Stress affects us in so many ways. It can make us age faster, give us digestive issues, increase hair loss, keep us from sleeping well, alter the way we communicate with others, shift the way our body absorbs nutrients, lower our sex drive, make us crave foods/substances to numb out, gain weight and make us sick.
None of these responses are desirable, so it's helpful to have tools to calm our body down so that we can feel safe enough to relax again. This stops cortisol from flooding our system so that we can move back into rest and digest from fight or flight.