Stress is an unavoidable part of life, but it can significantly impact our brains and bodies. Chronic stress can lead to physical symptoms like digestive issues, difficulty sleeping, and an accelerated heart rate. Leaders must be aware of their team members’ stressors, especially when combined with the unique experience of stressors for those from marginalized groups.
Video Transcript
The Impacts of Stress On Our Brains and Bodies
[00:00:00] Sarah Noll Wilson: Hi everyone. It’s Sarah and Teresa joining you for this week’s newsletter to talk about a really important and timely topic for me, which is the impact stress has on our brain and our body. Hi, Teresa. Good
[00:00:15] Teresa Peterson: morning. Fancy meeting you here, Sarah. I know we were just,
[00:00:19] Sarah Noll Wilson: just, this is where we exist folks. Um, no, we, you know, so I, I, I’ll come from a real place of transparency and honesty with you all.
[00:00:27] We had slated this topic at the beginning of the year to talk about. And the irony is that I, in this moment of recording, we both are right, coming from different places. You’re hopefully coming off of your stress and I’m mm-hmm. Going into mine. Mm-hmm. Um, is, uh, uh, e experiencing some, you know, really physical manifestations of stress due to an acute, acute situation that’s going on.
[00:00:53] So, so today we just wanna spend a little bit of time and some of this, you know, As people are listening, there will be things, you know, [00:01:00] there will be things that we, you know, sometimes just validating, um, what you’ve already experienced can be really powerful. Um, but, but Theresa, let’s first start with, you know, what, Let’s talk about stress.
[00:01:12] Teresa Peterson: The, one of the first times I remember hearing the word stress was at some point in the eighties when my grandma’s doctor had said to her something about keeping her stress down, and then it became like her catchphrase that I lovingly use all the time stress. I’m not supposed to have that, so when I can’t hear.
[00:01:32] The word stress without thinking of her and thinking, I’m not supposed to have that. I love that.
[00:01:37] Sarah Noll Wilson: Yeah. It’s, uh, you know, I think that one of the things that’s important for us to, to, to talk about related to stress is, you know, there’s different kinds of stress. So, right. Like, just like a simplest way to describe it is there’s, there’s distress, right.
[00:01:50] Which we’re all probably intimately familiar with. Certainly we are after the last couple of years, and depending on our living situation, right, this is when. Right. The, the, the stress is so much, it’s [00:02:00] causing harm. And then there’s positive stress, which is called eustress. So E U S T R E S S. And basically think of it as like, right, like eustress.
[00:02:10] Then it hits a point and it can become distress. Mm-hmm. Really easy. And the thing to remember is that even positive stress. Right can deplete us, can, like, it can be exciting and we can be exhausted afterwards. Um, you know, obviously folks who’ve been following us for a while know that we talk a lot about our brain and the, you know, fun part of our, uh, amygdala.
[00:02:33] So what would you, what would you like to, to share related to the amygdala? To Lisa? Oh,
[00:02:38] Teresa Peterson: yeah. Well, it’s Sarah’s favorite part of the brain. Um, Your amygdala is small. Um, I wanna say kind of almond or walnut size, and it is the threat detection headquarters. Um, it is constantly on the lookout for threats.
[00:02:56] That’s how you survive. That’s how our ancestors have [00:03:00] survived. And it can be really inconvenient at work or when you’re trying to shop at Target, um, or when you hear a noise in the night. Maybe that’s, Me from a few nights ago. Um, and your amygdala trigger in as little as 0.07 seconds. Um, it doesn’t always happen that quickly, but it sure can.
[00:03:20] Um, and it kicks off this hmm. Kaleidoscope of, of, um, chemicals into your system like adrenaline that helps moms lift cars off their babies. Right. Or cortisol, which I think, um, It gets a lot of attention now. Uh, get your cortisol levels under control, and that’s in fact a real thing. And as we’re thinking about the amygdala era, I was with a group last week, um, and we were talking about stress kind of conceptually and then digging into, um, how it plays out for people and stress responses in planning your recovery from stress.
