Escaping stress in our modern world is no easy task. Stress causes a cascade of chemical reactions that impact our sleep, cognitive abilities, hormone balance, mood and can make us gain weight.

How does it do that? By turning on our body’s survival response. Stress is a normal physical response to events that make you feel threatened or upset our balance in some way. When we sense danger, whether it’s real or imagined, the body’s defences kick into high gear in a rapid automatic process known as the fight or flight reaction, or the stress response. The stress response also helps us rise to meet challenges.

But beyond a certain point, stress stops being helpful and starts causing major damage to our health, mood, productivity, relationships, and quality of life. Our adrenal glands release adrenaline and cortisol – hormones that provide us with the extra energy and strength required for either fight or flight. This ongoing stress means our cortisol levels are constantly elevated.

This can cause our blood sugar, insulin and blood pressure to increase and can also cause constant fatigue. Our bodies end up storing fat, especially in the stomach area and around our internal organs (which is known as visceral fat).