Health coach Luke Coutinho talks about chronic stress and anxiety, and how the two can be very harmful for your health. They can interfere in your weight loss regime, cause fatigue, lead to hormonal imbalance and much more.
Chronic stress and anxiety can interfere in your weight loss regime
HIGHLIGHTS
- Constant stress can be detrimental to your health
- It can delay the process of healing from diseases
- To relieve stress and anxiety meditate and do breathing exercises
Chronic stress and anxiety can do much more harm to the body than you can think of. A little stress once in a while, or feeling worried about a few episodes is not going to be that harmful. But taking constant stress can be detrimental to your health, believes health coach Luke Coutinho. He went live on Facebook to share how chronic stress and anxiety can make you gain weight, immensely sick and drains all of your energy. This often comes in your way of weight loss as well. Chronic stress and anxiety is characterized experiencing these feelings right from the time you wake up, till the time you go to bed at night. This stress and anxiety can not only interfere with your weight loss, but also delay the process of healing from diseases. Chronic stress and anxiety can make you more prone to falling sick.
Constant stress and anxiety can hamper your quality of life
Photo Credit: iStock
Also Read: 6 Types Of Anxiety Disorders You Must Know About
Accept that stress and anxiety is affecting your life
Luke says that it is important to accept that constant stress and anxiety is hampering your quality of life tremendously. It is important to give utmost importance to the amount of stress and anxiety that you experience on a daily basis. It is only after we accept that we experience stress and anxiety that we begin to work towards it.
Anxiety can cause mental or emotional symptoms
Also read: If You Have These Personality Traits, You Are Most Likely To Suffer From Anxiety
Stress and anxiety hampers production of pregnenolone
Pregnenolone is the master hormone which makes estrogen, testosterone, cortisol, DHEA and progesterone. Any disturbance or imbalance in production of pregnenolone would thus lead to an imbalance of estrogen, testosterone, cortisol, DHEA and progesterone as well.
Most health conditions have a direct link with the production of hormones in the body. Pregnenolone is made from cholesterol. Good cholesterol in the body is important for it being converted in to pregnenolone.
Chronic stress increases production of cortisol. Pregnenolone makes cortisol. Pregnenolone stealing is referred to a process wherein excess cortisol production uses up pregnenolone levels in the body. This results in low estrogen - which can lead to low sex drive, vaginal dryness, joint pain, skin problems and mild depression. It also leads to low production of testosterone - which is required to maintain lean muscle mass, and thus hampers your weight loss regime.
Pregnenolone stealing will also lead to low production of DHEA - which can thyroid problems and affects your metabolism. Furthermore, progesterone levels drop on pregnenolone stealing. Low levels of progesterone can worse symptoms of Premenstrual syndrome (PMS), irregular menstrual cycles, heavy flow during periods and bloating.
Stress and anxiety results in bad health
Photo Credit: iStock
Low levels of progesterone increases levels of estrogen, which is known to cause diseases like endometrial lining, cervical issues, ovarian issues, cysts and fibroids, polyps in ovaries, tumors in breast, breast cancer, etc. A vicious cycle of all these conditions gets created because of constant stress and anxiety.
Also read: Job Stress May Increase The Risk Of Premature Death In Men
The solution
1. Accepting that stress and anxiety is destroying our health.
2. Looking at these problems the symptomatic level is not going to be helpful. It is important to think beyond symptoms and get to the root cause of problems. Bring a few changes in your lifestyle and evaluate the amount of stress and anxiety you take on a daily basis.
3. Coping mechanisms will help in dealing with stress, only temporarily. People indulge into shopping, binge drinking, socializing, binge eating, over exercising or over sleeping. These coping mechanisms will only temporarily reduce stress, but will not help you get rid of it.
4. Meditate, do breathing exercises and start spending time with yourself. You have full control over how much stress and anxiety you experience. You can take control of your emotions and this will help towards progression and self-healing. Learn to let go of your problems.
Meditation is the best solution to cure stress and anxiety
Photo Credit: iStock
Disclaimer: This content including advice providesgeneric information only. It is in no way a substitute for qualified medical opinion. Always consult a specialist or your own doctor for more information. NDTV does not claim responsibility for this information.
DoctorNDTV is the one stop site for all your health needs providing the most credible health information, health news and tips with expert advice on healthy living, diet plans, informative videos etc. You can get the most relevant and accurate info you need about health problems like diabetes, cancer, pregnancy, HIV and AIDS, weight loss and many other lifestyle diseases. We have a panel of over 350 experts who help us develop content by giving their valuable inputs and bringing to us the latest in the world of healthcare.
