For a long time, it was believed that women are more stress resistant. But in recent years, there are more and more scientific publications claiming that the opposite is true. What to believe?

Oddly enough, both one and the other – after all, stress is different. Women better than men tolerate simultaneous, acute stresses. Ladies express emotions more easily. Something unpleasant happened – the woman cried, and the tension decreased. In addition, women are more sociable. They more often talk about what happened to them. It also gives its trump cards.

But chronic stress inflicts a much greater blow on women than on the representatives of the stronger sex.

Someone stepped on the subway, the boss made a remark, stood in traffic, just physically tired … All these are routine problems that haunt us every day. Each of them is small. If she were the only one, we would not have noticed her. But accumulating, such situations can greatly exhaust and undermine the reserve of stress resistance.

With men, this also happens, why are they less affected by this?

In our society, a man is often a getter. He concentrates on work. And the majority of women not only work, but also do household work, and children. So they simply have more routine stressful events. Trouble sometimes “on all fronts” at the same time.

The man as a whole is much easier to abstract. Something unpleasant happened – he will take it as it is and will act in the current conditions. The woman has a different psychology. She begins to scroll in her head what could be said or done, what else could be done. Unfortunately, this is unproductive and only exacerbates stress.

Women are initially more anxious and more difficult to make decisions. And in conditions of chronic stress, anxiety can increase significantly. And then she is exhausting. It takes away from us part of the resources that the body could use to recover from stress.

And finally, we must not forget about female physiology. In everyday speech, stress is often called some external event. However, from a medical point of view, this is not true. Stress is all that makes the body adapt. Including – changes within himself.

The female menstrual cycle is associated with regular fluctuations in hormone levels. For two weeks, the body gets used to one of their contents in the blood, and then everything changes, and so every month. This is an additional stress that men do not have. Therefore, female stress resistance is lower than male.

But there are simply “iron” women who, it seems, do not care at all …

Of course. And there are stressed, unbalanced men. Stress resistance is very individual. It depends on genetics, on the state of health, on the characteristics of the nervous system, on psychological attitudes.

In addition, it can change: in some periods, we respond more to stressful situations, in some less. Stress can be improved. But you can reduce it – with your own actions. For example, start jamming stress sweet. This is very typical of women, and this is another reason for their vulnerability.

Let’s imagine a typical stress response. A stress factor has appeared – and the hormones adrenaline and cortisol are released into the blood. This makes the body go on alert. Muscles are tense. And for their enhanced nutrition, a lot of glucose quickly enters the blood from the depot. The problem is that modern people often do not spend it for its intended purpose. It was in ancient times that he could beat the enemy or run away from him. Now this is impossible, so the muscles of the arms and legs do not need so much nutrition. Energy goes to the contraction of the muscles of the heart, blood vessels, intestines, bladder. From here – heart palpitations, vascular cramps, headache, sharp urge to the toilet. Age-old defense mechanisms are starting to work against us. And seizing stress sweet, we only exacerbate the situation, because glucose levels are growing even more.

High blood sugar has been proven to support inflammatory reactions. This is the reason for the early death of nerve cells, dementia, vascular complications, and chronic pain. Of course, all these are distant effects of stress. But if you are often nervous and often looking for comfort in a box of chocolates, they are very likely.

How to minimize the harm of chronic stress?

First of all, regular physical activity is needed. Running, walking, dancing, cycling, swimming – anything, just to bring pleasure. At least 30-40 minutes every day. Sports training is stress in miniature. During them, adrenaline, cortisol and glucose also enter the bloodstream. Moving, we “train” the body to spend them correctly. In the future, in a stressful situation, it will be easier for our body to do everything right.

By the way, physical activity is also a great first aid tool. Feel that you are worried – retire and do a few squats, swing your arms and legs, jump. The voltage will drop.

Stretching exercises also help. For example, circular movements of the shoulders, slow shaking of the head from side to side, stretching of the back surface of the legs, arms. Stress inevitably leads to tension in the muscles, and such exercises can relieve it. This includes feedback. The fewer problem points and clamps in the body, the easier it is to tolerate daily problems.

Diaphragmatic breathing gives a good effect. Take slow, deep exhalations with your stomach. In times of stress, this helps to reduce the heartbeat, calm down. And with regular training, it generally normalizes the body’s reactions. It is enough to breathe in this way twice a day for five minutes.

You are talking about physical fitness, but what about psychology?

Psychological work is certainly important. There are many methods to overcome everyday stress. For example, if something excited or offended you, sit down and write down your emotions and feelings. Set the notebook aside for a week, and then re-read. Many of the “important” problems will seem insignificant to you, because some of them will already be solved, and some will recede into the background. This technique allows you to learn not to take everything to heart.

Laughs well at stress tolerance, even from the banal viewing of comedy. A sense of humor generally gives huge trump cards. Routine for that and routine, so as not to take every small event seriously.

In general, any psychological techniques and methods that help relax, abstract, talk out are effective. But still this is just the tip of the iceberg. Stress resistance is highly dependent on the physical condition of the body. If its resources are depleted, managing stress is extremely difficult.

In addition to physical activity, a healthy diet is important. Make sure that you have enough magnesium, calcium, vitamin D, selenium, and omega-3 fatty acids in your daily diet. Products containing them form the basis of an anti-stress diet.

The most important component of stress tolerance is healthy sleep. Unfortunately, many, in order to be in time, sacrifice it for them. But lack of sleep significantly increases irritability, worsens mood. Moreover, it is in a dream that our brain “looks” inside the body. He gives the command to “repair” small breakdowns, including those that arose due to everyday stresses.

For women, this problem is special, because they, in a calm state of mind, sleep worse than men. And in conditions of chronic stress, they quickly have insomnia. It must be eliminated, otherwise the risk of psychosomatic problems will increase significantly. Do not immediately run after sleeping pills. Begin with good sleep hygiene. Try to go to bed and get up at the same time. Daily rhythms are very important for the body. If they are observed, he has more resources left for a normal reaction to unforeseen stress factors.