Too Stressed Out to Socialize?
By J. E. Hinners, MD MPH
Too stressed to be around people right now in your life?
If you are one of these people, then you may be especially prone to stress-induced social avoidance:
- a worker at a high-stress job with a heavy workload
- a business traveler
- unemployed
- a parent
- a student
- someone experiencing relational or other type of stresses
- an “introvert,” as defined by Myers-Briggs, and your stress levels push you into alone-time retreats to recharge
- a “Highly Sensitive Person” (HSP) with a lower threshold for stress
Did you know that you can naturally boost your own inclinations to socialize with other people–in business, with family, friends, or otherwise?
Research by Greenwood et al. investigated 161 male rats to determine whether stress protection from exercising extends to stress-induced social avoidance. The study also aimed to discover how long this kind of stress protection would last after stopping exercise.
The conclusion?
_______________________________
Voluntary exercise diminished social avoidance induced by stress
_______________________________
- Exercise was found to reduce corticosterone increases associated with mild stress.
- “Anxiety-like behaviors” increased when subjects were forced to STOP exercise
- Despite the increased anxiety-like behaviors when subjects stopped exercising, the exercise benefits observed earlier still continued after subjects stopped exercising (for up to 15 days)
__________________________
