If you’ve ever battled chronic stress, you’re already keenly aware of its ability to wreak havoc on your body, mind, and soul. Stress changes people’s lives – and without the right management tools, it can have serious long-lasting consequences.
We all need to identify the short and long-term effects of stress, as well as ways to manage stress and how it impacts our lives.
In this post, we’re diving into the physical and mental effects, then discussing some of the key things to know about practicing mindfulness, taking supplements, and generally reducing the side effects of stress.
Stress has countless detrimental effects on your body, mood, and behavior. A few of the most commonly seen physical issues people face are
We can likely all relate to at least one of these effects of stress on the body (Mayo Clinic, 2021). Hopefully, your symptoms were temporary, but if these issues become chronic, they require treatment and more serious management aids.
If not addressed, the symptoms of stress on the physical body can start to manifest in imbalance, disease, or even worse, death. Western medicine attributes 90% or more of diseases to stress, and the understanding we have as a modern society is only growing.
These stress-related symptoms aren’t just nuisances – they’re messages from our bodies. In other words, if you can reframe your thinking to see stress symptoms as signals from your internal self, you can use them as clues to solve the problems plaguing your body.
Don’t be deceived – stress doesn’t solely reveal itself in physical manifestations, nor does it appear immediately after a stress-inducing situation. The effects of stress on the mind can appear over time and include feelings of:
These are only a few of the most common effects on one’s mood. (Mayo Clinic, 2021). So many of us have felt stress in so many different ways. Sometimes, it’s just a feeling of being overwhelmed. Sometimes, it’s the little thing, that we have always been okay with that finally set us off, and we reach our breaking point.
Naturally, our responses to stress aren’t always the healthiest or most productive. We are human, after all. You may find yourself:
Stress can dramatically affect your behavior, and the mental effects of stress are shockingly common. However, this is also where the gold is.
If you can reap the benefits of stress management techniques, you can make lasting and effective changes in your life. No one can remove stress entirely, but we can all work to reduce and handle our stress. A certain amount of stress is necessary in life, and I would argue, even beneficial if utilized and managed appropriately.
When we learn to manage our stress through mindfulness techniques, we can:
Stress is an extremely important characteristic needed in our lives – but in moderate and manageable amounts. Once that stress moves from occasional to chronic, or manageable to overpowering, the benefits of stress are replaced with negative effects.
If that’s your situation, you need to focus on a dual-pronged approach:
But, how do we do that?
Stress management techniques are a hot topic these days – and rightfully so. The terms “mental health” and “mental wellbeing” have been popularized and made mainstream by many celebrities and health advocates.
No one is exempt from the detrimental effects of stress, regardless of their income level, fame, location, or age. We all have to learn to deal with it.
Since we cannot always control stress (or even reduce it), we must learn how to manage stress to the best of our abilities. This is easier said than done and requires healthy habits to replace current (likely self-sabotaging) habits.
Think about habits for a minute. How were your habits created – consciously and deliberately, or unconsciously and haphazardly?
Most of us do not consciously create our habits. Instead, we “pick up” habits based on our schedules, preferences, families, and jobs. We learn our habits from those who raised us and the people we are around, like spouses, friends, roommates, and even children. It happens unconsciously, day by day.
Rarely do we realize our habits are forming until they are formed. Even more rarely do we catch ourselves creating bad habits and correcting them to form better ones.
However, the ability to consciously create habits might be the most useful skill we will ever learn. It relates to all areas of our life, but our formation of healthy lifestyle habits for stress relief is especially important.
If we could take a step back and watch our habits through an unfiltered lens, most of us would see that we make poor decisions that contribute to our stress, rather than choices that help us manage it. For instance, instead of taking our 15-minute work break to sit silently and practice deep breathing or meditation, we scroll on social media apps or gossip with a co-worker
It’s crucial that we let our brain process our stress through mindfulness, rather than resorting to habits that place a temporary bandage over our stress. Even small habits – like deep breathing three times a day or limiting our time on our phones – can contribute to a more balanced, stable mind rather than a “monkey mind.”
In the end, managing our stress levels is heavily dependent on our mindsets. We must realize that these stressful situations come and go, but our habits surrounding stress management can be lifelong.
A “monkey mind,” according to Buddhist principles, is a term that refers to a mental state of being unsettled, restless, or confused (Raab, Ph.D., 2017). The monkey mind makes stressful situations seem larger and more daunting than they are, while also stifling creativity and feeding our anxiety.
When we are in the monkey mind state, we are typically disorganized, chaotic, forgetful, and unskilled in our thinking. As you can expect, this would not help us to reduce or manage stress, but instead, fuels it. So, what can we do to calm the monkey mind and be more balanced?
There are many mindfulness techniques for anxiety, stress meditation practices, and even physical relaxation methods that can help us. It sounds too easy to be true, but one of the best practices we can learn and incorporate into our lives is simply stillness.
Sitting still with our eyes closed for a predetermined amount of time can work wonders for balance and inner peace. Our minds are inundated with stress from everywhere – other people, work pressures, life events, finances, schedules, responsibilities, commitments, and our constant juggling of duties.
Add social media, advertising, politics, and the mainstream news to our pile and it’s a wonder any of our thoughts ever slow down. That’s why we need to actively cultivate downtime to keep our minds in check.
When we sit quietly, with our eyes closed, our brain starts to process everything coming at us. It has time to sort through all the junk and figure out what stressors are fleeting and what we really need to focus on.
The brain will come up with intelligent solutions to difficult situations when given the space and time to process its inputs. Stillness allows us to keep our stress levels under control, as well as manage the events of our day-to-day lives.
