The Science of Stress
Whether aware of it or not, we are always training our brain and body through our current actions.
For example—when we take a moment to breathe, observe & rationalize before reacting to a problem, we are training our brain to consciously respond, rather than subconsciously react to a situation.
What is stress?
Stress is our extremely developed natural defense mechanism that helped our ancestors survive and adapt over millions of years.
[stress] “It’s natural. What’s also natural, though — and you see it in the wild — is that most stressful episodes are resolved quickly, one way or another. The natural biological, evolutionary blueprint is to have long periods of mellow recovery after bursts of stress.”
Rich Hanson Neuropsychologist
In our modern world and corporate life, our bodies don’t differentiate life-threatening stressors from non-life threatening stressors. Anything from a traffic jam or a poor job review can trigger our stress response.
Furthermore, the cause of our collective stress ‘crisis’ is our lack of recovery after stressful situations, not stress itself.
How does chronic stress affect the body?
The amygdala is the fire alarm of the brain. When it perceives a threat, it sends a message to the hypothalamus, which signals to the sympathetic nervous system that the body is under attack. The body prepares to either fight or flee.
The sympathetic nervous system increases our heart rate, constricts some blood vessels and dilates others, slows down the intestines, inhibiting digestion, produces cortisol and adrenaline and releases fatty acids into the bloodstream to be used as emergency energy.
Over time, chronic stress wears down our adrenals and lowers our immunity and ability to produce antibodies and fight off viruses.
Chronic stress clogs arteries, increases cholesterol, increases blood pressure and heart rate.
How can we mitigate chronic stress?
activating the parasympathetic nervous system— or allowing our body to ‘recover’ after stressful situations
2. train our brain to respond rather than react
Meditation is a practice that encourages more thoughtful and conscious brain function to supersede our more primal emotion-based responses. The more we practice meditation, the more we will naturally observe our environment before reacting to any given situation.
Meditation also activates the parasympathetic nervous system—leading the body into its natural recovery state.
The parasympathetic nervous system instigates cellular repair & digestion, lowers blood pressure and heart rate, reduces inflammation, builds antibodies & strengthens the body’s immunity, increases oxygen intake and nutrient absorption.
Meditation increases the production of dopamine and serotonin which allow feelings of joy, pleasure and relaxation.