Stress is the body's natural response to perceived danger or things seeming out of control.

I'm sure you recognize plenty of potential for feeling stress in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic with the perceived danger to your health, economic uncertainty, and numerous other factors that may be impacting you personally and professionally.

The body is in fact beautifully designed to deal with short-term stress - like the danger of facing a wild animal in primitive times. You naturally produce more of the chemicals cortisol, epinephrine, and norepinephrine to create physical changes that get your body ready to fight or run away.

(Did you know that when you feel your heart beating fast, your throat going dry, and your palms sweating before a presentation, this comes from the same fight or flight response? I explain how to overcome this in Speak Like An Expert).

The problem is that when you experience long-term stress, it's difficult for those chemicals - or hormones - to return to normal levels. This leads to problems with your heart, breathing, sleep, immunity, and reproduction.

Yes, as I mentioned in Episode 60 of the Sasuga! Podcast - Coronavirus And Difficult Days - fear and stress impact your immune system. That's not great during a pandemic. So what can you do to ease your stress?

In Episode 66 of the Sasuga! Podcast, in addition to my top five tips to ease your stress, you'll hear:

• Why it's crucial to address stress
• Why, as a woman, you need to pay particular attention to how you feel
• How I got myself out of a spiral of negative thinking twice during the coronavirus pandemic

Enjoy!