Santa Cruz is famous for a slower pace of life and those laidback coastal vibes. Drawn by the allure of sandy beaches and surf culture, thousands of visitors arrive each weekend to unwind. Yet, as locals know, there’s no escape from the stress of reality; it rises and falls like coastal fog.
Stress has an upside. It keeps us safe from risky moves. It can be motivating, like the shot in the arm we need to stop procrastinating and get our taxes done.
Which is great when it’s working the way it’s supposed to; rising at the rustle in the hedgerow, falling when we recognize it’s only the neighbor’s cat. But the downside gets real when the anxious feelings linger long after the stressor has passed.
We’re all too familiar with feeling stressed, except when it shows up in ways we may not recognize. A little extra weight around the middle. Hair clinging to the brush. Skin acting up. That afternoon headache that seems to arrive like clockwork.
Often, they’re connected by what stress is doing to your body behind the scenes.
The unbudgeable belly
Under chronic stress (or during menopause), your body produces more cortisol, the hormone that, among other things, signals your system to store fat around the abdomen. It’s an ancient survival mechanism. The problem is, your body doesn’t know the difference between a looming deadline and a famine.
Dieting often backfires.
What tends to work better is counterintuitive: regulate stress first. Regular meals, strength training a few times a week, and calming the nervous system can shift what’s driving the weight gain.
A drain full of hair (2 months later)
Hair loss at any time can feel alarming, especially because it often shows up months after the stress has passed.
There’s a name for it: telogen effluvium. Stress pushes hair follicles into a resting phase, and the shedding comes later, disconnected from the original trigger.
The good news? It’s usually temporary.
Supporting your body with key nutrients such as Vitamin D, zinc, iron and biotin, can help things reset. It’s typically a 3-6 month process, so the hard part is trusting that your body is already on its way back to balance.
Rebel skin
Breakouts. Flare-ups. And skin that just looks… tired.
Stress has a direct line to your skin. It increases inflammation, disrupts the skin barrier, and even alters your gut microbiome, which shows up on your face faster than you’d expect.
You can layer on all the serums you want, but if stress is the driver, topical fixes only go so far.
What often makes a bigger difference? Supporting the gut (think fermented foods and fiber), prioritizing sleep, and even 5-count belly breathing (5 counts in, 5 counts out, moving the abdomen instead of the chest), to counteract a stressful moment.
The “let-down” headache
Here’s another sneaky one: headaches that don’t hit during stress, but after.
You power through a busy day… and then, once things slow down, the headache arrives. That’s because your body has been holding tension, especially in the neck and jaw, and when the stress hormone levels shift, the rebound can trigger pain.
Gentle practices like breathwork, magnesium, or even consciously relaxing your shoulders can interrupt the cycle before it locks in.
Tired, but wired
Feeling exhausted, but unable to truly relax? Chronic stress can flip your natural rhythm. Instead of cortisol being high in the morning (when you need energy) and low at night (when you need rest), it gets scrambled, leaving you wired at bedtime and drained by afternoon.
Fixing this starts in the morning.
Getting outside within 30 minutes of waking, even if it’s just 5-15 minutes, keeping a consistent wake time, and simply lying down without stimulation can help recalibrate your system in powerful ways.
The bigger picture
One of the reasons stress is so tricky is timing. Symptoms don’t always show up right away. Digestive issues can lag by weeks, so we treat the symptom in front of us without realizing the root cause has been building quietly.
And here’s the real takeaway: you can’t out-supplement or out-discipline a stressed nervous system. But when you support it, through simple, consistent rhythms like sleep, light, fiber-rich plant foods, movement, and breath, multiple symptoms often begin to shift at once.
Not overnight. But noticeably.
In a culture that’s always pushing for more, that might be the most radical idea of all:
Sometimes the fix isn’t doing more. It’s finally giving your body a chance to exhale.
Elizabeth Borelli is a local wellness coach, author and workshop teacher. To learn more about the stress relief strategies and her upcoming Thriving Through Menopause Ayurvedic Based Wellness Workshop, visit ElizabethBorelli.com
