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A blog post about what happens when we are in a stress state and how to effectively transcend it to be our best selves
Stress is a common talking point, as it effects everyone. It is an important function necessary for our survival, but in our modern day context it can cause huge problems if we are chronically stressed.
Stress is one of the biggest contributors to modern disease - it can increase the likelihood of the onset of depression, anxiety type two diabetes and even circulatory diseases. As you can see, it has a global effect on the body.
Look around!
It can be difficult to find a way to dissolve the stress you may be feeling simply with thoughts, as our brain is hardwired to believe it is a matter of survival. There are some helpful, simple ways to unravel the stress response to shift your physiology from survival to healing. Helping your body to adapt quickly and appropriately to what is happening around you can be a huge factor in your long term health and overall satisfaction. Let's learn more about how it all works and why it is imperative to you and those around you.
What does being 'stressed' feel like and look like?
Every human can relate to what it may feel like being stressed. We can feel tired, irritable, sleepless, have digestive issues, low mood, poor immunity, poor metabolism and weight gain, make poor choices and think illogically, and find it incredibly difficult to be present in the moment. It can also cause further problems, such as fertility issues and difficulty regulating blood sugar levels, leading to energy spikes and crashes, as well as cravings.
What happens?
As you can see from the flow chart above, your whole body changes instantly in response to a potential "threat" (which may or may not actually be a threat, this interpretation depends on your defense mechanism history and phsyiological state just prior to the introduction to the potential threat). Looking at the table below, the short term effects describe a familiar scenario - heart beating in your throat, heightened senses (what was that noise?), dry mouth, maybe butterflies in your stomach, and a sense of urgency either to stay still, or move. Your logical brain is turned down, your immunity is turned down, as is your digestive system, reproductive system and healing capacities. Your fascia and muscles are tightened, blood is shunted to the bigger muscles in your legs, sleep is not an option and your senses are sharpened. This all makes sense in the face of a mysterious beast approaching you, or a midnight burglar sneaking around your house. It is all preparing you to either stay still and silent, run or fight.
The long term effects of a sustained stress response, which is designed to only be active for about 3-4 minutes, is much more devastating. Your body essentially begins to break down, as a result of your physiology constantly being geared towards surviving this mysterious, yet not-solved "threat" (think your house mortgage, work deadlines, arguments with loved ones etc). These kinds of threats can last much longer than 3-4 minutes, and thus all of your healing mechanisms and "housecleaning" systems being slowed or shut down to a degree will cause problems. This can lead to sleep disturbances and insomnia, irritable bowel syndrome and gut sensitivities, fertility problems, difficulty focussing and performing academic tasks, incredibly poor immunity (perhaps you don't often get sick, but never really feel 100%) and pain, poor range of motion and low drive. Eventually, all of this leads to a literal break down of your tissues and organ systems.
Short Term Effects Increased Cortisol Increased Catecholamines (adrenaline, noradrenaline) Increased Heart rate Increased Vasoconstriction (tightened blood vessels) Increased Blood pressure Increased Blood glucose levels Increased Blood lipid levels Increased Blood cholesterol levels (LDL & HDL) Increased Clotting factors | Long term effects Increased protein degradation of muscle & connective tissue Insulin resistance Increased feelings of stress, fear, anxiety and depression Decreased short term memory, ability to concentrate & learn new material Decreased serotonin levels, increased noradrenaline levels Increased sensitivity of sensory systems including those for pain Decreased cellular immunity Decreased anabolic hormones like growth hormone & testosterone & luteinising hormone, etc Bone loss, muscle fibre type changes |
Sympathetic vs Parasympathetic
Your Sympathetic nervous system is the branch that stimulates your fight or flight. Your Parasympathetic nervous system is the branch that stimulates your "rest and digest" or housekeeping function. This is the division of your nervous system that needs to be active majority of the time, so that you can heal, grow, develop and adapt. The issue arises when this is not the case, as these two branches are opposite to each other, and thus can never be active at the same time. If you're in fight or flight, you physically cannot be in rest and digest too.
