When the Plates Start to Wobble: Understanding Stress

Stress: A Design Feature, Not a Fault 

Stress is often framed as something to eliminate, but it exists because it helped us survive. In evolutionary terms, stress is adaptive, and when danger appeared, the body released adrenaline and cortisol which are hormones designed to sharpen focus, quicken reactions, and get us to safety. 

In the modern world, those same systems can be activated by deadlines, responsibilities, and the sheer pace of daily life. The heart still races, blood pressure still rises, and the mind still prepares to act. Short bursts of stress help us perform, focus, and achieve. This is adaptive stress and the kind that fuels motivation and productivity. 

The Plate Spinner’s Balancing Act 

Modern stress doesn’t arrive in a single moment; it accumulates. Most of us are spinning plates: work, family, health, finances, and all the other responsibilities that sit between them. When everything is in rhythm, each plate keeps turning. But as demands increase, we can spend more time keeping the poles moving. One distraction, one unexpected event, and suddenly all the plates begin to wobble at once. We may adapt by working harder, sleeping less, or finding new ways to keep everything steady. For a while, it works, until it doesn’t. 

When Stress Stops Helping 

Stress becomes harmful when it stops being temporary. When adrenaline and cortisol stay high for too long, the body begins to feel the strain. Blood pressure rises, immunity weakens, and the risk of heart disease and stroke increases. Research on allostatic load which is the wear and tear caused by long-term stress shows that this constant activation can raise cardiovascular risk by around a third (Journal of the American Heart Association, 2024; Frontiers in Cardiovascular Medicine, 2021). 

Inside the brain, the same pathways that once sharpened focus begin to disrupt it, making mood harder to regulate and decisions harder to make (Frontiers in Endocrinology, 2023).  

Research shows how this happens over time. Longitudinal evidence from the British Journal of Psychiatry found that sensitivity to stress predicted later development of depressive symptoms (Wichers et al., 2009). Other studies have shown that chronic stress exhausts the body’s ability to reset, leaving the brain in a state of constant alert (Mayer et al., 2017; Lei et al., 2025). 

At first, we rely on coping mechanisms to manage the load, the mix of thoughts and behaviours that help us stay steady when life gets difficult. These can be practical, emotional, reflective, or social. Most of the time, they work. They help us recover, reset, and move forward. 

Adaptive coping strategies, like taking exercise, planning ahead, talking things through, or finding small moments of perspective can help the body rebalance and the mind to clear. They reduce physiological arousal and support recovery, allowing cortisol to fall and serotonin to stabilise (Folkman & Moskowitz, 2004; Pennebaker & Chung, 2011). 

But under sustained pressure, even good habits can feel inadequate. You might still go for a walk, still show up for work, still tick things off the list, but it doesn’t quite touch the weight you’re carrying. Rest doesn’t refresh in the way it used to. That’s the point at which coping starts to strain. 

Most of us don’t respond to that strain with one single “next step.” We mix and match. Alongside the more helpful strategies, less helpful ones can creep in: another glass of wine to unwind, scrolling late into the night, comfort eating, saying yes to everything, or slipping into perfectionism and overwork. These are very common ways of trying to get through the day, but they tend to numb rather than resolve. 

Over time, that combination of worn-out coping on one side and numbing on the other, can keep the stress response switched on (Compas et al., 2017; Casagrande et al., 2019). The body never quite gets the signal that it is safe to stand down. When coping isn’t restoring us anymore, stress stops being a pressure to manage and starts becoming an illness to recover from. 

The Cost of Overload 

Unchecked stress doesn’t stay contained. It can spill into family life, relationships, and work. Sleep becomes shallow, patience short, and focus fractured. Some people withdraw while others might overcompensate. When every day feels like a rescue mission, even small setbacks can tip the balance. One missed email, one unexpected bill, and another plate crashes to the floor. 

From Stress to Anxiety to Depression 

The Mind and the Mental Health Foundation both describe stress and anxiety as different but connected. Stress is a response to pressure; anxiety is what happens when that response doesn’t switch off. 

Short-term stress sharpens performance. Chronic stress keeps the brain on constant alert, flooding it with threat signals that make rest impossible. This is when anxiety can appear, when the body is still running from danger that no longer exists. If this continues, the chemistry shifts again. Serotonin and dopamine regulation change, energy collapses, motivation fades, and concentration dulls. That’s when stress can evolve into depression. Left unchecked, it can deepen into clinical depression, where both body and mind remain chemically locked in shutdown. 

Evidence continues to show that stress, anxiety, and depression are not separate conditions but linked points on the same continuum. A 2019 longitudinal study found that perceived stress, anxiety, and depression predicted one another over time, each amplifying the next (Shen et al., 2019). A 2025 scoping review confirmed this overlap, describing them as distinct expressions of the same underlying strain (Roy et al., 2025). 

