I N S I G H T S

The way in which our body is designed to allow us to quickly respond to stressful situations is through our Autonomic Nervous System, a network of nerves running throughout our body from our spinal cord.  This system has two parts – the sympathetic branch, that produces our fight or flight response when we are in “danger”, and the parasympathetic branch, that takes over to calm things down again when the danger has passed.  Together these two systems, although in opposition, constantly work in harmony to keep us in a state of healthy balance. 

So how does the sympathetic system get switched on to high alert?  Well, first it has to perceive a stressor event or threat that triggers the nervous system to produce hormones to respond to the perceived danger.  The hypothalamus activates the pituitary gland that secretes hormones that activate other hormone producing centres such as the adrenal glands.  The adrenal glands are responsible for the secretion of adrenaline and cortisol that  speed up our heart and breathing rate and increases our blood pressure and metabolism.  The liver releases glucose to help the muscles function properly and because additional blood is required in the big muscles, heart, lungs and hindbrain, the supply is cut off or restricted to the non-essential areas.  This means the digestive system slows or stops, the salivary glands stop secreting, pupils dilate and the immune system slows down.  An emotional manifestation of anxiety, fear or panic occurs.

All these changes help us to react quickly and effectively under pressure.  We call it the stress response or, the fight or flight response.  Once the threat has passed, our parasympathetic system comes into play, reducing our heart rate and relaxing our blood vessels so normal functioning can resume.  At least, that’s the plan.

So while our body works perfectly, given the conditions and signals it responds to, the problem for many of us is that we don’t overcome our threats and stressors, whether real or perceived, physical or emotional.  This means our sympathetic response, although it is normally always active, remains highly active - that is, we maintain a residual stress state with our nervous system continually pumping out stress hormones. As we aren’t biologically designed to remain for prolonged periods in a stressed state, our body goes into an adaption state where we become very prone to illness and disease.  Excessive and constant stress leads to an exhaustive state with a complete break-down in the body’s normal functions.

High blood pressure, heart problems, weight problems, addictive habits, poor concentration and coping abilities, insomnia, skin conditions, hair loss, headaches, muscular pain, depression, digestive disorders, premature ageing, sexual dysfunction, anxiety disorders, impaired immunity and subsequent serious disease, all arise from chronic stress of some form.  While some life stressors are unavoidable, for many of us in the western world in particular, it is common to find it is our attitudes and belief systems that create our stresses. 

The good news is that we can get off the stress – illness – stress merry-go-round by understanding our particular issues, taking the appropriate action and learning to relax.