Is Environmental Stress the X-Factor for feeling Stressed?

Stress arises in multiple forms. We all experience emotional, relationship, financial and even performance stress in our daily lives. But another, lesser-known source of stress, is triggered from our environment.

Environmental stressors can quickly send our cells and our bodies into a heightened state of stress. There is now increasing evidence that much of the stress we are experiencing is actually coming right from our own living spaces. Up close and personal.

Fight or Flight

One form of stress is triggered by perceived threats. Visual cues that communicate danger can trigger your sympathetic nervous system (SNS) into action. This is the part of your autonomic nervous system that sends our bodies into a heightened state of readiness.

A precarious trek across a catwalk hundreds of feet up; an aggressive driver racing by, or even an irate boss can trigger the sympathetic nervous system into “fight or flight.” But invisible forces within your immediate environment can also switch-on high levels of stress.

Environmental Stressors

Environmental stressors trigger receptors, or “sensors,”in the body, which then activate the sympathetic nervous system. Just like the catwalk or irate boss, you become excited. You’re ready to pounce. All this happens invisibly at a cellular-level and in stealth. But the sense of stress is palpable and real.

Electromagnetic fields (EMF), chemicals and other environmental toxins trigger stress receptors in our bodies. These receptors then send signals to our cells throughout the body to prepare for a response or engagement. Neurotransmitters like adrenaline and norepinephrine are released.

Soon these excitatory neurotransmitters are cascading through our bloodstream, creating a heightened state of stress. This rising state of stress means our sympathetic nervous system is turned-on.

Persistent exposures to environmental toxins manifest in multiple ways. Stress symptoms like headaches, fatigue, irritability, anxiety, sleep issues, joint pain, brain fog; and lower sex drive are all expected outcomes. Each can be triggered by a complex series of biological responses to environmental stress.

So, next time you snap at the kids; or find yourself overcome by carb-cravings, don’t blame it on your partner, finances, or even your boss. The root cause of your angst and fatigue may be welling-up from the many chemicals and EMFs that invisibly surround you, every day.

What can you do about environmental stress?

New Age Stress Symptoms