The Truth About Stress

Stress is perhaps the most used word in our culture at this time.  I’m on a mission to clarify what this means and what we can really do about it. How do we resolve current issues and prevent future ones?

The word stress has become an umbrella term that means many different things to different people.  But what actually is it? 

There is a chain reaction within the mind and body that generally works like this:

1.     There is an external pressure/event

2.     We think a certain way about it (we may feel overwhelmed, worried or paranoid in our minds)

3.     This will lead to a release of anxiety (fear) in the body (you may experience ‘butterflies’ or ‘knots’ in your stomach, or feeling sick)

4.     Once there is enough anxiety the body release adrenalin so that we can respond to the ‘danger’. 

The trouble is that although the danger is only in our minds, our body is fuelled with the most naturally powerful drug. This will have lots of physiological effects which can include: less blood to brain causing a change in clarity of mind; increased heart rate; sweating; dry mouth; shaking; heat; skin irritation; panic attacks; etc. If we do not release this adrenalin through physical movement, our body can be consistently full of it. 

A loop cycle can be created between thinking, emotional reaction and physical reaction and this is what people call high stress levels on a consistent basis.

While a bit of anxiety and adrenalin has no impact on our all round wellbeing, continual production will have a serious impact on our wellbeing and those around us too.

We need to separate external pressure from internal thinking. We may be able to do little, or nothing, about our external pressure, but we have the power to do something about our internal position.  Consistent high anxiety/adrenalin (stress) is not genetic, but it can become a habitual way of being. However, with the right skilful retraining, this can be changed.