You Choose What You Stress About!

Stress is a fear based response to a situation.

A situation on its own is never a problem but how that situation affects an individual is - 
thought, emotions and the behaviours you respond with are the true stressors.

We know that it's the individual's mental, emotional and physical response to a situation that causes stress as different people respond differently to different situations. 

For example, a rollercoaster ride for one person may cause a huge stress response as they may think "it's dangerous", feel scared of heights and their body may tremble, whereas, someone else may think "this will be fun", feel happy and smile. These 2 differing responses cause 2 very different reactions in the body - emotionally, chemically and physically. 

One = stress, the other = joy

So even though it may not feel like it we really do choose what we stress about - perhaps not consciously and usually so quickly that we are not even aware of it. 

Our perceptions created from past experience, family laws, cultural conditioning and religious/spiritual beliefs all create the responses we choose to different situations.

How stress affects the body.

What causes my body to feel the way it feels when stressed?

Why does my stomach churn, my chest hurt or my head ache?

What is really going on to bring about these physical changes?

Our nervous system is what reacts to stress. Dr John Bergman states "we live our life through our nervous system" and  "there's only 3 stressors, physical, chemical and emotional, and your body responds the exact same way to all 3."

The following is my very simplified explanation of the body's response to stress:

There's a system in the body called the Autonomic Nervous System that controls the internal organs and the stress response, it's made up of 2 parts - one that triggers activation, arousal and mobilisation called the autonomic nervous system and the other called the parasympathetic nervous system that has the opposite effect by creating calm, growth and rejuvenation.

When we are at ease, sleeping, resting or relaxing the parasympathetic nervous system is activated eg. heart rate is slowed down, digestion is functioning, blood is flowing freely around the body. 

When we are stressed the autonomic nervous system kicks in to keep us safe. It activates what it perceives as necessary for survival and deactivates what is unnecessary in the short term, eg. the heart beats faster, blood pressure increases and blood flow is diverted to the muscles making us ready to overpower or outrun the threat, however, it also slows down digestion and other systems including the reproductive system and the immune system as these are not required at times of stress. 

This is why when you are in a stressed state you feel your heart race, pressure in your head, your muscles tense or stomach feel queasy - you have not chosen any of these responses the body has altered itself automatically and you feel the effects physically.

This stress response is a primitive, protective function of the body, it is a natural and healthy way in which the body prepares us to deal with threats. It becomes a problem however when we remain in a stressed state for long periods of time which is so often the case in modern life.

From the very basic explanation above we can see how continually operating from an autonomic perspective could cause long term serious consequences like problems with digestion, trouble sleeping, infertility and poor immunity. 

Like with all things in life we need balance to maintain health, we need to turn off  the autonomic nervous system and let our parasympathetic nervous system take over so we can rest, recuperate and reclaim wellness.



To listen to Dr John Bergman's interview on Extreme Health Radio please click on this link:  http://www.extremehealthradio.com/ep-342

and if your interested in learning more about the stress response the book that I found the most comprehensive is "Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers", Robert M Sapolsky and it is available from:
http://www.booktopia.com.au/why-zebras-don-t-get-ulcers
http://www.fishpond.com.au/Books/Why-Zebras-Dont-Get-Ulcers
or as an e-book from:
https://books.jbhifi.com.au/Book/why-zebras-dont-get-ulcers