The Physiology of Stress

By Genevieve Gerard

Stress is a physiological response to the events of our lives. How we respond to that stress and what happens to our bodies when we feel threatened dates back to times when life was more primitive and the responses to life events was simpler. When we feel threatened or endangered our body responds by producing adrenalin. Blood pumps away from the extremities into the muscles. This is why when you are feeling frightened or stressed your hands and feet are often cold. The heart rate accelerates, and the blood pressure increases. Muscles bunch preparing the body protect itself from the perceived danger by either fight or flight. This is called the fight flight response.

Prior to the industrial revolution fighting or fleeing was an appropriate response to most risky life situations. Threats were clear and involved survival. The natural selection process of survival of the fittest worked well. If you were the strongest or the fastest you survived. This was accomplished by either overcoming your adversary physically or by fleeing to a safe place away from your adversary. It has only been since the industrial revolution and the development of modern society that this fight flight response became a part of the problem, rather than the solution.

Today, when a boss or a co-worker threatens you, it may be very subtle, but your body responds to the time honored response of generating the fight flight response. However, there you sit with your body primed for a physical fight or a survival flight and that is not appropriate to the situation. And you cope with the perceived threat by swallowing your anger and perhaps creating a pithy remark and go on with your day. But, your body still has that energy stored up for the fight or flight from the situation. That physiological response creates health problems if not released. Chronic high blood pressure, tension headaches, muscle cramping and pains are just a few of the body’s responses to unreleased stress.

Because the body creates the fight flight response as a part of the autonomic nervous system, you must use signals that the body recognizes to turn the fight flight response off. Walking away from a confrontation calmly but then reviewing the issue in your mind throughout the day, then telling your friend or spouse about the threat, only kepts the body in a constant state of readiness to fight or for flight.

In order to relax this response you need to use signals that are recognized by the autonomic nervous system by the body. One of the reasons that running or aerobic exercise work well as a stress relief is that exercise is interpreted by the body as fulfilling what it prepared to do. Another way of signaling the body’s autonomic nervous system is to consciously to control your breath. By doing a deep breathing exercise you signal your body that the threat is over and it is time to stand down. This is one of the reasons that regular use of relaxation exercises or meditation work to improve ones health and well being.

A simple exercise that you can use is to breathe deeply into the diaphragm and count your breath slowly by a count of ten. Begin by exhaling sharply and completely, then breath in slowly filling the lungs from the diaphragm up into the chest fully as your slowly count to 10; then release the breath slowly over a count of 10. Repeat this slow full count breathing for about 10 minutes. You will notice that this very simple exercise relaxes you and releases the body from the edge of the fight flight response.