>> A deep dive into the biology of stress
>> How to keep calm and carry on…
Stress is our body’s response to what’s happening in and around us and it’s activated by the autonomic nervous system. When we feel fearful or stressed the sympathetic nervous system is activated and the body prepares to fight, flee, or freeze. It’s a survival strategy that’s designed to protect and keep us safe.
What’s interesting, anxiety shares the same physiology. Your thinking mind with its worries or feelings of dread can also trigger this survival response. Cortisol and adrenalin flood the body setting off a chain reaction- your blood pressure increases, heart beats faster, pupils dilate, and you may experience feelings of dizziness, exhaustion, aches and pain. So, whether you’re in real danger or perceived danger, your body responds the same way.
Typically, when the threat is over- the parasympathetic nervous system is activated and it works in the opposite way. It’s calming and restorative, bringing the body back in balance.
So, you may have guessed - the quickest way to calm yourself down when you’re feeling stressed is to directly tap the parasympathetic nervous system. And you can do this by deeply inhaling to the count of 4, hold for 3 and breathe out to the count of 8. Repeat this a few times, until you begin to feel a greater sense of calm. The magic in this exercise lies in the long slow outbreath, which is what slows your heartbeat down, sending a message to your brain that it's all okay.
And here’s the science behind it:
When you breathe in, your lungs expand, your diaphragm moves down creating a more spacious and expanded chest area, making more room for your heart which gets just a little bigger. As your heart gets bigger, it must work extra hard to get that blood flowing through it, so it sends a message to your brain to get the heart beating faster. Now, the opposite is true on the outbreath- the diaphragm moves up, the chest cavity becomes less spacious, and the heart gets a little smaller. This means that the blood in your heart can flow more quickly and easily. So, the heart sends a message to your brain, “it’s okay- slow down,” and with that you feel calmer and more relaxed!
>> Try this practice for 5 minutes at the start and end of each day, or any time you feel stressed and feel the difference!
