The stresses of everyday life can debilitate our physical, emotional and mental health. Most stress is sourced from our working climate, quarrels within relationships, or expectations from Hollywood and social media. Stress from these sources cause anxiety including feelings of anxiousness, helplessness, being criticized, being blamed for things, abandonment, or feeling defeated and weak. Nobody wants to feel this way. However, the external influences based on the demands that are surrounding us easily impose this detrimental experience. A quick fix solution to alleviate stress is the use of alcohol, recreational drugs such as marijuana, or smoking a cigarette. These create temporary solutions but still don’t address the overlying issue. Symptoms of unhealthy stress can be addressed with anti-depressants that are prescribed by doctors as well. While it’s true that anti-depressant prescriptions help alleviate stress, learning to depend on anti-depressants would still feed the temporary solution for a lifelong struggle we all deal with. Stress can be managed more effectively. We coach our personal training clients in Napa on methods of lifetime fitness to help alleviate the harmful effects that stress puts on our lives. Exercise and physical activity can supplement the use of doctor prescribed anti-depressants and even replace them. Before you finish this article, picture how good you would feel if you were to reduce a specific source of stress by about 50% while feeling more awake, energized and happier.
Along with stress responses that we get from everyday interactions of society, there are some specific stress hormones that can become out of balance in our bodies. The concentration of the stress hormone serotonin can be disrupted due to high stress environments. Serotonin is responsible for regulating sleep-wake cycle, mood, and appetite. Cortisol is another important stress hormone to think about. When we receive a release of non-exercise induced cortisol from a stressful stimulus, fat storage can be induced. Another critical hormone that gets disrupted from external stress overload is dopamine. Dopamine balance is important because it helps control feelings of accomplishment and it initiates the beginning movements of nerve-to-muscular interaction. The detrimental imbalances of these hormones in the body are avoidable and can be managed with the regular use of exercise.
Stress and anxiety can be caused by being in a depressed state of sadness or feeling alone. For instance, a windowless office that lacks sunlight and human interaction can introduce symptoms of depression. Lack of natural sunlight decreases dopamine production. Sub optimal levels of dopamine concertation lead to decreased feelings of self-acknowledgement and happiness. Lack of activity from staying inside can lead to decreased amounts exercise induced cortisol. Cortisol during exercise is actually very beneficial toward exercise performance and utilizing fat as a fuel source as an “afterburn” effect following workouts. However, high circulating levels of cortisol that are triggered from socially induced stress, create fluctuations to our thoughts, feelings and emotions. We get touchy, angry, and easily agitated. In addition, high levels of cortisol at a resting state will influence fat storage. A lack of activity will lead to non-exercise induced cortisol. Lastly, increased stress will affect our regulation of serotonin. Serotonin is a key component of the sleep-wake cycle of the human body. Sleep is critically important to reset hormone balance every day. When the sleep-wake cycle is hindered, stress hormone balance cannot properly return to healthy parameters.
It’s true that anti-depressants can offer solutions to hyper stressed individuals. The problem occurs with a dependency to rely on an artificially induced hormone response elicited from the anti-depressant source. When stress reduction is artificially induced from using an anti-depressant, we artificially hold back stress as well. This limits the stress management abilities that are needed to live a strong, healthy and happy life. The anti-depressant is dealing with stress, not the individual. In that sense, we can develop a chemical dependency on anti-depressants. Once again, anti-depressants come in recreational forms that can be obtained freely in our society such as alcohol, cigarettes or marijuana. In addition to developing a chemical romance with anti-depressants, there are side effects of becoming lethargic and moving slowly. It’s true that anti-depressants can decrease anxiety, however the side effects are suboptimal for our well-being and activity levels.
A solution to decreasing stress is to take some time out for yourself to move around and exercise. Physical activity and exercise naturally increase dopamine, cortisol, and serotonin balance to healthy parameters. In addition to the benefits of having optimal stress hormone concentration, the ability to make a conscious decision for self-improvement far supersedes depending on a chemical we must go out and buy. When learning to depend on ourselves, we become more powerful by making decisions to improve. Not only does exercise positively affect our mood, we are becoming more sensitive to the response of stress hormones that elevate our mood without the use of a prescription. When exercise is frequently performed, our bodies are less sensitive to the stimuli of stress. When we create a stimulus of stress from regular exercise, hormones can be managed more efficiently to balance out the effects of the stress society throws at us. There are various studies demonstrating how exercise increases positive self-talk. Increased amounts of positive self-talk and exercise will result in increased amounts of circulating dopamine, decreased amounts of cortisol and balanced levels of serotonin.
Performing exercise and physical activity on a regular basis instead of reaching for a drink, smoking a cigarette or depending on anti-depressants will offer life changing improvements. While it’s true that doctor prescribed anti-depressants are very helpful for certain individuals who need it, we need to step back and assess where we are in our lives and how stress affects us. Before looking forward to a post-work day glass of wine, perhaps it would be a good idea to ask the questions: “Have you taken out sometime to make a gym session once or twice a week? What would happen if we were to run out of anti-depressants prescribed by doctors to deal with stress that is caused by our jobs and relationships with society?” When reaching for a bottle of beer to relax after a long day’s work, sometimes you regret the hangover and how it makes you feel the next day. The take-home message is after you drink a beer or the bottle of anti-depressants runs out, you have nowhere to turn. However, the weights in the gym and the energy your body possesses will always be there for you. How good would it feel to lose weight, gain muscle, feel more energized and be happy? I guarantee it feels better than withdrawals we can get from depending on antidepressants. You might regret some of the decisions you make after becoming stressed out when reaching for anti-depressants, but I guarantee you won’t regret the feeling of accomplishment you get after venturing outside to exercise.
Sean McCawley, the founder and owner of Napa Tenacious Fitness in Napa, CA, welcomes questions and comments. Reach him at 707-287-2727, napatenacious@gmail.com or visit the website napatenaciousfitness.com.
