Everyone knows what stress is. What everyone might not know is that stress kills. So how can something like staying in fear and panic mode do us in?
What makes an emotional response to things like an argument or traffic jam eventually become lethal?
The explanation is simple.
“The psychological definition of stress is a state of anxiety produced when events and responsibilities exceed one’s coping abilities. The physiological definition is the rate of wear and tear on the body” (Richard Lazarus), (Seward, B., (2018).
The human body was originally designed to sustain mortal threat (stress response) long enough to out run the danger by retreating to a place of safety in order to stay alive. Once the fight or flight response is triggered, the body has about 24 to 48 hours to utilize the extra energy produced to make it back to a place of safety. Once the threat is gone, the body is designed to return to what is called homeostasis or a normal resting state.
During a state of heightened awareness, the brain tells the body to shut down important systems such as the immune and digestive systems in order to conserve energy, move faster and increase blood flow and cortisol to organs like the heart and muscles that need to work harder and respond immediately. These extreme demands on our body were only meant to last no more that a day or two to get us out of danger.
But unfortunately, for some of us, we live in a stress response of what the body perceives as continuous mortal threat everyday. Which means our immune and digestive system are always offline while our heart is working 24/7 to get us out of a perceived danger that does not exist and never ends. And because there is never any let up on the ‘accelerator’, the normal functions of the body slowly begin to break down. We become increasingly prone to things like migraine headaches, IBS, asthma, infectious and chronic diseases. Our risk for cardio vascular disease increases like high blood pressure, organs begin to fail and that is how stress kills. Because over time, the stress response is physically unsustainable (Stahl, et al., (2019).
This is why learning how to be here now, live in a state of mindfulness and peace is essential to help give our mind and body a way to finally relax and participate in our daily life experiences comfortably. It gives us permission to truly live the moments of our lives peacefully and without the fear of threat that is so vitally important. And by learning how to redirect our focus on ways to stop the ”hamster wheel” of fear and shut down the “what if” loop, we can begin to understand that there is no threat, perceived or imagined. We can manage our responses with greater clarity; confidence and a rational thought process by simply experiencing and trusting in the moment we are in. Because when we believe we are safe, our brain is calm and our body begins to function normally once again and life is good.
Together we can do this, yes we can.
References
Seaward, B. (2019). Managing stress: Principles and strategies for health and well-being. Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Stahl, B., Goldstein, E., (2019), A mindfulness based stress reduction workbook, Oakland, CA., New harbinger Publications, Inc.