularly overworked. However, if you haven’t reached that

level of fatigue you may not be aware of other factors.

Take a look at 100 competitors competing in a sporting event such as, javelin. A small number will suffer a recurring bicep injury whilst most others will never develop that particular injury or will remain relatively injury free. The answer must lie outside the sport. Putting aside any issues in training, what other factors may cause issues? That being said, we don’t all need to be Olympic athletes to suffer recurring, persistent issues!

Posture

Though primarily determined by hereditary factors, bone structure, muscle type and natural movement pattern. Whilst many of the above factors can be changed, regular exercise and massage can help. For example, a computer operator may start the day with relatively good posture but as the day goes on the muscles will tire and they may slump more. This results in imbalances whereby other muscle structures compensate for tired muscle, further compounding the issue.

Emotional

Emotional stress can encompass many areas such as relationships, physical injury or fatigue, financial worries and bereavement. Often sleep is disturbed and this further stresses the body’s systems. We tend to be more tense physically during these periods and naturally tense our muscles.

Overtraining

In order to be the best, we often push ourselves either in the workplace or in the gym. Listening to our bodies, resting when we need to and talking through our issues all help to keep our bodies in good working order.

In conclusion, stress has many factors to it and having a general overview of this will help us recognise the areas of our life we need to work on.