As we can all agree, we are habitual beings. The nervous system has a propensity towards repeated stimulated pathways (ie habits), as they pose as a "safe" way to function or complete a task. The issue is, just because that pathway is familiar, it does not actually mean it is the safest or best option. In this way, if your nervous system repetitively activates a particular way in response to something specific or even in general, then chances are it will continue to do so until you train it to do otherwise. Think about if you go to a beach and as you are swimming see a shark, you will store that memory in your reptilian or midbrain, which stores information regarding survival. Every time you go to that beach after that day, your brain will diligently remind you of the potential horrors that could occur if you swim there. A useful function in this context, but not so much if we replace the shark sighting with a big argument with your spouse.
What contributes to a stress response?
There are many stressors in our lives that can cause a change in our physiology leading to a stress response. There are three overarching categories of stressors;
Physical: poor posture, poor movement, lack of sleep, injuries, sedentary lifestyle etc
Mental/emotional: mental stress, low mood, anxiety, lack of drive and certainty etc
Chemical: this is anything that you put in or on your body, such as deodorant (does it have heavy metals in it?), make up, moisturisers, pesticide-laden foods, processed foods etc
Any combination of all or some of these stressors can create a necessity for your physiology to change in order to either adapt or compensate for the change in your environment. If the stressors are able to be handled easily by your body, you will create an adaptive response. If the stressors are too great for your body to handle, you will create a compensatory response.
What does that mean?
If we imagine a rather odd scenario for a moment - bare with me. Imagine you live in a body of water. You have waterwings (more commonly known as floaties in Australia) on your arms, which represent your genetic expression, or how your genes behave and replicate over and over throughout your lifetime. These water wings have a tiny slow leak in them, meaning eventually they will deflate. This represents the tendency for your genetic replication to eventually faulter. You are wearing a backpack, which represents your allostatic load. Allostasis is known as the physiological cost of stress on the body. In your backpack, you may have some rocks, which represent the stressors in your life. So, the more rocks you have in your backpack, the harder it is for you to keep your head above water (sounds familiar?), and also the more pressure that is placed on your water wings, meaning that slow leak becomes a slightly faster leak. If you have a well-designed backpack, your ability to deal with those stressors (rocks) may improve but nonetheless the less rocks (and smaller rocks) you have in your backpack, the less likely you'll be to drown and more likely to have an enjoyable time.
What kind of rocks do you have in your backpack? How many? Which of those can you easily and readily get rid of?
How to change the course of your stress response
Keep in mind that this is a difficult task to master, as the stress or defense response is literally designed to help you survive. However, there are some relatively easy strategies that you can use, other than thinking yourself out of it, that can help to redirect your neurology and allow your physiology to return to rest and digest mode.
Posture
Being in a rounded, forward posture actually stimulates the fight or flight response. So naturally an upright, open posture stimulates the rest and digest response. Tuck your chin in, align your ears over shoulders. Expand your ribcage like a barrel using your breath and hold the expansion to the best of your ability. Try to draw broaden shoulders slightly upwards and outwards, like you're trying to fill a doorway with them. Imagine you are being pulled upward by a hook in the crown of your head, lengthening your spine vertically. Draw your belly in towards your spine, slightly tuck your bottom under, allow for a slight bend in your knees and maintain the weight mostly on your heels. Hold this posture for as long as you can.
Intentional Breathing
Box breathing is a helpful tool to calm your nervous system: breathe in for 4, hold for 4, out for 4, hold for 4, start again.
Diaphragmatic breathing: this is NOT 'belly' breathing, but utilising your ribcage in unison with your diaphragm. Laying on your back with your knees bent up and feet on the floor, keep your belly drawn in towards your spine the entire time. Breathe in and expand your ribcage like a barrel, so that it expands in all directions, and as you breathe out let your ribcage sink inward again. Throughout this, try to keep your belly drawn inward.
