Stress is a response of the body and mind to any demand made upon it
which results in symptoms, such as a rise in blood pressure, release of
hormones, quickness of breath, tightening of muscles, increased mental and
cardiac activity and much more.
Fight or Flight
The most obvious stress response is referred to as the “fight-or-flight”
reaction, which is your body’s fast and automatic switch into “high alert.”
This reaction helps you deal with any perceived threat from your environment,
even more subtle forms such as “information overload” or your life’s
circumstances.
Overload of Information
But never before in the history of humankind have we created a world that
exposes us to so much rapidly delivered information, be it from media sources,
traffic and communication systems, or nonverbally from the environment.
An overload of messages can also come from internal sources: either
biological, mental, emotional or all three at the same time.
Our minds are theorized to only manage 7 or 8 bits of information well
at once, so anything beyond this can automatically activate this “fight or
flight” biological response, even if on a subtle level that doesn’t seem
like what we would call a real life threatening emergency.
Continual Stress
In the larger scheme of things, this response was designed to stimulate your
body to produce the energy, concentration and agility either to protect
yourself or to run as fast as possible. But in our modern times,
sometimes stress, even in the form of excess worry or anger, can seem to never
let up.
Some of our more “modern” stressful circumstances, unlike most immediate
physical threats, do tend to be prolonged and faced on a continual basis. So,
we can see how this runs the possibility of producing this reaction for much
longer than it’s intended, or needed, to be “on” for.
This can go on continually so that you may not be aware of it anymore, as the
immune system, digestive system and brain can become further and further
stressed from over activation. We may “adapt” to and simply tolerate
our stressors, as opposed to managing or reducing them.
Long Term Stress Response
But what’s good for your body in a short-term crisis can be harmful over
long periods. The long-term activation of the stress-response system can
disrupt almost all your body’s processes, impacting risks such as weight
gain, insomnia, serious digestive and cardiac issues, memory, physical
illnesses and conditions, and much more. It can even impair our
absorption of nutrients.
It engages the heart in a way that changes neurotransmitter and mineral levels,
often imbalancing or depleting them when they’re needed for other normal
bodily functions, such as maintaining bone density.
What about the brain and cortisol?
In the initial phase, the brain sets off an entire response “system”
throughout your body through nerve and hormonal signals, which activates your
adrenal glands to release powerful hormones, such as adrenaline and
cortisol. Cortisol also slows functions that would be temporarily
unnecessary in an extreme emergency situation, but in daily life,
all-important for maintaining wellness.
It can change your immune system responses by impairing disease-fighting white
blood cells; and suppress the digestive, reproductive and growth systems,
which are all a part of maintaining overall health. But, if the stress
response never fully switches completely “off”, stress hormones can
continue to wash through the system in high levels, failing to leave the blood
and tissues in a timely way.
Setting Off Stress Responses and "Adapting"
Any perceived stress ~ such as from work, personal relationships, major life
changes, illness, or the death of a family member, friend or pet, or for some,
even responses to foods such as sugar ~ can set off the same stress
response system in the body.
The longer you “adapt” to them without intervention, the more, in theory,
you are at risk of entering the “exhaustion” stage of stress, where your
body’s own maintenance systems can be overwhelmed and not functioning at
optimal levels that protect you.
Every Person is Unique
Your reaction to a potentially stressful event, even in normal daily life, is
different from anyone else’s. Some people naturally manage stress
well, while others react strongly to the smallest stressor. Life
experiences can also affect your response to stress: People who were exposed
to stressful events as children in the form of neglect or abuse tend to be
more vulnerable to stress as adults.
Now, the results of managing and reducing your stress can be extremely
beneficial. By reducing stress, you can help your body do more easily what it
was designed to do, which is repair and maintain itself. Our bodies are
designed to heal themselves.
The AMA Admits the Effects of Stress
There are a lot of conditions and serious diseases that have been linked to
components of stress. The AMA has gone so far as to acknowledge that stress
can be a contributing factor in many diseases, including some infectious
diseases.
Reducing Stress with EPFX Feedback
The EPFX can give us feedback on your own individual responses to stress in a
highly refined way, and may help train you to react differently to stressors,
thus helping you reduce and control stress.
Biofeedback
Biofeedback can help individuals take control over their bodily processes that
are normally
considered involuntary. EPFX Quantum Biofeedback empowers people with the
ability to use specific reactive signals from their own bodies to positively
change the way they live!
Please contact us for more information.
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