[00:03:57] And quite a few people said [00:04:00] that they thought stress was what they called all in your head, that you people just kind of created their own stress or it was just this, this thought that someone had, that it wasn’t very real and that it. They did not think that it was something that impacted your body.
[00:04:15] And so I wanted to share that. Um, if you’re listening and you think, oh yeah, that’s kind of how I feel. Or maybe I love someone or they love me, who feels like that and you don’t feel like you’re always heard, um, that stress is a very real concept. It has felt on, um, on a nerve level, on a brain chemical level, and it does impact your entire body.
[00:04:37] So that was something I wanted to, to highlight. That’s
[00:04:41] Sarah Noll Wilson: so, um, what a, what a delightfully dismissive way like that we dismiss ourselves or dismiss others. Like, you know, you can’t, you can’t always think your way out of Oh yeah. Right. That stress reaction because it is, it is chemical and, and the things that we have to [00:05:00] realize is that, You know, all those hormones, right?
[00:05:04] Um, shutting down parts of our brain. So cognitively, uh, we can’t access the higher functioning parts of our brain. But then, um, it’s, you know, it’s causing stress on the rest of our bodies, whether it’s our, our, uh, you know, like veins tightening up, um mm-hmm. Which can cause stress on our heart and stress on our organs.
[00:05:23] Um, you know, one of the, one of the things we know about our sympathetic nervous system, also, we have the. Sympathetic nervous system. And then the parasympathetic nervous system is that when the, when the, when the stress hits, you know, our, that’s our sympathetic nervous system getting triggered. And, um, and one of the things it disrupts is our digestion and our rest.
[00:05:48] And so it’s really common. You know, people might be, well if you, you know, you and I have talked about this, like we both had undiagnosed. Anxiety as children, right? That just wasn’t like the diagnosis [00:06:00] and had frequent belly aches. Like I cannot tell you how many times I went to the doctor because my stomach hurt.
[00:06:06] Right? Like, and they just, and, and honest to God it was my mom reading a Reader’s Digest, seeing some article that
[00:06:15] Teresa Peterson: was like, God, she got that in the checkout line. You know? I mean, it’s,
[00:06:18] Sarah Noll Wilson: no, it was probably a publisher.
[00:06:21] Teresa Peterson: Even better. Not like a
[00:06:24] Sarah Noll Wilson: school, it was probably a school magazine drive or
[00:06:26] Teresa Peterson: something like
[00:06:26] Sarah Noll Wilson: that, that was like, you know, looking at and starting to piece together some of that.
[00:06:32] And so it’s not uncommon when we’re under high moments of stress to experience like issues with their digestion, whether it’s nausea, whether it’s um, diarrhea, whether it’s constipation, right. Um, because I
[00:06:46] Teresa Peterson: mean, like acid flare up. Yeah. You know, I’m thinking about
[00:06:49] Sarah Noll Wilson: mm-hmm. And, and so, you know, you know, so I’ll, I’ll sh I’ll share with folks that I, uh, like right now as I’m recording this, I’m experiencing the results of an [00:07:00] incredible amount of flooding, of stress hormones.
[00:07:03] Um, you know, we’re, we’ve been planning this trip of a lifetime and, you know, as, as of the point of recording this, there is a. Small, tertiary exposure to covid, potentially with my parents, but like, hopefully distant enough. But, but the idea that we’re just days away. Mm-hmm. And potentially this whole thing could get derailed.
[00:07:26] Uh, like just absolutely devastating. And my stomach still just like, it’s just nauseous right now. And like, and I know that by like chemically what’s happening, but. Um, so you’re seeing it live, folks, what, you know, what this, what this could look like. Um, but other things that, you know, when we think of rest and digest, that’s our parasympathetic nervous system.
[00:07:47] Is it that stress can disrupt our sleep. It can disrupt Right. Our breathing, it can disrupt our heart race. It can disrupt. I mean, just every part of
[00:07:55] Teresa Peterson: it, ability to focus, that’s one that doesn’t get the attention. It deserves
[00:07:59] Sarah Noll Wilson: a lot [00:08:00] of time. That’s a great point. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. And so when our body is in a chronic state of stress, Um, it has real long-term impacts to our overall health and our longevity and our immune system.
