The Science of Stress in COVID times

We are living in interesting times, to say the least. COVID has been with us a while now, having first appeared on the radar in January 2020 and our first lock down occurring in March 27th 2020. We are now in October of 2021 and still battling the virus and lockdowns.

The psychological impact caused by the stress and threat of the virus as well as the financial and social impacts cannot be underestimated.

The uncertainly and fear around the virus and the impact will be beginning to take its toll both mentally, emotionally, and physically on many people in our communities. Below is a explanation of what occurs on a physical level when we experience stress and some ways that might assist people in dealing with chronic stress.

Stress happens and quite often that is not always a bad thing. Starting a new job or getting married can both be happy things, but they can both be incredibly stressful too. There are some kinds of stress however that just do not seem to go away like the feeling that you are drowning in work but that you’re still perpetually worried about making ends meet. If you are dealing with a lot of stress everyday for months or years on end, then stress doesn’t just feel awful if can actually be causing you physical harm too.

Psychologists call any event or situation that puts pressure on you or threatens your wellbeing a stressor while stress refers to your body’s psychological and physical reactions. Stressors that are one and done like locking your keys in the car or forgetting your wallet bring on acute stress, but when stressors are repeated or continuous and ongoing we call that chronic stress. Things like abusive relationships, living in poverty, being discriminated against, long work hours, pandemics have all being shown to cause chronic stress and that psychological experience takes a toll physically.

When a person experiences acute stress your body activates a system in the brain called the HPA axis or hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis. It starts deep in your brain in the limbic system, the part responsible for a lot of our emotional reactions, then a region called the hypothalamus releases hormones that start a whole chain of more hormones been released first by the pituitary gland and then by your adrenal glands which sit just above our kidneys. The adrenal glands release a whole lot of adrenaline and cortisol into your blood stream and those two hormones trigger the fight or flight response. They boost physical activity by increasing blood sugar and the flow of blood to your muscles to bump up your metabolism. The idea is that the physical boost helps you fight off the stress by either staying and fighting or running away. So, if you are suddenly faced with a tiger the surge in energy will help you out run it or fight it off.

The same system is activated by chronic stress, but things get a wee bit more complicated. Researchers have found that people under chronic stress have high levels of cortisol and adrenaline in their system as if the HPA axis is running constantly. People under chronic stress are at higher risk of heart disease, autoimmune disease and mental disorders like anxiety and depression. That is because the stress response is constantly zapping your energy. The same cortisol that works to get extra sugar to your muscles also stops your body from making as many infection fighting cells, so stress can tank your ability to fight infections.

In chronic stress the trigger is your job or relationships or your financial situation. Some symptoms of chronic stress include high blood pressure, poor sleep, poor digestion, teeth grinding, depression and frequent colds and flus.

Managing or treating chronic stress requires improving the stress response or the way the HPA axis is responding to the stressor. Things like Yoga, meditation, breathing exercises and exercise have all been shown in research to improve our stress response and therefore reduce the effects of chronic stress. Incorporating one of these methods into our daily life will not only improve your day to day living but also the long-term impacts of chronic stress.

Written by

Megan Karena