The Stress is Real
To say we live in stressful times would be an understatement. In the news we follow unsettling headlines while in our personal lives we worry about our family, our finances, our careers, our relationships. The pressure at times can seem inescapable, and it carries real health consequences.
When our bodies feel stress, there is a physiologic response that happens - the fight or flight reaction. The response that our body creates to stress does not really differentiate between a physical threat, like a bear that’s about to attack, versus other kinds of threats, such as concern about an ill family member, or ruminating over an argument with a spouse, or straining to meet a deadline for work. In any of these cases, the reaction is the same: the body prepares to fight or run. Literally, your heart rate spikes, your pupils dilate, your muscles constrict, your blood pressure raises. A lot of the reactions that happen internally are harmful to your overall health, but the body figures ‘hey, let’s escape this bear first and then we’ll deal with high blood pressure leading to a stroke in 10 years.’ But the stress that we experience is (hopefully!) rarely a bear attack. Rather, it’s this constant simmering tension that doesn’t have a clear end point.
Since we do not live in a perfect world, the stress is never really going to go away - as my husband always chides me, “you’ll find something new to worry about soon.” Instead, we need to find ways to help close the feedback loop, and reassure our bodies that today, we survived the bear attack and it’s ok to shut down the red flashing emergency lights.
One great way of doing this (see yesterday’s blog!) is exercise. Going for a walk, riding a bike, dancing some hip hop - this all works to satisfy that ‘flight’ option. Maybe you still have a deadline to meet at work, but now your body feels as if you successfully survived the bear attack, and so your heart rate can settle, your muscles can relax, and your blood pressure can return to healthy, non-stroke threatening levels. So don’t wait until you start to feel the stress getting to you - plan a daily exercise routine. It only takes about 10 minutes of moving to release those calming, feel good brain chemicals. Just don’t go walking in areas that might lead to a bear attack…