[00:08:14] And, you know, and we’ll put a couple different studies in the art article, um, that we can reference more explicitly. Um, but it’s, uh, you know, one of the leading health cause like, you know, reasons people go, I forget what the, I forget what the um, percentage is, but it’s a substantially high percentage that what lands adults in the.
[00:08:34] Doctor’s office is usually somehow related to stress and which is tricky because like our American culture anyway, is very much this like hustle culture, right? Moving really fast, you know, leaning in. I saw a LinkedIn post Theresa that talked about, I wish I could remember the woman’s name so I can give her credit.
[00:08:58] She talked about. [00:09:00] The grind culture. And she said, if you really look at the definition of grinding, it is literally pulverizing something down to its smallest. Like a, a small version of the original. Yeah. And I was like, man, that’s a really, mm, that’s a very, I will never think of, I, I’ve never liked grind culture, but man, seeing that like definition was really, really insightful.
[00:09:27] Teresa Peterson: That. Maybe we can find it and link to that or give her credit in the written part. Cause that feels so, I’ve never thought about it that way, and when I’m picturing grinding, I mean, it just, it, it. It’s nothing at that point like it, it’s, it’s, it is in a essence, a fraction of what it was, and yet it’s a totally unusable, in some situations, fraction of what it was, right?
[00:09:54] Mm-hmm. It’s just like down to this powder that blows away into the wind that you [00:10:00] couldn’t find again if, if you had to, you know? Yeah. Like there’s something I, yeah, I, I. We know that life throws us seasons of different stress and that can be very positive. You know, maybe you’re planning a wedding, you have a new relationship, there are very positive things related to stress.
[00:10:21] Even maybe securing your dream job brings, um, stress that is still stress on your body, but you’re excited about. So maybe more willing to tolerate or might not have the negative impacts. And then we know there are seasons health. Issues, whether it’s you or caring for a parent mm-hmm. Or being spread very thin with family or what you’re describing.
[00:10:43] And, um, and, and when you have that, the, the backdrop of that, which is working too many hours, um, overscheduling perhaps of your whole family, feeling like if you’re not. [00:11:00] Grinding. Mm-hmm. If you’re not working at your absolute max capacity, or what Tricia Hersey would say, like at a machine-like Pace. Mm.
[00:11:10] That there’s something wrong with you. Mm-hmm. And I think that’s an area, you know, we can, we can talk about this now or maybe you wanna talk about it later, but this concept of being so intentional with yourself about recovery. Mm-hmm. And so as I’m thinking even about where you’re at with this vacation, um, I, I would like to invite you to think of recovery in two ways.
[00:11:31] One, it’s gonna go forward, yay. But we know that those stress chemicals don’t automatically like, evaporate, you know, like alcohol out of a rum cake or something. So like, what, what will you do to reboot if you can go? Mm-hmm. And what might your recovery or coping plan be if the trip isn’t going to look the way you’re hoping that it looks?
[00:11:53] Um, and, and that’s something we’ve been really intentional about with others is what’s your recovery [00:12:00] plan, particularly in the 24 hours after experiencing a high level of stress. I’m thinking about you, Sarah, cuz this was last night. Yeah. This was very fresh. Yeah. You’ve still got these chemicals, uh, at work in your system like you described.
[00:12:13] Um, but being much more intentional and proactive in thinking about recovery as part of being a living. Being Right. So what comes up for you as you hear that,
[00:12:27] Sarah Noll Wilson: Sarah? Yeah, no, I appreciate that, and I think that those are really good prompts. I mean, that’s something we talk about a lot when we’re working with people in teens and having mm-hmm.
[00:12:36] Emotionally charged conversations. What’s the recovery plan afterwards? Mm-hmm. And, um, and, and again, we don’t always value it, especially. Yeah. You know, I mean, and even though it’s something I, I value, I still find myself having these really deep seated beliefs of. Am I taking off too much time? Mm-hmm. Is it okay that I’m taking off this kind of time?
