Chronic stress - stress medicine
At a glance:
- Acute stress is normal because it ensures our survival in dangerous situations.
- Chronic stress is a constant state of emergency for our body, which makes us exhausted and sick.
- The consequences of acute stress for our body depend on the stress level it already has.
- We superimpose your subjective perception of stress with an objective diagnosis.
Is it normal for me to have stress?
Why we are stressed and when stress becomes a burden.
Acute stress
Every human being has stress. This is quite normal and a primal instinct of every living being. Only when we have stress can we recognize dangerous situations and react quickly. It sharpens our senses, increases our heart rate (to better perfuse necessary organs), interrupts our digestion and the production of sex hormones. This is what we call the flight-or-flight response . This could be a wild animal that attacked our ancestors or an approaching car that we need to avoid. Under stress, the body mobilizes unimagined energy in a short time through adrenaline and noradrenaline, and can thus counter everyday dangers that are (life)threatening to us. This also includes surgery or short-term physical challenges. That our organism has this great ability is quite good and right. This is the acute stress. It is short term and quickly over again. Afterwards, the organism recovers.
Chronic stress
However, if we do not recover and keep our body in a constant state of stressbecause many smaller triggers (stressors) such as conflicts and worries, lack of sleep or a chronic illness prevent this, this leads to chronic stress. With chronic stress, there is no clear, immediate threat. The body is persistently dealing with something. It could be pollutants or pain that won't go away. Chronic stress is long-term and keeps the body permanently under strain, "under power," so to speak.
Chronic stress makes us sick.
If our body is in a constant, i.e. chronic state of stress, then it is permanently in survival mode. With the associated consequences: in order to mobilize the energy it needs for the immediate danger, , it shuts down the blood supply to organs that are not necessary for escape, e.g. the digestive tract. Stressed people therefore often suffer from digestive problems (because the blood vessels are constricted), the associated high blood pressure and higher heart rate (palpitations). Sex hormones are also no longer produced. There is stress hormones are continuously produced and called up, which consumes ATP (adenosine triphosphate). The body lacks this energy for normal bodily activities. This leads to fatigue.
Anxiety, depression, restlessness, lack of sleep increase the difficulty of recovering. Chronically stressed people constantly have the feeling of being "on the run". This creates a downward spiral that only makes us more ill. To counteract this chronic stress, we need Stress medicine.
What is the role of stress medicine?
About our subjective perception of stress and the physical reality
Stress is individual. But not quite in the way you think.
Perhaps you have already noticed in yourself and your environment that everyone deals with stress differently and some seem to be able to cope with it better than others. However, this is not due to the stress reaction itself. It is the same for all people because the mechanisms are the same. However, less stressed people can recover well between stress phases and thus replenish their ATP (adenosine triphosphate) reserves. ATP is, in fact, the body's source of energy, which is released during emotional and physical stress in order to be able to react quickly in fight-or-flight situations. However, these important reserves are quickly depleted under continuous stress and cannot regenerate quickly enough. Stress accumulates. Such people break down emotionally and physically even under minor stress. The consequences of (acute) stress for our body are therefore different, depending on the stress level one already has.
How stress medicine works:
We get a picture of your subjective feelings of stress in everyday life in the form of a detailed anamnesis, in which we also ask about special events in your life or your feelings of fatigue This is followed by various laboratory tests, to determine the stress hormones that are produced in the adrenal glands. This allows us to determine if it is working correctly. A cortisol daily profile (in urine) is also used to analyze your daily rhythm and whether you are able to recover sufficiently, because an optimal release of cortisol throughout the day is extremely important for our hormone balance, metabolism, blood sugar levels, immune function and sleep-wake cycle. Here, it is quickly and objectively determined whether and how much the body is in a state of stress and how long it lasts. An HRV measurement (heart rate variability) records the heart rate over three days and three nights and visualizes your waking and sleeping phases and thus also whether you are in a "stress sleep" at night, i.e. whether your body can recover sufficiently.
The stress hormones are detoxified by an enzyme, which must also be present in sufficient quantity. Whether this enzyme can also be formed well is clarified by our gene analyses . So you see: everything is connected!
Through this objectification we superimpose i.e. the measurement of your actual body activities and your subjective stress perception on top of each other and confront you with it. This often leads to the so important self-knowledge and helps to recalibrate and change things in your life. We support you in this process.
We can offer our consultation to privately insured patients as well as to patients with statutory health insurance as self-pay patients. You can easily book appointments in our preventive medicine yourself via our online calendar here:
Symptoms & Measures
What symptoms do you have and what are possible measures?
In the field of chronic stress
Symptoms
- fatigue
- Sleep disorders
- Obesity or weight gain
- Depressive moods
- Concentration disorders
- Susceptibility to infections
- Digestive disorders
Measures
- Determination of adrenal function (hormones and neurotransmitters)
- Determination of the immune status
- Measurement of heart rate variability (HRV measurement) to determine the regenerative capacity throughout the day and especially overnight. In this way, one can reliably identify "stress sleep".
- Questioning one's own lifestyle in (professional) everyday life, working out strategies for stress management, creating opportunities for regeneration
