Is stress our friend? Well, yes… and no, says Dr Amber Johnston – a clinical psychologist specializing in neuropsychology. Here’s what he has to say about regulating an overactive stress response
We, as a society, are overwhelmed with stress, which is evident in the alarming health statistics for conditions related to emotional and physical stress.
Minimizing stress in our lives should clearly be a priority, but it’s never as easy as saying, “just reduce your stress!”
What is stress?
From a neurological point of view, anxiety is something very specific – it’s an alarm, a call to action. The stress response is a normal reaction that occurs in the brain and body in response to a trigger.
Stimuli can be environmental and captured by the senses, or psychogenic thoughts or interpretations of the body’s signal. A known danger can release an immediate reflexive action. For example, if you touch a hot stove or if you see a bear on your way, this sensory information will quickly enter your brain and be processed to release adrenaline to fire the body ready for immediate reaction.
A reflex may occur (taking the hand away from the stove) or it may be preparation for fight or flight (I prefer to run away from the bear). All of this can happen before you even realize it. You don’t have to think, because really, conscious thought is very slow.
The brain would rather be cautious, and only later, after you’ve run off the trail back to the safety of your car, can you slow down to determine if the bear was real or perhaps just a cardboard cut-out prank.
From a neurological point of view, anxiety is something very specific – it’s an alarm, a call to action
Considering its purpose, stress is actually our friend. It is an evolutionary tool that has been refined over time to keep us safe. Through the coordinated functioning of the sympathetic nervous system, also known as our stress response, our senses can interpret our environment and prepare our bodies for immediate response so that we have the best bet for survival.
Our sympathetic nervous system activates our heart to start pumping blood to our major muscle groups (biceps and quadriceps) away from our periphery (fingers and toes), shortens our breathing to allow more oxygen to flow, turns off the digestive function (when there’s a bear, it’s not time to eat), and it sharpens our senses to tune in to the threat (see bear and only bear).
When the threat is gone, a separate system (the relaxation response) is activated and the body returns to normal function.
The alerting process works incredibly well when you’re out in the wilderness looking for wildlife, as generations of ancestors before us did.
Today, we don’t usually face a fast physical threat that suddenly retreats after fighting or fleeing. Instead, we often face threats that are more enduring, less natural, more social, and often abstract.
READ MORE: 7 physical signs of stress you shouldn’t ignore – plus what can help
What does our body do with this stress?
Take a moment to remember what it’s like to have your sympathetic system activated. Centered on preparing the body for action, our bodies undergo significant changes from the chemical messages our brains often send in response to thoughts.
A thought can be very threatening, especially one that brings up past problems or worries about the future. In my clinical experience, people often report feelings of chest pain, shortness of breath, upset stomach, hyperarousal, lapses in attention, and sensitivity to lights, noise, and people.
Constant, excessive cortisol can wreak havoc on our system
People with these symptoms often confirm that they have an active mind that can be plagued with worry, and at first many do not see the connection between these symptoms and their thoughts. But on deeper reflection, it sounds like a body with an active sympathetic nervous system.
The brain and body are on high alert, giving non-stop alerts that threat is near and we need to be prepared.
Worries about mortgage payments or social media preferences pose real, worrisome threats to a sense of home security or social inclusion. Our body responds. However, we can’t fight the public or leave the bank, so our system is thwarted and we keep the stress inside.
Constant, excess cortisol can wreak havoc on our system, contributing to inflammation, poor immunity, changes in the gut microbiome, blood pressure problems, sleep disorders, and various diagnosable medical conditions.
READ MORE: 3 ways to reduce stress in 24 hours
How can we stop an overactive stress response?
The first way to stop an overactive stress response is to try to understand what’s going on internally. The body is ready to warn us and keep us safe, and sometimes we need to use our cognitive ability to override its alarm.
When stressors are time-shifted, we want to focus on mindfulness activities to bring us back to the present, safety here and now. This is not to exclude the very real stress we may face, but when a solution cannot be implemented in the present, we want to at least have moments of breaks and break down the body system.
Sometimes we need to discharge some of the stored energy, so we exercise, even quick jacks with jumps or push-ups
To deal with physical stress in this moment, we must interrupt the stress response through the powerful tool of regulating our breath, starting with deep, long exhalations. This simple act reduces the activity of the sympathetic nervous system to bring our body back into relaxation.
Sometimes we need to release some of our stored energy, so exercise, even quick jumping jacks or push-ups, or a walk in the fresh air, can help release energy stores in our major muscle groups as we strive to return to relaxation.
A technique called Progressive Muscle Relaxation (deliberately tensing and relaxing your large muscle groups, one at a time) can help the system fall further.
However, to prevent reactivation of our stress response, we must prevent our mind from creating more and more psychological stress which then activates the physiological stress state.
This is a harder skill to master, and I’ll devote the next article to exploring this—how to think about threats in our own minds, and why your anxiety triggers may be completely opposite to your partner’s.
Stay tuned for the next article in this series next Thursday.
Dr Amber Johnston is a clinical psychologist specializing in neuropsychology (healthmindpsychology.co.uk)
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