Feeling Stressed? Here's how it's Affecting Your Health and What You Can Do About it

How Stress Affects Your Health (Especially During the Holidays)

December is here and while the holiday season can bring joy, celebration, and connection, it can also bring something else: stress.

Even good things can be stressful. Traveling. Hosting. Gift-giving. Family dynamics. End-of-year deadlines. Trying to do all the things in a short amount of time.

Most of us already sense that stress affects our mood. But what many people don’t realize is that stress affects every system in the body metabolism, hormones, sleep, immunity, pain tolerance, cravings, and even long-term disease risk.

Understanding how stress shows up in the body can be a powerful first step toward reclaiming control over your health.

Not All Stress Is the Same

The body responds to stress in two different ways:

Acute Stress: Short-Term

This is the fast “fight or flight” stress response your body uses in emergencies.

Chronic Stress: Long-Term

This is when the body stays in a stressed state for weeks, months, or even years.

Both can be emotional or physical and both impact the body in very real ways.

What Acute Stress Does to the Body

When something stressful happens suddenly, the brain sends out an alarm. Norepinephrine and epinephrine flood the bloodstream immediately putting the body into survival mode.

Acute stress causes:

• Increased heart rate and blood pressure

• Blood vessels tightening

• Faster breathing

• More blood flow to the brain for quick thinking

• Less blood flow to the kidneys and digestive system

• Release of stored glucose into the bloodstream for energy

• Temporary boost in immunity and pain tolerance

In a true emergency, this response can save your life.
But it’s not meant to be turned on all the time.

The Hidden Danger: Chronic Stress

Chronic stress is what many people experience without even noticing a constant background pressure that never turns off.

And this is where stress begins to take a major toll.

Hormonal Changes

Stress hormones (especially cortisol) rise and stay elevated.

Over time, this can:

• Increase abdominal fat

• Break down muscle

• Raise blood pressure

• Increase blood sugar → insulin resistance → type 2 diabetes

• Disrupt thyroid, adrenal, and reproductive hormones

Brain and Behavior Changes

Chronic stress affects the brain at multiple levels:

Limbic system emotions, memory, cravings

• Craving quick-reward foods (especially sugar + ultra-processed foods)

• Emotional eating as coping

• Greater risk of depression

• Brain fog and reduced concentration

Cerebrum decision-making & motivation

• Decision fatigue

• Less ability to make consistent healthy choices

• Feeling overwhelmed by tasks that once felt manageable

Immune System Changes

• Constant low-grade inflammation throughout the body

• Higher risk of infections

• Slower healing

• More flares of autoimmune disease in those who are predisposed

Physical Symptoms

• Poor sleep quality

• Lower pain tolerance

• Worse headaches and migraines

• Digestive issues

• Feeling tired but wired

Chronic stress is not just an emotional experience it is a whole-body physical state.

A New Way to Reduce Stress That Goes Beyond Self-Care

Most people have already been told to exercise more, meditate, sleep better, or go for a walk.

These strategies can help but they don’t solve the root cause.

To reduce stress in a lasting way, we must understand the origin of stress.

Stress does not come directly from a situation.
It comes from the thought we have about the situation.

A situation → triggers a thought → the thought creates the emotion

And emotions drive our physical response.

For example:

• A traffic jam is not inherently stressful.

• Your thought about the traffic “I’m going to be late, this is a disaster” is what triggers the stress response.

This means something incredibly empowering:

You can’t control every circumstance, but you can learn to control the thoughts that create stress.

Here’s a simple exercise you can try today:

1. Identify one source of stress in your life
   A situation, responsibility, person, or uncertainty.

2. Ask yourself:
   What am I thinking about this situation that is making me feel stressed?

3. Choose a new thought intentionally
   How do you want to think about it?

4. Notice the emotion that the new thought creates
   Example emotions: calm, confident, capable, neutral, determined

5. Practice the new thought
   Not once but repeatedly.
   The brain strengthens every pathway that gets repeated.

You are literally rewiring your brain to protect your health.

Taking the First Step Toward Better Health

Stress is not a sign that you’re weak.

It’s a signal that your nervous system has been working overtime to protect you.

And the good news is: you can change the way your body responds to stress starting with the way you think.

You deserve to feel clear-headed, energized, emotionally steady, and in control of your well-being.

Let this December be the month you choose to:

• Notice what stresses you

• Challenge the thoughts that drain you

• Practice thoughts that support you

Your brain and your body will thank you.

If reading this made you realize that stress is impacting your health, take that awareness as your signal:

• Current patients: let’s talk about this at your next visit.

• Future patients: schedule a free consult to see how we can support your health journey.

Wishing you a calm, healthy, and joyful holiday season.

Warmly,

The LAROCCA MEDICAL Team