Vagus nerve breathing: breathe in for 4, hold for 7, out for 7, start again
The movement, neurology & chemistry of breath changes your state. Changing the chemical composition of your blood through controlling your breath can have huge positive (as well as negative) implications on your nervous system state and overall health. Always try to breathe through your nose.
Vagus nerve stimulation
The vagus nerve is one of your 12 cranial nerves, and it is the longest/biggest nerve. It controls most organs and systems, and it heavily associated with the parasympathetic nervous system or rest and digest response. Stimulating the vagus nerve effectively can help to calm your nervous system.
"Basic"
Sit, stand or lay. Interlace fingers behind head. Look right with eyes for 30-60 seconds, until you yawn or sigh. Repeat on left side.
Polyvagal Stretching
Gently lay hands across your forehead, move your hands outward (stretching the skin). Repeat over your cheeks, then jaw, then heart/chest area.
Befriending the Heart
Put your hands over your heart, find the direction of ease of the skin/tissue that creates a sense of calm & safety. Pull gently in that direction
Rocktape
Cut 2cm2 of tape, stick it on the side of your neck below your earlobe, just behind your jaw. This is where the vagus nerve is closest to the surface of the skin and the stimulation from the tape can help to stimulate the vagus nerve, causing a sense of calm.
Grounding and Sunlight
Having your bare feet on the Earth (meaning grass, soil, natural Earth), allows for a flow of electrons to move from the Earth itself into your body. This is helpful, because electrons help to literally "charge" our internal battery. This allows for our bodies to more readily move into rest and digest, as there is evidence to suggest that grounding in this way can help to create better regulation of our cortisol (stress hormone) and adrenaline hormones.
The suns rays on our bare skin and eyes at different times of the day can also be a huge help. At sunrise and sunset, the light passing through the atmosphere is mostly the red and orange lights, whereby blue and green light is mostly blocked. Also at this time infrared light is high in concentration, and these light spectrums drive an anti-inflammatory response as well as better regulation of the hormones contributing to our circadian rhythm (eg cortisol and melatonin). The suns light in the middle of the day is the full spectrum and is very stimulatory to our bodies, creating the energy and drive we need to complete the days tasks. When we use LED lights, screens and most other forms of artificial light, they have a high concentration of blue and green light which stimulates us to be awake, not sleep. Using artificial light when the sun is down disrupts our circadian rhythm and thus your quantity and quality of sleep. This has a huge impact on your cortisol levels the following day, meaning your much more likely to be stressed. Try getting up with the sun and watching it come up over the horizon, for at least a few minutes, each day and limit your artificial light use while the sun is down.
Reconnecting to nature is a huge help in calming your nervous system, including through the mechanisms listed above and many many more.
Herbals
While herbals are not a long-term solution, they can be useful in a short term context. Roogenics Anti-inflammatea and Native Relaxation teas are a great and easy introduction, as well as camomile tea. Herbs that help to regulate your adrenal glands - the glands that produce and release cortisol as well as adrenaline - can be helpful too. These include Ginseng, ashwaganda, holy basil, astragalus, licorice root, rhodiola and cordycep mushrooms.
Helpful Concepts
Thinking about changing your stress response can seem daunting, but only if you're looking to change it within a day or week. It helps to take each day as it comes, however thinking about the changes you could achieve over 6 months or even a year becomes a lot more achievable. Often when we begin trying to change our habits and introduce a new strategy, we go for intensity instead of consistency. Consistency will get you much further, in a sustainable way, than intensity will. Start small and build up slowly over time. Building a routine and abandoning the idea of perfection is a fantastic place to start. Not getting it perfectly right the first time can be frustrating and incredibly limiting if that is what you're focussing on. That doesn't help you to achieve much. Focus on routine.
"You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems. Your goal is your desired outcome. Your systems is the collection of daily habits that will get you there."
