While stress can obviously occur at any point in life, it’s something that often rears its ugly head in your twenties and thirties, as you struggle to balance work, friends, relationships, home life and possibly a family. You could argue that women are exposed to more stress in life as we tend to have more roles to play. The sooner you can adopt a lifestyle and tools to prevent and deal with stress, the better.

Stress is basically the manifestation of how you respond to difficulties (Stressors) in your daily life. Some people are better at dealing with stressors than others as they are less reactive.

Poor response to stress causes a damaging, excessive secretion of hormones produced by adrenaline and cortisol. These hormones, produced by the adrenal glands are the ‘fight or flight’ chemicals – designed to help your body respond to emergency situations. They cause your heart rate to increase, blood sugar levels to elevate, blood vessels to constrict in some areas, such as the skin, and dilate in others, such as muscles, and breathing to get heavy. All of this is fine if it is only temporary and the situation warrants such a physical response.

The problem is that the body can misinterpret everyday situations like work problems, a baby crying, relationship issues, and financial worries – even traffic jams as emergencies. So the stress hormones are released constantly and stay in your system. Stress is a completely natural reaction and our bodies are well designed to deal with it. However on-going stress can place a strain on our system. Some studies have shown that this can weaken our ability to fight infection and can leave us more susceptible to illness. Experts estimate that up to 90 per cent of illnesses are stress related.

Weight problems, mouth ulcers, blood pressure problems, stomach ulcers, gastrointestinal disorders, muscle weakness, clogged arteries, impaired memory, depression, anxiety, colds, flus, skin disorders, even repetitive strain injuries have all been connected with high levels of stress hormones over a prolonged period.

What can one do?

It’s important to try and deal with the source of your stress – whether it is talking to your employer, your family, getting to grips with money issues, or perhaps seeking counselling. But don’t underestimate the role of good nutrition and healthy living in helping your body and mind to be less reactive and cope better with whatever life throws at you.

Come to sleek and slender and we shall show you how to manage stress.