When Silence Turns into Loneliness 

Silence is often where stress lingers. Some people have support at home but can’t talk openly about how they feel. Others have no one to talk to at all. Different silences, same outcome: no release 

A 2024 study in Stress & Health (Kang et al.) found that individuals reporting higher loneliness experienced more frequent daily stressors and slower emotional recovery afterwards, even after accounting for depression and context. The finding is critical: loneliness doesn’t necessarily make stress feel stronger in the moment, it makes recovery slower. The body stays in a heightened state long after the stressor has passed. 

This helps explain why silence is so corrosive. When feelings stay unspoken, the physiology of stress remains active. Talking, by contrast, signals safety. It tells the body the danger is over. 

Talking as Pressure Release 

Research shows that the act of speaking, of verbalising emotion, has measurable physiological effects. Expressive disclosure reduces cortisol, improves immune function, and supports mood regulation (Pennebaker & Chung, 2011; Cooney et al., 2019). This means that for many people, conversation itself can act as an early pressure release before symptoms become clinical. 

That’s where Sacana sits. It provides a structured, non-clinical space for people to talk, think, and steady themselves before pressure becomes illness. Conversations are led by trained Matrons using the Sacana Conversation Arc, designed to help people feel seen and heard in a safe, confidential environment. It isn’t therapy; it’s prevention, in the space between coping and breaking. 

Why Workplaces Must Pay Attention 

Work-related stress is a recognised occupational hazard. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) requires all employers, regardless of size, to assess and manage it under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999. 

Employers have a legal duty to protect the mental as well as the physical health of their employees. Stress risk assessments must be recorded for organisations with five or more employees and reviewed regularly, at least annually or whenever working conditions change. 

The law sets the baseline. What makes the difference is culture: noticing early, acting consistently, and recognising that the cost of silence is always higher than the cost of conversation. 

Sacana gives organisations a way to meet that duty in practice, through structured, stigma-free conversation that helps people decompress before burnout, absence, or clinical illness occur. 

Picking Up the Pieces 

It’s okay for the plates to wobble. You can’t be expected to keep everything spinning all the time. Sometimes things fall, and that’s alright too. What matters is what happens next; that you take a breath, pick up the pieces, and start again. Maybe with fewer plates. Maybe with one that’s been lovingly repaired, a little stronger at the break. 

Stress isn’t failure; it’s feedback. It’s your body asking for pause, your mind asking for space. So, take a breath. Take a break. Have an honest conversation and get the weight off your chest. Say the things that circle endlessly in your head and hear them out loud. 

Let it out. Feel lighter. Start again. 

Talk. Connect. Thrive. 

To learn more about Sacana get in touch at enquiries@sacana.com

References 

Casagrande M. et al. (2019). Coping styles in individuals with hypertension of varying severity. Stress & Health, 35(4), 560–568. 

Compas B.E. et al. (2017). Coping, emotion regulation, and psychopathology in childhood and adolescence. Psychological Bulletin, 143(9), 939–991. 

Cooney R. et al. (2019). Verbal emotional expression and physiological regulation. Frontiers in Psychology, 10, 1982. 

Folkman S. & Moskowitz J.T. (2004). Coping: pitfalls and promise. Annual Review of Psychology, 55, 745–774. 

Kang J.E. et al. (2024). The relationship between loneliness and the experiences of everyday stress and stressor-related emotion. Stress & Health, 40(2), e3294. 

Lei Y. et al. (2025). Chronic Stress-Associated Depressive Disorders: HPA Axis Dysregulation and Neuroinflammation in the Hippocampus. International Journal of Molecular Sciences. 

Mayer S.E. et al. (2017). Examining the Relationships Between Chronic Stress, HPA Axis Activity, and Depression. University of Michigan. 

Pennebaker J. & Chung C. (2011). Expressive writing: Connections to physical and mental health. Oxford Handbook of Health Psychology. 

Roy S. et al. (2025). Stress, Anxiety and Depression as Psychological Distress: A Scoping Review. Healthcare, 13(16), 1948. 

Shen C. et al. (2019). Depression, anxiety, perceived stress and declines in physical health functioning: a longitudinal study. BMC Public Health. 

Wichers M. et al. (2009). Transition from stress sensitivity to a depressive state: longitudinal twin study. British Journal of Psychiatry. 

Frontiers in Endocrinology (2023). The neuroendocrinology of chronic stress and mood regulation. 

Frontiers in Cardiovascular Medicine (2021). Chronic stress-associated neural activity and subclinical cardiovascular disease risk. 

Journal of the American Heart Association (2024). Allostatic load and cardiovascular outcomes: a systematic review and meta-analysis.