In today’s fast-paced world, being constantly busy is often worn like a badge of honor. However, this non-stop lifestyle brings with it a silent epidemic – the stress cycle. Not all stress is harmful; it can motivate us to meet deadlines and achieve goals. Yet, when stress becomes chronic, it can lead to serious health issues, both mental and physical.
The Many Faces of Stress
Stress is more than just an emotional response to our hectic lives. It manifests in various forms, from the physical to the psychological and affects ALL ages:
- Physical threats: We no longer run from predators. The modern-day equivalent might be encountering an unleashed dog during a peaceful walk. Our brains cannot tell the difference. Environmental factors like noise, clutter, and extreme temperatures also affect our stress levels.
- Anxiety and uncertainty: The CDC notes a significant rise in anxiety levels since the COVID-19 pandemic began. Political and economic instability further fuels our sense of uncertainty.
- Negative social experiences: Interpersonal conflicts and societal pressures can exacerbate our stress responses.
Many of us have numerous day-to-day problems, demands, and pressures that drive our stress levels higher and higher.
The Stress Cycle and the Body: A Complicated Relationship
When stressed, our body’s ‘fight or flight’ mechanism kicks in, releasing hormones like adrenaline and cortisol. This response can lead to physical manifestations such as increased heart rate, blood pressure, muscle tension and quick shallow breaths. While these reactions are natural in short bursts, chronic stress can lead to long-term health problems.
When we are stuck in a state of constant stress, even low-level stress, our bodies never find their way to homeostasis (where we function best) or the rest and digest state (where our bodies can heal). In a state of constant stress, we are rarely breathing deeply with our diaphragm, AND our bodies are spewing a cocktail of continuous stress hormones. This steady flow causes a cascade of physical problems that we cannot repair if we do not regularly find our way into the rest and digest state.
Stress-Induced Physical Ailments
Chronic stress keeps the body in a constant state of alert, affecting various systems:
- Musculoskeletal system: Persistent stress-induced muscle tension can lead to pain, especially in the neck, back, and shoulders.
- Digestive system: Stress can alter gut function, leading to conditions like irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) or heartburn.
- Cardiovascular health: Elevated stress levels increase the risk of hypertension, stroke, and heart disease.
- Pain and inflammation: Constant stress can disrupt cortisol regulation, heightening pain perception and contributing to conditions like arthritis and fibromyalgia.
The Fascia-Pain Connection
Stress doesn’t just affect muscles and organs; it also impacts the fascia, the connective tissue surrounding muscles, nerves, and organs. This can lead to:
- Increased tension: Chronic tension affects the fascia, leading to stiffness and pain. If you are familiar with the fascia, you know it contains 10 times more nerves than the muscles. When it gets too stiff and tight we often feel it as achy pain.
- Biochemical changes: Elevated cortisol can make fascia less pliable, restricting the movement of our bodies and everything inside our bodies.
- Reduced blood flow.
- Reduced lymphatic flow.
- Reduced flow of the ground substance leading to a buildup of cellular waste in the body.
- Inflammation: Stress-induced inflammation can make fascia more sensitive, reducing mobility.
The Stress Cycle, Fascia, and Organ Function
Chronic stress can lead to a state where our bodies are in constant low-grade sympathetic overdrive, producing stress hormones and inflammatory cytokines. This state can strain organs and body systems, leading to disease progression and fibrosis, interfering with organ function.
The Fascia-Informed Pain Cycle
This illustration (below) shows the flow of stress into pain. It also shows how this pain and disease leads to more stress. We must break the cycle of stress.
When we spend most of our time in fight or flight, our body’s resources are continually diverted to deal with stress, making them unavailable to support our healing from daily wear and tear. This may mean recovering from an illness as simple as a cold, tweaking your back, or bouncing back after a surgery.
Beyond Physical Pain: Stress and Its Dismissal
Many believe physical pain must have a physical cause, fixable through physical means. However, the link between stress, fascia, and health issues suggests a more complex interaction. Addressing stress is crucial, but it’s not a one-size-fits-all solution. While some may resist meditation, others might find relief in breathing techniques or other stress management strategies.
You Have the Power to Break the Pain Cycle
The critical part of breaking the pain cycle is to spend time in the “rest and digest” or parasympathetic state. Our body has a built-in mechanism to help us with that effort. It is called diaphragmatic breathing. Please take a few moments to learn more and maybe even practice with us in the video below.
Diaphragmatic breathing should be your default breathing technique and your number one priority for improving your state of being.
Other strategies for breaking the stress cycle include:
- Mindfulness Meditation: Regular practice of mindfulness or other forms of meditation can decrease the body’s stress response over time and promote relaxation. Check out my blog on practical meditation.
- Progressive Muscle Relaxation: This technique involves tensing and slowly releasing each muscle group in the body, helping reduce physical and mental tension.
- Yoga or Tai Chi: These practices combine physical movement, breath control, and meditation, which can help shift the body to a parasympathetic state.
- Spending Time in Nature: Being in natural environments can reduce stress hormones, lower blood pressure, and enhance feelings of well-being, helping to activate the parasympathetic nervous system.
- Listening to Calming Music: Music can directly affect the parasympathetic nervous system, reducing heart rate and blood pressure and promoting relaxation.
- Aromatherapy: Certain scents, like lavender or chamomile, can trigger the parasympathetic response, promoting calmness and relaxation.
- Yoga Nidra: A body-based method of mindful, focused awareness to relax the body and mind.
This is not an exhaustive list of ways to bring the body into a calmer, more relaxed state. There are many. Spending even a few minutes during the day in a more peaceful state will help.
Please enjoy this Yoga Nidra meditation.
If you are already dealing with built-up tension in the fascia, you can also do activities that target this tension.
- Gentle Stretching
- Myofascial Release
- Myofascial Self-Treatment
Conclusion
The journey from understanding stress as a mere psychological phenomenon to recognizing its profound physical impacts, particularly through the lens of fascial health, is vital. As we navigate our busy lives, acknowledging and addressing the multi-faceted nature of stress becomes essential for our overall health and well-being. Encouraging a broader view of stress management can lead to more effective treatments and healthier lives.
In summary, stress, particularly when chronic, significantly affects our physical health, particularly through the fascial system. Recognizing and addressing this can help alleviate the psychological and physical manifestations of stress, leading to improved health outcomes.
At Mayer Fascia Wellness, we recognize the connection between stress, emotions, and fascial health.
Join us at one of our myofascial self-treatment workshops, where you’ll learn how to treat your fascia to minimize the negative effects of stress on your fascial system.
- Level One: Learn the basics of self-myofascial release techniques.
- Level Two: You can focus on the upper body or the lower body in level two.
- Level Three: Learn to go deeper and delve into the emotional aspects of physical pain and how to layer in imagery to address the emotional component during the physical fascial release.
Not in Omaha? Learn self-treatment in our online self-paced video course: A Beginner’s Guide to Myofascial Release Self-Treatment. Take a moment to view our courses.
