FBC – 392 – How and why stress will kill you…

How and why stress will kill you.

Everybody knows that “stress can kill you” but only a few people actually know why.

Well, my friends, this ends today. In today's episode, I will reveal what I just learned about stress and how it just rocked my whole world.

Make sure to tune in to today's episode

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The subject of the podcast today is something very interesting. It doesn't have anything to do with business, it has everything to do with life.

So it's one of those topics that I've heard for a long time in my life, several times. And it was hard for me to actually make the correlation and see how this was actually true.

But you're like, yeah, well, how does that work? I don't believe in it. Until someone will rephrase it and explain it in a different way and you see it from a different angle and all of a sudden makes a lot of sense.

OK, so the subject for today is stress. What about stress? So obviously nobody likes stress. Stress is bad. Everybody hates it.

But one thing that was said a lot and I've heard a lot is that stress actually has a negative impact on your health. People are actually dying from stress. They have ulcers like heart attacks and all that kind of stuff. And well, it makes you more susceptible and more vulnerable to, like diseases and stuff.

So you've probably heard that, you know, just like I have and maybe you've been a firm believer and stuff and you don't need more arguments. But I actually needed more proof and stuff. I was like, how does that work? You know, nobody actually explained it to me.

So the interesting thing is that I saw a video today that actually is the exact same subject, but it now makes a lot of sense for me how stress is negatively impacting you and making you sicker and causing you to die, prematurely and all that kind of stuff.

So anyway, so you have to understand how we're built and what stress is for us, because right now we're looking at the society of today in 2020.

But dude, we've been on this planet for a long time, so this stress mechanism has nothing to do with the distress that we're experiencing today. Oh man, my Internet is down. I'm stressed. Oh, the bus is late. I might be two minutes late at work. So these are the kind of stresses that we know, right?

So stress is a defence mechanism for your body and for your well-being, your life. Initially stress is, well, something that protects you from predators. So there's a predator and you need to get the hell out of there, OK? And this is when you start getting stressed. So when you're stressed, a lot of things will happen.

It will happen to you. Heighten your senses and all that kind of stuff so that you will be able to get away from this. So stress is basically like a watch dog for you to make sure that you don't end up injured or dead and it's keeping you out of harm's way.

How and why stress will kill you…

But here's the thing.

It's built to be like an adrenaline rush and it's not built to be able to last for too long. So it's not built to be constant, OK. So what happens is you see a predator and you're like, oh, that's not good. And then you start being stressed and then you have to get the hell out of there.

OK, so you run, you outrun the predator, you get three, you hide out and then you get back in your cave or something. Predator is gone. And then afterwards you will settle back. You will go back to a normal position where your heart rate becomes normal again and all that kind of stuff.

OK, your body is not designed to stay in a situation of stress for too long. It was just built for you to be able to save your life, find shelter and then cool down.

So here's what happens when you're stressed. Your heart rate will increase. You have all the firefighting mechanisms. Your senses will be heightened. Then you start listening to everything and you start being more like aware of everything that's around you.

OK, but this thing, it takes a lot of energy and you're your internal organs in your body. Again, it's not designed to sustain this for too long.

But the thing is that the world is very, very different now. And we have developed some abilities that I think nature didn't account for when stress was built to help us out. And one of those things is that unfortunately for us, in addition to society having changed, we are able to activate the stress mechanisms without the need of a predator.

OK, we can do it just by thinking about stuff. This is an ability that I guess we have developed over time. And there's an upside and there's a down side, you know, it means that you can be prepared for stuff. But the downside is they will stress you even if the situation is not there.

And there is no stimulus that you actually needed before, which is the Predator. It’s not there anymore.

So this is what was actually causing people who are stressed to be more susceptible to kind of like diseases because their body is busy dealing with the stress and it's using a lot of like energy and some vital function and organs and stuff that shouldn't be working. They should be resting. They're like all hands on deck.

And this is how you actually end up having, like, problems like health problems. And I find it fascinating that after watching this video, I mean, for me stuff, that's just how my brain works.

The stress signal I stopped ignoring

You think stress is the price of ambition. For a while it is. Then it quietly starts charging your body interest.

I ignored the early signs for two years. Broken sleep. A short fuse with people I love. That flat, gray feeling on a Sunday night. I called it discipline. It was damage.

The turning point was simple. I started treating rest like a business input, not a reward. Seven hours of sleep is now a hard rule, not a nice to have. I block one full day a week with zero work. My output did not drop. It went up.

This is not soft advice. Chronic stress narrows your thinking exactly when you need range. Harvard Business Review has published heavily on how burnout wrecks decision quality, and McKinsey keeps tying employee wellbeing to real productivity numbers, not slogans.

I nearly wrecked myself building this business, and I have never hidden that. It is in my story, and I keep coming back to it on the podcast because the version of me that skipped sleep made worse calls. Protect the machine that makes the money.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why does stress actually harm your health?

Chronic stress keeps your body in a constant state of alert, which wears down your immune defences and leaves you vulnerable to illness. Martin shares that once stress was explained to him from a new angle, the link to ulcers, heart problems, and disease finally made sense as a real physical mechanism.

Why do so few people understand how stress kills?

Everyone repeats that stress is dangerous, but most never hear it explained in a way that truly clicks. Martin admits he doubted the idea for years until someone reframed it for him. Understanding the actual reason, rather than the vague warning, is what makes people take stress seriously enough to manage it.

Is stress only a business problem?

No. Martin notes this topic has nothing to do with business and everything to do with life. Stress affects your relationships, your sleep, your decisions, and your long term health. Treating it as a whole life issue, rather than just work pressure, is the first real step toward reducing its grip on you.

What is the first step to reducing harmful stress?

Awareness. Martin found that understanding why stress damages the body changed how seriously he took it. Once you grasp the mechanism, you can start protecting your peace of mind, removing unnecessary pressure, and building habits that keep you calm. Knowledge of the cause makes the motivation to change far stronger than before.

About the Author

Martin Ebongue is the founder of martinebongue.com, an online business and lifestyle design blog focused on helping aspiring entrepreneurs build location-independent businesses. Since 2014, he has been creating and scaling online ventures across multiple niches , from digital products and affiliate marketing to SaaS and content platforms , while traveling the world. He shares the real-world strategies, tools, and systems that work, with a particular focus on AI-powered automation for solopreneurs. Follow him on YouTube, X (Twitter), and Instagram.

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