We are not robots! This might sound like an obvious statement, but we often override our bodily needs and signals as if we are. HARRIETTE LUSCOMB explains how what’s going on in our bodies can cause stress.
How often do you grab a sugary drink instead of water when you’re dehydrated? And how many times have you watched one more Netflix episode when your body is clearly crying out for sleep?
At work we can be even more guilty of this, expecting ourselves, our bosses and team members to turn up to work and leave all of the messy human bits at the door.
We put a lot of pressure on ourselves to behave as a complete “resource”, but the reality is that is just not how our bodies and our brains work.
It was National Stress Awareness Day this week, and I’d like to mark this occasion by drawing your attention to how your body responds to stress, how to understand the signals better and not override them as if we are robots, and thus help us be happier and healthier.
From an evolutionary perspective, our bodies are highly adapted to cope and deal with stress. If we see a lion our sympathetic nervous system immediately kicks in and prepares us to be able to take the necessary action.
This includes responses like an adrenaline boost, a reduction in unnecessary functions like digestion and a hyper alertness to help keep us focused. This has stood us in good stead over thousands of years as a species.
Photo by Angelina Sarycheva on Unsplash
However, in our modern day we have introduced a number of stressors (things that cause us stress) and we have reduced the amount of time we give ourselves to recover from that stress.
Crossing the road, responding to an urgent email, dealing with an angry customer, and even seeing notifications on our phones can all trigger the same responses in our bodies as if we saw a lion.
We often just ignore them and then wonder why our blood pressure has gone up, why we are having problems digesting our food and why we might be overthinking things.
Understanding that your body is primed to get you ready for stressful situations even without your brain knowing is a key strength in understanding stress and managing it better.
It can help us take action to move ourselves out of high alert, supporting our overall health and wellbeing. Try and build some of these habits into your day to help process stress better:
- Take time for calm breathing, in and out through the nose.
- Exercise and move to release adrenaline (this could be as simple as having a good shake or dance).
- Laugh.
- Get outside into nature.
- Try some mindful eating away from distractions.
Main robot picture by Rock’n Roll Monkey on Unsplash.
ENDS
