Border Green: Cannabis Smuggling Routes Then and Now

By Susan Berry

Stress gets a bad reputation. It’s often blamed for everything from poor sleep to burnout, anxiety, and physical illness. We’re told to “reduce stress” as if it’s something that can—or should—be removed entirely from life.

But stress itself isn’t the problem. In fact, stress is a normal and necessary part of being human. The real issue is chronic stress—the kind that never switches off and doesn’t give the body a chance to recover.

Understanding the difference changes how we approach health, energy, and resilience.

Why stress exists in the first place

Stress is the body’s built-in response to challenge. When something demands attention—an approaching deadline, a sudden noise, a difficult conversation—the body releases hormones that increase alertness, heart rate, and energy.

This response evolved to help humans survive. It sharpens focus, speeds reaction time, and prepares the body to act. In short bursts, stress is useful. It helps us perform, adapt, and protect ourselves.

The problem isn’t that stress shows up. It’s that, for many people, it never leaves.

Acute stress vs chronic stress

Acute stress is short-term. It rises, does its job, and settles. Think of preparing for a presentation or dealing with a brief crisis.

Chronic stress is different. It’s ongoing and unresolved. It comes from constant pressure, financial worries, lack of rest, emotional strain, or feeling like there’s no safe place to slow down.

When stress becomes chronic, the body stays in a state of alert. Over time, this wears down systems that were never meant to be “on” all the time.

What chronic stress does to the body

When stress hormones stay elevated for long periods, they begin to interfere with normal body processes.

Sleep becomes lighter and less restorative. Digestion slows or becomes irregular. Muscles stay tense. The immune system becomes less efficient. Mood becomes harder to regulate.

People under chronic stress often report feeling:

  1. Tired but wired
  2. Restless even when exhausted
  3. Easily overwhelmed
  4. Emotionally reactive
  5. Disconnected from their bodies

These aren’t signs of weakness. They’re signs of a nervous system that hasn’t had a chance to recover.

The nervous system needs contrast

The body works best when there’s contrast—periods of effort followed by periods of rest.

Modern life often removes that contrast. Work follows us home. Screens keep the brain stimulated late into the night. Even downtime is filled with information.

The nervous system doesn’t just need sleep. It requires moments of safety during the day. Signals that say, “You’re not under threat right now.”

Without those signals, the body stays on edge, even when nothing urgent is happening.

Rest isn’t laziness — it’s repair

One of the biggest misunderstandings about recovery is the idea that rest must be earned. That it’s something you do only after everything else is done.

In reality, rest is part of how the body maintains balance. During rest, tissues repair, hormones regulate, and the nervous system recalibrates.

This doesn’t mean lying still all day. Rest can look like:

  1. Sitting quietly without stimulation
  2. Taking a slow walk
  3. Stretching
  4. Listening to music
  5. Spending time in nature

These activities give the body space to reset without effort.

Sleep is the foundation, not the bonus

Sleep is one of the most important recovery tools the body has. It’s when deep repair happens—physically and mentally.

Chronic stress often disrupts sleep, creating a loop where poor rest increases stress, and stress further disrupts sleep.

Supporting sleep doesn’t require perfection. Small changes help:

  1. Keeping consistent sleep times
  2. Reducing bright light at night
  3. Creating a calming pre-bed routine
  4. Allowing the body to wind down gradually

Even modest improvements in sleep quality can significantly improve how the body handles stress.

Movement helps stress leave the body

Stress isn’t just mental. It’s physical. It shows up as tension, shallow breathing, and tight muscles.

Movement helps complete the stress cycle. Gentle, regular movement signals to the body that the perceived threat has passed.

This doesn’t need to be intense exercise. Walking, stretching, yoga, or light strength work are often enough. The goal is not performance, but release.

People often feel calmer after movement because the body has been given a way to let go.

Breathing is the fastest reset button

Breathing directly affects the nervous system. Shallow, fast breathing tells the body to stay alert. Slow, steady breathing tells it to calm down.

One simple way to support recovery is to slow the exhale. Longer exhales activate the part of the nervous system responsible for rest and digestion.

This can be done anywhere—before a meeting, during a stressful moment, or before sleep. No equipment, no special technique. Just awareness.

Recovery needs to happen daily

One of the reasons chronic stress becomes a problem is that recovery is treated as something occasional—a holiday, a weekend, a break once things “settle down.”

The body doesn’t work that way. It needs daily moments of release, not just rare escapes.

Small, regular recovery moments are more effective than big, infrequent ones.

Five minutes of calm several times a day often does more than one long break that never comes.

Stress management isn’t about control

Many people approach stress as something to eliminate or control. That approach often adds more pressure.

A more helpful way to think about stress is in terms of capacity. How much stress can the body handle before it needs support?

When capacity is supported—through sleep, rest, movement, and connection—stress becomes manageable. When capacity is depleted, even small challenges feel overwhelming.

The goal isn’t to avoid stress. It’s about building enough recovery into life so stress doesn’t accumulate.

Connection supports recovery, too

Humans are social beings. Feeling supported and understood helps the nervous system feel safe.

Connection doesn’t need to be constant or intense. A short conversation, shared laughter, or feeling heard can reduce stress signals in the body.

Isolation, on the other hand, often amplifies stress, even when life looks calm on the surface.

In the end

Stress isn’t the enemy. It’s a normal response that helps us meet life’s demands. Chronic stress causes harm when the body never gets a chance to recover.

What the body really needs isn’t endless productivity or perfect routines. It needs rest, sleep, movement, breath, and moments of safety woven into everyday life.

A simple next step is to notice where recovery is missing. Not where stress exists—but where rest could be added. Even small changes can help the body remember how to reset, one moment at a time.