When I was younger, around the age of 19, I genuinely believed I could handle stress.

I thought stress was something obvious. Something loud. Something that would announce itself clearly when it arrived. I believed that being mentally strong, resilient, and capable meant stress wouldn’t affect me; I felt I was prepared.

What I didn’t realise at the time was that stress doesn’t always look how you expect, and it doesn’t just live in the mind.

For years, I was “coping” on the outside. I was a father, a partner, working long hours, building a home for my family, showing up and getting things done. From the outside, everything looked fine in the way I presented myself and acted.

But inside, my body was telling a very different story.

Chronic stress doesn’t arrive as one single event. It’s cumulative. It builds quietly, often unnoticed, until it begins to affect the body at a biological level.

In my case, prolonged stress led to sustained elevations in cortisol, the body’s primary stress hormone. Over time, that had consequences.

Additionally, working indoors for long hours as an A&E doctor meant I had limited sunlight exposure, which contributed to low vitamin D levels. I was also unaware at the time that my diet was lacking in omega-3 fats and overall nutritional quality. Add that to long shifts at work, disrupted sleep from having a young family, and constant mental load, and the picture became clearer.

Stress is rarely just one thing. It’s influenced by lifestyle, environment, nutrition, genetics, workload, and recovery. And it presents differently in different people.

For some, it shows up as gut inflammation or digestive flare-ups.
For others, skin conditions like psoriasis.
For many people, it appears silently as raised blood pressure (the “silent killer”), increasing long-term cardiovascular risk without obvious warning signs.

You may feel like you’re holding it together. But your body may already be paying the price.

When we’re under stress, our behaviours change, often without us realising.

Sleep quality drops. We wake feeling unrefreshed. Energy dips. Focus fades.

To compensate, many of us reach for quick fixes:

• high-caffeine drinks
• energy drinks
• sugary snacks
• ultra-processed foods
• or increased alcohol intake.

These may offer a brief lift in mood and energy, but they come at a cost.

Blood sugar spikes and crashes increase fatigue.
Sleep quality worsens.
Stress hormones remain elevated.
Inflammation rises.

What feels like relief is often just masking the problem, not resolving it.

One of the biggest misconceptions I had, and one I sometimes see presented to me by patients at my practice, is that the answer to stress is simply more intense exercise to “burn off” that feeling.

Lifting heavier. Training harder. Extinguishing it from our body.

But if you’re already in a high-stress state, pushing your body harder can actually add fuel to the fire.

High-intensity training increases physiological stress. If recovery capacity is already compromised, the body struggles to clear metabolic by-products efficiently, leading to the accumulation of lactic acid, increased inflammation, prolonged muscle soreness, impaired performance, and a higher risk of overtraining or injury.

Sometimes the most effective movement isn’t HIIT or heavy weights — it’s:

• A gentle walk at lunchtime
• Swimming
• Pilates or mobility work
• Stretching
• Breathing exercises
• Sitting quietly in silence or listening to music

These forms of movement support nervous system regulation, reduce blood pressure, and help the body shift out of constant “fight or flight”.

Fitness doesn’t have to mean punishment.
Sometimes, listening is the most productive thing you can do.

Stress also changes how and what we eat.

I saw this clearly during a recent late shift. I had prepared ahead and taken with me fruit, water, nuts, and a whole-food, homemade meal to provide sustained energy. A colleague, equally busy but unprepared, grabbed a sugary drink, crisps, and a dual white chocolate bar from a shop between patients for himself and, surprisingly for me.

That wasn’t a poor decision — it was a human one.
When we’re tired, hungry, and rushed, we default to what’s quickest.

But preparation makes all the difference.

My food supported me steadily throughout the shift. I still ate the white chocolate bar that was gifted to me by my colleague, but only after eating ‘whole’ food first and spacing it out. Small choices, made intentionally, ensured I still felt energised and uncompromised, physically and mentally, throughout my shift.

Nutrition during stress doesn’t need to be perfect.
It just needs to be supportive.

Hydration, fibre, protein, healthy fats, and micronutrients all play a role in regulating stress hormones, inflammation, and energy levels.

Understanding this principle has totally shaped my understanding of what real resilience looks like.

The mind-body-move® approach isn’t about doing more, it’s about doing what’s appropriate for your current state.

• mind: regulating stress, workload, and cognitive load (focusing on one task at a time)
• body: fuelling adequately for your situation, sleeping consistently, supporting recovery
• move: choosing movement that restores rather than depletes

Even small changes matter. On that same hospital shift, I intentionally chose the furthest room from the waiting area to increase my daily steps every time I went to greet my next patient. I moved more within my day, rather than trying to squeeze everything into a gym session later.

If you work from home, simple adaptations can really help:

1. Look to invest in a standing desk
2. Add an under-desk walker to include some type of body movement while participating in long meetings
3. Consider regular movement breaks within your daily routine – these don’t need to be long, but ensure your body isn’t sedentary for too long at a time
4. Add a short walk before your lunch.

Energy isn’t created by pushing harder — it’s built by aligning habits with biology.

Stress isn’t a personal failure.

It’s a physiological response, and when it becomes chronic, it requires a holistic solution.

Reframing fitness, fuelling intentionally, improving sleep rhythms, and regulating the nervous system aren’t luxuries. They are foundations for long-term health, performance, and resilience.

If you want to understand where you are right now, start with awareness.

Our complimentary 4-day food analysis helps you understand how your current eating habits may be influencing your stress levels, energy, and stamina. Your results (reviewed by one of our registered nutritionists) may indicate where small, realistic adjustments could make a meaningful difference.

Start by understanding your baseline.