When stress becomes too much
Stress can be motivating or debilitating depending on whether you can handle it
During the Olympics, athletes are being asked to perform under extremely stressful conditions. In many cases, the stress can be a positive factor that gets the adrenaline
flowing, the heart pumping, and dumps glucose into the bloodstream to fuel the athlete’s muscles towards medal-winning performances.
If you are being subjected to too much stress over a longer period of time, however, there are negative effects on your health. Particularly, your adrenal glands also start to release another hormone called cortisol that cause increased blood pressure, weight gain, and other chronic health problems.
As Hans Selye demonstrated through his research, the mind-body connection is most evident from the wide range of serious physical health problems that can result from mental/emotional stress. How much stress is too much? Well, that is different for every
person. But stress is not a bad thing – it can motivate you to be very productive and achieve greatness. Just make sure that you can handle it.
