An Era of Unremitting Stress
We’re all familiar with the importance of de-stressing our lives. With the demands of contemporary society—then the onset of COVID-19—we have witnessed how parts of society seem to be coming unraveled.
The fact of the matter is our physiological makeup was not designed to be on red alert 24-7. Dealing with the flood of stressful events in a day in the life in today’s world can tax even the most resilient person. To deal with the onlsaught of stressors, many people today are finding ways to adapt by adopting natural modalities, such as meditation and recreation, to counter the effects of negative stress.
Some individuals are educating themselves on how the body responds to stress, and it’s likely that most people reading this post already know that Cortisol is known as the body’s “stess hormone.” The body releases this hormone when dealing with stress. However, like taking too much medication, this instrinsic “remedy” can be detrimental to one’s health when the body releases too much over the long-haul.
The bottom line here is stress affects the body’s chemistry as we respond to stimuli. Our built-in fight-or-flight mechanism was meant specifically for just for that: To fight or flee. To preserve one’s life or that of another’s, this mechanism kicks in to give the person the power to defend themselves if necessary or to run faster than they normally could to get away from danger. Most people know that their adrenaline kicks in, which is known to give a person superhuman power, but going to the well too often can quickly turn a good and necessary thing into detrimental overkill.
Breaking Point vs. Breaking Away—Take Your Pick!
To effectively do it’s job, the fight-or-flight mechanism uses up much of the body’s resources and was never meant to be utilized on a regular basis.
…For very occasional short-bursts for the preservation of life, YES!
…To be fully engaged on a daily basis, NO!
The latter is depleting to the body. But with people commuting to and from work with ever-increasing traffic, deadlines, and quotas to contend with leaves countless individuals worn down and stressed out. And with the responsibilites of raising children during COVID-19 or caring for a sick family member, life has stretched many people to the breaking point.
It is imperative that people learn to adapt by incorporating some type of health modality into their routine so they could break free of the madness. As mentioned above, meditation and mindfulness practices, or engaging in creating art, or walking in nature, can go a long way toward breaking the stress cycle. Such practices can also help the body to recover from stress and coax it into a regenerative mode.
How it works…
When a person is stressed, their emotional brain—or, as some call it, reptilian brain—takes over, flipping the Sympathetic Nervous System switch to the “on” position. The reptilian brain is chiefly concerned with survival. Once the SNS switch is turned on, this mechanism overrides the person’s access to their logical brain, where reasoning and creativity reside.
While in this state of emergency, the logical brain switch defaults to the “off” position. The person’s body is stimulated with hormones and chemicals that increase heart rate, consrict blood vessels, increase blood pressure and tighten muscles, which stand at-the-ready for quick action.
By design, the reptilian brain gives the person a very narrow focus: Fight or flee. In life-threatening situations, such as being chased by a wolf in the woods, a person does not have tthe option to reason with the animal. They just need to act quickly to avert danger!
Therefore, when a stressful event occurs, the logical brain shuts down, and the emotional brain takes over. Whether being chased by a wolf or sitting in a traffic jam when late for work or an important meeting, the scenario is perceived as the same by the brain, which triggers the same survival mechanisms for both scenarios. When the brain percieves the stimuli as threatening, it responds accordingly, through the SNS.
The Good News
When a person learns to control their fight-or-flight mechanism, they can assist their body by engaging its internal calming system: the Parasympathetic Nervous System. This takes effort and discipline, but it yields many health benefits.
The challenge is that once the switch is flipped to fight-or flight, the person gets mentally and physically locked into a hyper state through physiological processes that inhibit creativity and logic. While self-talk may help some, the best counter to this dilemma is to establish a daily calming practice so it be at-the-ready when a stressful event occurs.
Deep breathing and other meditative practices help “flip” the body’s switch from an emergency state to a calm state. When this occurs, the brains switches from the reptilian brain back to the logical brain. Once the firing of neurons in the brain change course, the Prefrontal Cortex of the brain becomes re-engaged, which allows the person to regain access to their reasoning and creative abilities. The individual can then use their reasoning and creativity to problem solve whatever stressful event they are facing.
Following the brain’s lead, the rest of the body begins to disengage the sympathetic nervous system (fight-or-flight) system and engage the Parasmpathetic Nervous System, which calms the body’s systems down. The person will notice that when the PNS takes over because they will feel calm, relaxed and possibly even drowsy. This calm effect takes place as blood pressure, heart rate and respiration return to normal, and muscles relax.
Human beings are extremely adaptable creatures. However, these days it’s imperative to know how to Flip the Brain Power Switch so we can face each day with vitality.
Yours in Thriving!
Tom Ligi, Positive Psychology Consultant & Resilience Coach
Author of 7 Steps to Self-Confidence