The Long Term Impact of Chronic Stress

By Brenda McCreight Ph.D.

Some forms of stress can be exhilarating and energizing.

Indeed, stress can give you the kick you need to get through a high pressure meeting or recall what you need to score well on an exam.

Chronic stress, however, will slowly and systematically create havoc and damage to your physical and emotional health.

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  For those engaged in Hazardous

Parenting, chronic stress is part of life but the good news is that the damage it does to your body and your brain can be alleviated.

Here’s what stress does to you ...

First, the stress trigger happens. It might be that the phone rings and you know it’s your child’s school calling to tell you that your child has to be sent home for the day yet again. Or, the social worker just called to say that the funding for your respite care has been cut. Or, it’s almost time for school to end and you become stressed knowing that the daily afterschool chaos is about to begin.

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The trigger will ignite the amygdala in your brain – that’s the part of the brain that alerts your whole body to danger and sets you into flight, fight or freeze mode. It results in the release of cortisol and other toxic hormones that flood the brain and cause your heart beat to increase and your blood pressure to rise. Brenda McCreight Ph.D. workshop series

It also shuts off your pre-frontal cortex, the part of the brain that reasons and evaluates and allows for long term thinking as well as problem solving.

The hormones in your brain make you irritable and impatient and they disrupt your sleep cycle, causing more stress and more cognitive problems.  

Cortisol even impacts your weight, as it slows the metabolism and sends fat to your waist – leading to obesity

and the health problems that go with that.

Your body and your brain get pretty worn out from the chronic overdose of cortisol and so they become sluggish and depressed and exhausted and you find that you don’t have the energy to exercise or the will to eat right.

If you have a genetic tendency to other health problems, such as migraines or heart problems, these are going to develop in full force.

In the long run, the chronic stress, if unattended, may be a factor in developing dementia!

The downward cycle continues as your now chronic irritability and impatience alienates you from friends, from support, from your spouse and your other children. Sooner or later it will impact your work and then you have even more chronic stress to add to the damage already happening inside of you.

What can you do about this? Well, you can’t remove the source of your stress, which is your child, and she isn’t going to get any better in the near or immediate future.

Here are some things you can do to increase your brain health by lowering the cortisol levels and increasing the function and activity level of the rest of your brain.

Here’s what doesn’t work:Addictions or bad habits, such as alcohol, shopping, affairs, food, reading, the internet, carbohydrates, and other quick fixes that only add to the burden your brain is experiencing.

Here’s what does work:  Exercise – no matter how difficult it

is, get up off the couch and move. Start with a walk around the block, then find a gym where you feel welcomed, or join aqua aerobics – just do something.

Remember, you need both cardio and muscle resistance exercises to make sure that your cardiovascular system and your cognitive capacity are supported.

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Breathing techniques – anything that gets oxygen to your brain is great. There are many biofeedback breathing techniques (check out Heartmath.org), yoga is excellent too.

A simple breathing technique I devised is at the end of this presentation.

Check it out.

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Therapy – many therapies help alleviate the symptoms of chronic stress, including Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, EMDR, neurofeedback, biofeedback, Emotional Freedom Technique (my favorite) and others.

Meditation is excellent for brain health and for stress reduction.

Search the net for meditations that suit you – or go to my Hazardous Parenting website where we are always adding new, and short, meditations.

You may feel that meditating is too “new age” or too time consuming or too weird or too….. But it takes less time than a heart attack and its been around way too long to be considered new.

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Play – that’s right – you are entitled to play and have fun – whatever that looks like to you.

Take time to golf with your buddies, or go to a movie without the kids, or go away for a weekend with your spouse or your friends

Join a group activity that isn’t about parenting

Healthy eating – I know you already know about this – but make sure you do it!

Add some fruit and vegetables to your existing diet

Swap out carbs for vitamins from raw foods

See a nutritionist if you are unsure about what to do with your food intake.

People die early from many things, such as obesity, diabetes and heart disease, but often it’s the underlying factor of chronic stress that led to these fatal conditions.

You don’t have to be a victim of stress, you can heal and recover and flourish!

Remember – you are entitled to a better day.

Brenda’s breathing technique – QUIET THE MONKEYS

Picture a tree – try to make it make it big and thick with many branches and full of shiny green leaves. Now, picture monkeys on the branches – they may be swinging from one branch to another, or they may be settled firmly on their favorite spot, peeking out at the world from behind smaller tree limbs, still leaf filled. Picture the monkeys chattering away – all chatter at the same time, without pause, without meaning that you can discern.

Now, picture the monkeys slowly quieting. One by one they cease their noise, one by one they close their eyes and assume a resting position. They begin to fade behind the leaves, and tree stands strong and silent.

The monkeys are quiet. Square your shoulders

Think about a word that describes how you intend to feel.

Pay attention to your breathing for about 30 seconds

Breathe a little bit deeper and a little bit slower than usual for about 30 seconds

Think about your heart for about 30 seconds

Picture your oxygen rich blood flowing up to, and through, your brain

Picture the oxygen washing out the stress hormones and toxic thoughts that fill your brain for about 30 seconds, or longer if you have time

Think of something you love or something that makes you feel wonderful, or think of a person, place or event that brings you joy for about 30 seconds

Slowly open your eyes

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Thank you for sharing this time with me

You can check out other services and products at these sites:

http://www.lifespancounselling.com http://www.theadoptioncounselor.com http://www.hazardousparenting.com The Hazardous Parenting facebook site Udemy.com (search under Brenda McCreight) Slideshare.com (search under Brenda McCreight) Amazon.com (search under Brenda McCreight) brendamccreight@gmail.com Brenda provides counselling and parent coaching

worldwide via skype,