This is one topic I could easily write a whole ebook about to cover all the content. I’ve decided therefore, to choose the most important and relevant information and unwrap it so you’ll be able to make changes without getting bogged down in the science.

Stress itself comes in many different forms such as physical, mental or nutritional and each can be divided into good and bad stress. If we were to take physical stress (exercise) for example, you can see that exercising has a positive effect on the body, thus creating a positive stress. Over-training would cause immune system suppression (bad stress) so you can see that too much of anything is a bad thing and finding the right balance is crucial.

There are six types of stress in total which can be divided into two different stressors – internal and external. External stressors are things that stress the body from the outside, be it sunlight, injury or chemical exposure etc, and internal stressors come from within the body and are more often than not a reaction to external factors. If you’re in an unhappy relationship (external), you’ll experience a chronic stress within the body and it’s this chronic stress which releases hormones for your survival and well-being.

All stressors, be it internal or external, are funnelled together and processed by the autonomic nervous system. The nervous system acts as a traffic light system allowing a steady flow of traffic flowing optimally. If for any reason the sum of all stressors placed on your body is too great, you’ll begin to fall out of balance and the traffic light system collapses. This system collapse activates catabolic (the breakdown of cells) hormones.

The hormones activated create a rise in cortisol which causes fatigue, depression, breakdown, depressed immune system and decreased growth and repair, meaning no matter how hard you work or how clean your diet is, your body is in survival mode and will hold onto everything it has.

Make sure you find a way to eliminate stress from your lifestyle or you may find yourself stuck and unable to alter your body composition. Drop me a message if you’d like some more information about reducing stress and learning how to control your mindset.