Let’s call stress that is above our threshold over-stress since stress is not really the enemy (until it is). When you get over-stressed, your body releases hormones that switch your chemistry from normal operation into protection/survival mode.
Two hormones that get out of balance with stress are adrenaline and cortisol. These hormones and other mechanisms in your body (faster heart rate, slow digestion) are useful for coping with stress. These physiological processes get you from point A to B, but they create a chain of events with negative effects and can get over-used, which creates a dependence and a cycle.
After a stressful event, your body needs time and a calming, restful environment to recover back to a state of homeostasis. Maybe one minute, maybe one hour, or…a few days - depending on how much stress.
I had one week in particular so far this year that was so stressful, it took me a week to recover and get back to sleeping well and feeling like myself again.
Yes. One week.
Recovery is like cleaning up after a party and your body wants to return to homeostasis. If you party too often, you may eventually get tired of cleaning up. And your body can get worn out too. According to Dr. Stuart Shanker, author of Self-Reg, a book about breaking stress cycles, our recovery system becomes weakened when we sound the alarm bell too often.
Once you sound the stress alarm bell, your body produces stress hormones to help you cope. One hormone, cortisol, is produced fresh with each stressful episode and it stays in your body until it is metabolized out. Excess cortisol disrupts sleep. Which results in daytime fatigue.
You feel tired when you want and need to be awake and you are awake during times you want to be asleep. Frustrating.
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Banner photo by Matteo Vistocco on Unsplash.