[00:12:55] Right. And it’s like, yeah, of course. It is. Like absolutely anything that I, you know, like w [00:13:00] wanna do with my time is gonna be okay. I think the other thing that’s like coming up for me, hearing you talk and especially thinking about some of the conversations we’ve had recently around burnout. Hmm. And like working with organizations that are just like pushed to the seams.
[00:13:13] I mean a couple of things that are coming up, especially cuz I know we have a lot of folks who listen. Um, who, uh, who are in leadership positions, HR leadership positions, right. Are thinking about this is, you know, one trap that we observe leaders falling into, um, is that because they might not feel a level of stress or burnout, they assume that other people don’t or they don’t understand why someone else might.
[00:13:35] And you know, we, we were just recently working, um, You know, with an organization that was talking about burnout and specifically talking about burnout through the lens of people of color in their organization and how the burnout is so much higher because not only are they navigating the realities and the stressors of work, they’re also navigating the microaggressions, they’re navigating the lack of representation, the, you know, [00:14:00] they’re, they’re navigating a whole system of oppression that’s different than, um, you know, in individuals who are part of the dominant culture.
[00:14:07] So we have to be careful that just because I might not feel stressed about a situation doesn’t negate, um, or deny or dismiss someone else’s experience. So that’s like one thing. The other thing is, you know, when we think about, I’m, I’m particularly thinking about stress through an organizational lens because we we’re really hearing lots of organizations who are like, we just move, we move fast.
[00:14:31] We, this is, you know, we have so much going on and all of this, that. Even if you’re an organization that moves fast and that, that those organizations exist exist and they thrive. But even people who like that still need rest. Even people who thrive in that still need downtime so that they can sprint again and that it’s really important.
[00:14:52] Mm-hmm. We don’t just look to the individual to make those changes, but systemically what are we doing as an organization? So I think that’s just, [00:15:00] those are some other thoughts that are coming, coming up for me. Um, You know, when people are thinking about stress recovery? Hmm. You know, the, I think the first thing is like, just to normalize one that like, stress is human, it’s normal.
[00:15:14] I think sometimes we get so good at tolerating it, it just becomes the new norm and we don’t realize that that’s maybe not our baseline or our best selves. Yeah, yeah. Um, so one just normalizing that. But then too, you know, I think for me anyway, one of the things that has helped and we’ve, you know, talked a lot about this in our work, Is like, what works for me and my plan is gonna be different than works for Teresa.
[00:15:36] Mm-hmm. And so to be unapologetic almost and what do you actually need to rest and recharge and, and sometimes that might be a. Sleeping. Sometimes recharge might be, I just need to get out in the sun. Sometimes recharge might be, I need a really good laugh. Um mm-hmm. I need to do something familiar. Right.
[00:15:55] Sometimes it’s, uh mm-hmm, mm-hmm. Only accordion, right? That’s sitting right next to me. [00:16:00] Um, so I invite people to think about what is your recovery plan? Whatever. Whatever that might be. Right. What are some of the things you do? I mean, I know some of the things you do, but I’ll let.
[00:16:13] Teresa Peterson: Oh yeah. Well, this weekend I had a great stress cleaning session while I sang the entire Hamilton, not start to finish.
[00:16:23] That was pretty great. One of my best performances ever, just for anyone listening. Um, you know, yeah. That would, that would be one. Um, anything that involves just getting some quiet and, and this is an insight I had. I used to think I recharged by being alone and then having kids. I felt like. That, first of all was almost impossible, but I was like, what is it about being alone?
[00:16:50] And what I really realized, uh, was that it was just quiet. Mm-hmm. So I don’t need to isolate from folks necessarily. Hmm. Do people wanna snuggle up and just read? Are we [00:17:00] snuggling up and, you know, doing something together? Um, I just need. Less sensory input, which I think a lot of people resonate with, whether that’s like a darker room, not a screen, um, uh, a soft blanket.
[00:17:13] Like those are some of my, um, go-tos. And what I don’t go to, like, what I think we often learn about coping that is not helpful would be, um, eating our feelings. Drinking our feelings. Shopping our feelings. Our feelings. Yeah. Uh, So those are watch outs because that’s often, um, those are often very socially acceptable ways to cope.
