Our bodies are extremely complex and efficient systems, where everything happens for a reason. Stress, in fact, is not just some unfortunate ‘bad’ occurrence. It is a complex mechanism which mobilizes your resources and prepares your body to work on maximum settings to overcome a threat. Evolutionally, such reactions, induced by hormones and leading to tension, increased muscle tone and elevated heart rate, prepared us within seconds to attack or run away quickly, depending on a situation. Imagine trying to avoid being torn apart by a tiger while simultaneously stealing his dinner, all bare-handed. That would definitely get the heart rate up there!
Luckily, in modern society we rarely have to solve tiger-like problems. However, our bodies, and particularly hormonal responses, haven’t changed all that much since the Stone Age and that is where the problems start. The everyday demands, such as work, put us under the pressure of deadlines and responsibilities, and constant imbalances between what we need to do and what we think we can do, often lead to chronic stress.
Bodily stress reactions are very real. Remember that study comparing leaders and less successful workers? Extensive ongoing stress experienced by high achievers also happened to correlate with their over-the-top levels of hormone cortisol, a biological marker of stress. In case of short term stress, cortisol is our best friend. It helps us cruise through a critical situation smoothly by shutting down the functions that are not likely to be useful, such as reproduction and the immune system, while also sending more glucose into the bloodstream to feed those muscles and help us run away from that tiger at the speed of sound. The problem is…well, there is no tiger. Unfortunately, for business leaders spending significant portions of their life at work, stress can be pretty much constant, and these supposedly protective reactions become a norm. This results in possible health complications, such as diabetes, frequent colds (immune system is asleep, remember?) and cardiovascular disease.
On top of that, being a woman does not make stress management any easier. Men tend to bottle up stress and prevent it from interfering with their daily thoughts and activities, venting it off easily when necessary. Women deal with overwhelm in psychological and behavioral ways, by getting anxious relatively quickly. Anxiety interferes with critical thinking and decision making – crucial components of any leadership position – leading to less productive working days and even more stress. There are many additional stress inducing factors outside this vicious circle, including more household responsibilities compared to men, concerns related to gender gap when it comes to salary, and “competitive stress”, or constant sense of having their confidence undermined by colleagues.
Is it possible for successful business women to overcome these difficulties and eliminate the consequences of excessive stress? The answer is a solid “absolutely yes,” and while there are no easy shortcuts, there are some steps you can begin to take right now that will support you.
Come back next week and we’ll start learning about those steps. In the interim – be good to yourself and take it easy.