-James Clear
Morning sunlight: sunrise is best, no glasses/windows improves: Cortisol, Serotonin, Dopamine, Energy levels, Ability to withstand UV (Eliminate use of sunglasses - slowly, over time)
Water: big glass upon waking, keeping a plastic free bottle on you at all times, reminders
Movement: stimulates brain activity (90% of the stimulation and nutrition to the brain is generated by movement of the spine, known as mechanotransduction).
Posture Pole: each night before bed 5-30 min
Eliminate inflammatory behaviours/habits:
Coffee, alcohol, sugar, processed foods, seed oils
Screen use, particularly at night & first thing in the morning
Toxic mindset
Myofascial release: undoing the knot in the elastic band
Find the knot and stay on it (no rolling back & forth)
Breathe through it with deep breaths
Only let go when the pain/tightness has subsided
Broader contact first, then more specific (eg. basketball first, then cricket ball)
Chiropractic
Your nervous system is the master controller of your entire body, requiring a constant flow of communication back and forth between brain and body to allow for proper bodily functioning. When this communciation system is interrupted, it is called a vertebral subluxation by Chiropractors. It is what we are trained to find and correct. When this interruption occurs, it means things don't function or feel the way they should, and often contribute to increased feelings of pain, limited movement and lack of control. If they persist for long enough, they can create or at the least contribute to a stress response.
How do you think this effects...
Muscle tone
Movement
Emotional regulation
Immunity
Digestion
Pain
Mental processing
Stress
Chiropractic research & benefits:
Stress: 76% reported an improvement in their mental/emotional health. Additionally, these 76% also reported positive changes in stress and increased life enjoyment in the months after receiving chiropractic care
Immunity: subjects receiving chiropractic care had a 200% greater immune competence than those who had not received chiropractic care and a 400% greater immune system competence than those with cancer or other serious disease.
Mood: adjustments promote the release of serotonin, dopamine and oxytocin.Â
Coordination: decreased falls risk and improved joint sense
Brain function:Â prefrontal cortex activity increased 20% with adjustments
Wellbeing: "It is plausible that chiropractic care may be of benefit to every function of the body and have the potential for long-term, overall health benefit to those receiving chiropractic care"
Pharmaceutical use: decreased by 85%
"The nervous system holds the key to the body's incredible ability to heal itself. Look to the nervous system as the key to maximum health"
- Galen
Outcomes
Below are listed some of the benefits those who regularly get adjusted notice throughout their Chiropractic care journey.
More energy Better sleep Better digestion Improved mood Improved strength No brain fog Better immunity More balanced Better pelvic floor function | Less tense Better concentration Better memory Better resilience Better athletic performance Improved posture Better mobility Better bladder control Preventative approach | Reduced PMS symptoms Less pharmaceutical use Less outpatient surgeries Less days off work Sense of wellbeing Decreased falls risk Improved breathing More open sinuses |
Resources and Products
Books
SD Protocol by Dr Wayne Todd
The Reality Check by Heidi Haavik
Why Zebras Don't get Ulcers by Robert Sapolsky
@Carriebwellness,
@Thestateofme
@Sarahkleinerwellness
@Natkringoudis
@drmoniqueandrews
Podcasts
The Wellness Women
This Week In Wellness
Boncharge: blue light blocking glasses
Block Bluelight: infrared and redlight panels
Posture Pole
Herbal teas (as listed prior)
Supplements:
Adrenotone/Adrenoplex
Magnesium (eg CalmX, Diasporal)
Avoid:
Sugar, Alcohol, Caffeine
Limited sleep & movement
"Junk" light at night
If you would like to get on top of your stress, please contact Dr. Xanthe Hand at Reconnect Chiropractic on 0472 924 000 or visit www.reconnectchiropractic.com.au to make a booking.
Thank you for visiting our Reconnect Blog
Rannoch Circle Hamersley, WA
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