A Little Rant; which might make you read this entire blog

So school, college, and university, wherever you are, it’s STRESSFUL. There is not a single day where we do not crib about our deadlines to our friends and colleagues right? And you know what, it’s completely fair on your part because those tonnes of stress need to get out of you, okay? And you guessed it right, I am about to talk about (drum roll) - STRESS. You might get a little traumatized if you read about what prolonged stress does to your body, or maybe not, because I know you spent the night before your submission day procrastinating by watching stress-related videos, and still did not do anything about it. So you might as well just read on because I am not going to be your parents vaguely asking you to have a balanced lifestyle (at least that’s what brown parents do). Because let’s face it, our schedule is packed.

So first things first, a little amount of stress works because it boosts your performance, but again, only a small quantity. But prolonged stress can cause minor issues, actually major. The fight or flight response that is caused due to stress could potentially change the brain or impair other organs of the body. Our adrenal glands release hormones such as cortisol, epinephrine, and norepinephrine into the bloodstream. Adrenaline causes the heart to beat faster and if it sustains over a long period, it can lead to an increase in blood pressure further leading to hypertension. Soon, the inner lining of our blood vessels starts to function abnormally. This is one of the first incidents which cause atherosclerosis, a condition that blocks the arteries that gives rise to heart attacks or strokes due to reduced or blocked blood flow to the heart.

When the brain senses stress, it sends a signal to the intestinal nervous system. This communication can disrupt the natural rhythmic contractions taking place while our food moves down the gut leading to irritable bowel syndrome, increasing sensitivity to acid, more likely causing heartburns.

Heard of stress-eating? Yeah, we probably do that. Well, the release of cortisol could make you consume more carbohydrates which in most cases makes you crave ‘comfort foods’ such as pizzas, burgers, etc. Therefore, excess cortisol leads to extra calories. While this can link to diseases such as diabetes and other heart diseases, I believe this much is enough.

So as we come close to the end of the blog, all I am going to ask you to do is to work out for half an hour and not continuously consume those calories and eat healthily. I do not want to be that boring parent lecturing you, but it is the truth. Because stress is always going to be a part of our lives. No matter how informal and conversational this blog was, we at SHARP want to connect with you and want to be genuine as we do this not only because we are an ‘organization’ but also because we as individuals care about society’s mental and physical well-being. Poor health and hygiene are generally what sparks such problems and I hope that you did not only relate with this piece of a rant but also dove into a pool of realization.

Stay healthy, and stay safe!

-Bhuvee Jivangikar

Head of Blog Design at SHARP

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References:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-t1Z5-oPtU