The sound of your heartbeat pounding becomes louder by the second. Your mind is racing through jumbled thoughts, struggling to sort them out. It feels like there are stones on your shoulders weighing you down. Your mind is stressed. 

Stress is your body’s reaction to obstacles and threats. Everyone in JP Stevens has felt stress within their lifetime, especially during AP exam week. When we become stressed, our cortisol levels increase. Cortisol is known as the stress hormone, which regulates the body’s blood sugar as well as blood pressure. Cortisol is also associated with the feeling of adrenaline, so if you’ve ever heard of the term “fight or flight response”—an automatic stress response to either run or defend oneself—it is because of cortisol. When our body is put under immense amounts of stress, it will trigger the fight or flight response to push away the stress and help us function. While we have a stress hormone in our body, our brains also have a central stress response center called the amygdala, which regulates the cortisol levels within the body. After all, your brain doesn’t want you to be constantly overwhelmed. 

As we all know, eating too many donuts is unhealthy, but it is quite delicious. Similarly, while stress often has a negative connotation, it surprisingly has many benefits. Firstly, stress has the ability to help people perform better; after all, some people do work better under pressure. Stress can also be motivational, under the right circumstances. You know those days when you push everything off till the last minute? Well, it’s stress that motivates you to get all the work done. Adapting is also a response to stress which is often known as coping skills; in order to deal with stress, we must be able to manage it. Stress also has a health benefit because it can boost your immune system: when your cortisol levels go up, the cortisol reduces inflammation in your body. 

Similarly, while stress may have its benefits, too much stress can obviously be harmful. Excessive stress can lead to depression, anxiety, insomnia, and indigestion. It is also linked to many heart problems (such as heart disease) and is a leading cause of high blood pressure. Even though many say to embrace stress, there’s only so much stress a person can handle. Being stressed should not be an everyday feeling and it should not overwhelm you. 

Despite how threatening stress can feel in the moment, there are several easy ways to de-stress! De-stressing can be as easy as simply putting aside what you’re doing and taking a walk outside. Stretching, exercise, yoga, or any type of physical activity can help as well. Breathing exercises also help you de-stress and can be accessed simply by searching them up on Youtube. Even noting things you’re grateful for can help because it takes your mind off your worries. It only takes a few minutes a day to journal or say some things you’re grateful for. As always, indulging in some sweets or eating a donut can also help take your mind away from stress.

Too much of one particular thing is never good, especially if it’s stress. So I encourage you to remember to take time throughout your day to relax and do things you love because life is not a big ball of stress; it’s a sweet donut!