[00:17:39] Yeah. Um, or learn a lot of memes about, you know, there aren’t a lot of fun stories about, and then I just wrapped myself up in a blanket for 20 minutes and read a magazine like that doesn’t play so well, although it works for me. But, um, so, so being mindful of the things you might be doing that are. Fast and easy.
[00:17:58] And, and that is one, as [00:18:00] we think about being proactive and kind of knowing your playbook for recovery, um, usually if we’re making gut reactions or quick responses to recovery, we’re choosing things that aren’t great for us, right? Mm-hmm. So, mm-hmm. Making sure we’ve got the magazine or I’ve downloaded the podcast or I’ve done whatever in advance, stops me from maybe choosing some things that, um, Aren’t really what my body or my soul needs.
[00:18:28] Sarah Noll Wilson: Yeah. That’s such a great suggestion. Well, we wanna hear from you, you know? Yeah. What, what has been your experience with stress? How does it show up, you know, for you? I know, you know, we named a couple of the things of what we know to be true of humans and also our own experience. So we curious to hear what you know, how does it show up for you?
[00:18:45] But most importantly, what’s, what’s on your plate? Like, what’s your manual of navigating stress? What are the things you do big, small, or otherwise? That helps you recharge, to help you and not just to recharge, to be more productive just for you to recharge. Right. Like [00:19:00] sometimes again, I think in our hustle culture, it’s like, I’m gonna take a nap so that I can, it’s like, oh, I’m just gonna take a nap.
[00:19:05] Yeah. Like I’m, I deserve that. I knowing today, knowing that how I had such limited sleep, the first thing I did this morning was I had a chunk, I had an hour and a half this afternoon free, and I just wrote rest. So I just plan on taking a nap after I’m done with a podcast recording and just, Sleeping just because I know that I’m going to need that.
[00:19:25] Do I have emails to answer? You bet. Do I have projects to Absolutely. Do. I know that if I just keep pushing, I’m going to be worse. I do know that, right? Mm-hmm. And so, so that was something that I did right away this morning was like, where’s my window? To just be able to take a shower and to take a nap in the field?
[00:19:42] Mm. A little bit more grounded. So yeah, so send us a message. We would love to hear from you. And that’s just a little bit about stress.
[00:19:51] Teresa Peterson: I’m not supposed to have that. Yeah, I’m not.
[00:19:54] Sarah Noll Wilson: I like that. And when in doubt, remind yourself. I’m not supposed to have that. [00:20:00] Yeah. All right. Thanks everyone for tuning into this week’s video newsletter.
Sarah Noll Wilson is on a mission to help leaders build and rebuild teams. She aims to empower leaders to understand and honor the beautiful complexity of the humans they serve. Through her work as an Executive Coach, an in-demand Keynote Speaker, Researcher, Contributor to Harvard Business Review, and Bestselling Author of “Don’t Feed the Elephants”, Sarah helps leaders close the gap between what they intend to do and the actual impact they make. She hosts the podcast “Conversations on Conversations”, is certified in Co-Active Coaching and Conversational Intelligence, and is a frequent guest lecturer at universities. In addition to her work with organizations, Sarah is a passionate advocate for mental health.
This topic is so important and not discussed enough!
Last year, I went through 15 doctor’s appointments and a handful of medical tests just to find out I was an extremely stressed-out working professional. I had terrible boundaries – both in the workplace and outside the workplace, only slept 5 hours a night, and was miserable. I went on vacation with myself for one week in July and instantly started to feel better. That was my wake-up call to build boundaries, a constant routine where I get 8 hours of sleep, and put myself back into the center of my life. Never did I think severe stress could mess up my body and mind so badly.
Thank you for the video and the reminder I need to keep myself in focus!
Richelle, thank you so much for sharing your experience and the realities of stress. We are so happy the video can serve as a reminder that we need to prioritize our wellness, even though it can be difficult to do so given all our responsibilities. We hope you have been able to keep yourself in focus and your mind & body have begun to recover. Thank you again for sharing your story!