Stress is a natural response that can be quite helpful at times.  When you are in danger your body goes into what's referred to as the fight or flight response.  It starts kicking out hormones that amp up your heart rate and make your muscles faster and stronger.  This is great for fleeing danger or even fighting for your life.  I'm sure this natural response helped keep our earliest ancestors alive.

In the modern world we feel constant stress.  The body has no way of differentiating between stress from work or stress from being chased by a lion so it produces the exact same hormones for each situation.  Those hormones are called adrenaline and cortisol.  Over short periods of time these hormones make you faster, sharper and stronger, but when your body is constantly bathed in these hormones it has a different response.  Long term exposure can cause weight gain, depression, anxiety, high blood pressure, indigestion, and even infertility.  That's why it's important to use stress management tools and techniques to help you relax. 

 

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