When Life Happens and Stress Hits Your Health Hard
Usually, I am good at managing stress. I understand physiology. I understand recovery. I understand systems. But this week there has been no management. Just activation.
This past week has been intense. Not just busy, but the kind of intense where your nervous system feels constantly switched on. I am not even sure I remember what normal breathing feels like. Everything has piled up at once. Deadlines. Decisions. Travel. Responsibility. The sense of losing control.
Usually, I am good at managing stress. I understand physiology. I understand recovery. I understand systems. But this week there has been no management. Just activation.
This morning I woke up with large stress-related mouth ulcers. My body’s way of saying enough.
Yesterday, I was with a close friend who lives with type 1 diabetes. She wears a continuous glucose monitor that tracks her blood sugar every minute and signals when she needs insulin or glucose. Her levels were unusually high, even after a significant insulin dose. Out of curiosity, I asked if I could test mine manually. I have not checked my blood sugar like that since my nutrition studies.
It was shockingly high. And this was about an hour after dinner.
We both have a master’s degree in food science, so naturally we started analyzing. Yes, we had white bread. But we also had chicken for protein, fat from coconut milk, oil, butter, and vegetables. A mixed meal that should have moderated the glucose response.
So what happened?
Stress.
When the body perceives threat, cortisol and adrenaline rise. The liver increases glucose output. Insulin sensitivity can temporarily decrease. Blood sugar regulation shifts from metabolic balance to survival mode. The body does not care that you are not running from a predator. It reacts the same way.
Right now, I am sitting at the airport waiting for an eleven-hour flight to Georgia, transferring in Turkey, for the fourth time in recent months. Tomorrow I begin hormonal stimulation. Another layer of physiological demand on an already strained system.
My body is not whispering anymore. It is screaming.
An isolated measurement does not diagnose anything, but in the context of acute stress physiology, the elevation was biologically coherent.
So for the coming weeks, I need to prioritize stress management, health, and recovery with the same seriousness that I prioritize productivity. Nervous system regulation. Sleep. Stable meals. Movement that soothes rather than pushes. Boundaries.
Understanding physiology is one thing. Living it, in real time, is something else entirely.
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