Rob AndersonLead Coach/ Principle Owner, Stand Sure Coaching · Spending time in collaborative conversations with clients

Conquer Chronic Stress: Dive into Calm #shorts

10 Mar 2026 · 1 min

Watch on YouTube

1:27

In this YouTube short, the speaker explains how chronic stress elevates cortisol, the body's primary stress hormone, leading to anxiety and physical symptoms such as chest tightness and stomach issues. Prolonged fight‑or‑flight states, especially in people with PTSD, create a feeling of being trapped. The speaker argues that scuba diving can lower cortisol and alleviate PTSD‑related anxiety because it offers a novel, adventurous experience that breaks the monotony of stress, providing both physiological and psychological relief.

Chapters

When you've got stress, when you've got chronic stress, and you're feeling trapped, that is going to raise levels of cortisol. Again, cortisol, body's primary stress hormone. When you've got high levels of cortisol, you've got anxiety. You can have physical symptoms like chest tightness. Stomach ailments. But that sense of being weighed down or suppressed can stem from the body's physiological response to prolonged stress. When you're in a constant state of fight or flight, and we see this a lot in, in cases with PTSD, and it's why diving is so good for PTSD because it can lower that cortisol. And when there's no clear way to act, it creates a sense of being stuck. And I firmly believe that one of the reasons why we lower cortisol in diving for divers with PTSD or anxiety is because of going back to number one, it's something that's very novel and we're doing something different. It's something new. It's seeking out adventure. And I really believe that that's one of the reasons why diving helps with that.