Over the last year, an average of 37% of women and 29% of men reported high levels of anxiety. According to Harvard studies, 80% of hospitalisations in the US are stress related.

We all have times where we feel stressed or anxious, but ongoing periods of worry can feel really debilitating. In normal levels, stress can help us to focus and increase our productivity, but over time continued stress can affect our health, impacting upon all aspects of our wellbeing, including sleep, digestion, energy levels and more.  

Stress is often a contributing in anxiety disorders and unfortunately our modern lives often contain huge amounts of stress. Our bodies deal with stress by engaging in “fight or flight” (sympathetic response) and switching off non-essential systems (i.e. “rest and digest” or parasympathetic response). When the body comes up against stress the essential system (fight or flight) kicks in, causing blood and essential nutrients to be diverted to areas that will support fighting or fleeing. Heart rate increases, airways open, energy is released from fat, and muscles become primed and ready for action. Our non-essential systems (the digestive and reproductive systems) are turned off to limit resource competition with essential systems. This evolutionary adaptation of turning on the sympathetic response when dealing with stress was a great help when our ancestors were running from a bear. The problem noawadays, in the modern world, is that stress can be constant and our bodies have not yet evolved to distinguish between life threatening stressors such as running from a bear, and normal everyday stressors such as being late for work, or dealing with deadlines and an overflowing inbox. What this means is that for many people the “fight or flight” response is constantly activated, which can elevate stress hormones (cortisol), heart rate and blood pressure. Over time feelings of nervousness and anxiety can become commonplace.