Meditation for stress and anxiety is difficult to start – not because it’s a difficult task to sit quietly, but because most of us subscribe to the idea of limited time to pursue mindfulness.
Instead of thinking about all of the things we should be doing when we’re sitting still, we need to think of stillness as purposeful. This is when we allow our brains to process and plan, as well as work through any “fight or flight” instincts in stressful situations. When we choose to sit still and meditate or simply feel, we’re actively pursuing a healthier, happier future.
If stillness or meditation sounds daunting to you, start by setting your timer for two minutes. For those two minutes, sit somewhere alone, comfortably, with your eyes closed.
Maybe you will notice a lot of thoughts running through your head – that’s normal. Maybe you will start to remember things you had forgotten. Maybe you’ll start to mentally write your grocery list. Maybe you will remember loved ones you haven’t seen or talked to in a while. Maybe you’ll focus on a certain stressor in your life and your concerns will just loop in your mind the entire time.
It doesn’t matter – there’s no right or wrong way to let these thoughts pass through your brain. Our society is so used to multi-tasking at every given minute, and we glorify being busy. It’s hard to slow down your brain, so don’t sweat it if you feel like you can’t at first.
Once you’ve sat still for two minutes a few times over the course of a week, try upping your time period to five minutes every day. Once you feel comfortable with five minutes, consider boosting your periods of stillness to 15 or 20 minutes daily (or even more frequently if you want).
If you really feel like you’re struggling to slow down your monkey mind, try counting from 1 to 10 continuously. When an intrusive thought appears, acknowledge it without judgment, then start your count over.
Each thought that pops up was a thought spinning in the mind prior to our stillness – and we should acknowledge that. The mind is pushing it to the surface so we can process it and then let it go. This is the ultimate gift of stillness and exactly what most of us need to reduce and manage stress.
Of course, stress management isn’t an entirely mental game. How we treat our bodies, and what we put into them, also matters.
If you are still having a difficult time managing stress, you could be missing key nutrients – vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants – that are needed for brain health. Essential nutrients are crucial for a balanced mind and body.
Key nutrients and certain foods can help us manage stress in several ways. For instance:
“Comfort foods, like a bowl of warm oatmeal, boost levels of serotonin, a calming brain chemical. Other foods can cut levels of cortisol and adrenaline, stress hormones that take a toll on the body over time. A healthy diet can help counter the impact of stress by shoring up the immune system and lowering blood pressure.” (Kathleen M. Zelman, 2019)
The thing is that most of us aren’t eating a balanced diet. Most of us are busy beyond belief, running like mad, busy with all of life’s pressures. Most of us can barely have a single day of perfect nutrition, let alone a lifetime.
Still, the truth is that our bodies and brains need nutrients to stay healthy. So, what can we do if we cannot find the time or energy to eat what we need every single day? That’s where supplements for stress can come into play.
While we would like to get all of our essential nutrients from food, that’s not always possible. This is partially due to our lifestyles, but also a problem with our food supply. Much of America’s food supply has been altered to assist in efficient farming practices. Ultimately, this can cause problems with nutrient levels in most of the meals we eat.
That’s why many people are turning to nutritional supplements and vitamins for stress. They want the crucial nutrients their bodies seek – but they also need to fit these nutrients into hectic schedules.
For example, the Wellness Collection™’s reVITAlize Daily Essentials + Immunity™ is a daily multivitamin, mineral, and antioxidant blend that is specifically created for people with busy, on-the-go lifestyles. These people still care about their health and want to make sure they are getting their key nutrients while avoiding toxic additives.
Shockingly, many supplements for anxiety and stress have toxic additives that are legally allowed in small amounts. When taken daily (likely in a multi-blend), these additives can have harmful cumulative effects.
Some of the most dangerous and common ingredients in supplements include:
This is anything but an inclusive list of dangerous additives, but they are some of the most common ones found in vitamin supplements for stress. These ingredients are added into supplements for a variety of reasons, including aesthetics, taste, cost reductions, and various other manufacturing practices. Sometimes they are also used for anti-caking purposes, their dissolving attributes, or simply to fill large capsules.
At Wellness Collection™, we are passionate about and committed to only producing the most natural, effective supplements on the market. Our founder, Cassie Sobelton, has deep roots in the manufacturing, healthcare, nutrition, and holistic living industries. This unique combination of experiences pushed her to create supplements that are highly potent, natural, and of the highest quality.
reVITAlize Daily Essentials + Immunity™ is a powder multi-vitamin, mineral, and antioxidant blend that comes in single-serving packets. Users can mix the powder with liquid to create the most bioavailable delivery system available.
Wellness Collection™ also has a line of CBD products. CBD, as we know, is another very sought-after supplement for issues of daily stress and anxiety. Studies are coming out constantly about the way CBD works with the body’s endocannabinoid system to help produce a well-rounded, balanced state of mind.
Just like reVITAlize, our line of CBD stress products is the highest quality and most effective, natural ingredients possible.
Managing chronic stress through mindfulness techniques (like stillness), proper supplementation and healthy lifestyle choices can help people fight the effects of stress on the body and mind. We live in a world where stress is unavoidable, but our management of and reaction to stress can (and should be) essential practices.
Once these stress management and mindfulness strategies become habits, they will change our mental, emotional and physical states. Not only will the effects of stress management help minimize anxiety levels, but they can also help people feel more balanced and happier in life.
Cassie has a background in manufacturing operations, healthcare operations, nutrition, and health coaching. This results in an unparalleled understanding of how each part of production affects the whole product. Cassie is a true advocate for healthy and holistic living, preventive lifestyles, and clean food/ingredients
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