How Stress Effects Your Muscles

Stress is an integral part of our life. It affects us all and it`s everywhere. Whether we like it or not, but we have stressful situations almost every day. Sometimes we forget the important papers at home and it makes us nervous, we oversleep and late for a work or a big meeting that`s a real mood-killer for the day, it may happen that we get a promotion at work, thus, greater responsibilities and it`s also an enormous stress for us. This list can be endless. It may sound strange but to face the stress is a norm of our life. But here, it`s very important to realize that stress can be positive and negative. And when we get in a stressful situation we don't always know how stress can impact us. Unfortunately, most of us often don`t know that they are stressed, they disregard stress symptoms and think that it isn't about them until they reach the breaking point. So let`s see what stress is, identify the key stress symptoms and look how stress can affect your muscle composition. Definition of Stress – Good and Bad Stress Stress is a natural and physical reaction to our life circumstances. It is the body's response to any harmful situations. This reaction is also called “Fight” or “Fight Response”. Stress can occur in two forms as it noted above. There is good and bad stress or “eustress” and “distress”. “Eustress” or positive form of stress appears in small doses. Such form of stress strengthens our body and soul. Short-term stressful situations help us to adjust to the world and people around us. For example, you are nervous before your driving test. On the eve of the test, you repeat all the material many times and finally, you pass it perfectly. So stress in small portions has a lot of advantages: it is beneficial and motivating. It helps us meet everyday problems and motivates us to achieve the goals. It can even boost our memory as we see from the example above. But too much stress that we can feel around weeks or even months is known as “distress” or bad one. People are created to handle stress in small doses when we are subjected to a long-term stress it can ruin us and cause permanent harm to our health. Symptoms of Stress Different people respond to the same stressor differently. What produces stress in one person may not worry another at all or just a little bit. We all different, that's why some of us can deal with stress better than others. That depends on personality qualities and features. But everyone has to be attentive and know the key signs of stress as they change us mentally, physically and emotionally. Be careful if you notice that you:

• have headaches, aches, pains and tense muscles;
• pain in chest and increased heart rate;
• get sick more often with cold;
• become more angry, irritable and anxious;
• can't concentrate and sleep well;
• have a poor appetite;
• constantly feel bad about yourself and depressed.

Thus, chronic stress can do so many things to our bodies and affect almost all body systems, but first of all, muscles suffer under stress. Muscle tension is a common body`s way of guarding against stress. So what happens? Hormone Disparity Long-term stress leads to the violation of hormonal background. Due to chronic stress or stressful situation, the body starts reducing the level of anabolic hormones such as testosterone and vice versa the level of glucocorticoid hormones such as cortisol start rising. The growing of cortisol causes low energy levels and prevents muscle development. Passivity of Organism When you're stressed for a long time you become less physically active as you find this painful. It happens as you feel like your muscles are always strained, it`s hard for you to relax them, you often feel pain in your shoulders, neck and head, it can cause even migraines. It becomes difficult for you to find the right motivation to exercise as you feel exhausted and fatigued. Weight Problem If your stress level is high you can't avoid the problems with your weight. Being stressed you start moving not so active as usual. Besides, a lot of people prefer to use eating from stress, thereby exacerbating the situation. High-fat and low-nutrient food lower your body's lean muscle content. Eating junk food, a lot of wheat and sweets you gain extra pounds that will be not so easy to burn. And on the contrary, when dealing with stress you can feel disgusted for eating. There's also nothing good as if you eat less or stop eating at all because of stress your body won`t get necessary power to keep the same weight and muscle size. Stress and stressful situations accompany us constantly and everywhere. Don`t be afraid to accept that you deal with stress as it impacts hardly your muscular system, above all and can lead to the serious health problems. Practice deep breathing or diaphragmatic breathing and outdoor exercise as the best cure for stress. Read more on http://thecrossfitshoes.com/