Stress and the Body's Response

A definition of stress:  

1. Tension or pressure exerted on a material object (oxford) 
2. Physiological disturbance or damage caused to an organism by adverse circumstances (oxford)

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Stress is a word that we hear all the time, and I think it can be used to describe a wide range of experiences. Even though we may not all agree on the exact definition and/or cause, most of us would agree on the feeling of being stressed! What is that feeling and what happens in our body when we get stressed? 

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The feeling that most of us describe as stress, is our body’s response to internal and external cues about what is happening in our environment. These environmental, psychological, or physiological inputs cause the activation of our nervous system. This is called the stress response and it is our body’s attempt to keep us alive and out of danger. This prepares us to automatically react, or if we are lucky, to consciously respond.

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Unfortunately, with the pace and responsibilities of modern life, many of us live in a heightened state of stress that keeps us out of balance. This impacts our physical and mental health. 

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To learn how to better understand and manage this response, let's break it down into stages and take a look at the nervous system where it all happens. The four stages of the stress response are:

1. Information and stimuli from our environment are being sent to the brain along with information and stimuli from our internal state.
2. The brain uses this information to decide whether there is a threat and what level of threat is occurring.
3. The body responds with what it perceives to be the appropriate level of activation and stays activated until the threat is considered to be over.
4. Once the body determines the threat to be over, the body should or can return to a state of homeostasis or balance, coming back into rest and digest.

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The nervous system is where this all happens. It consists of two branches:

1. The central Nervous System - the brain and spinal cord
2. The Peripheral Nervous System - all the nerve tracts going out to the muscles, joints, viscera, etc. that carry the messages from the brain to the other parts of the body AND from the body to the brain.

This complex web of communication is both electrical and chemical in nature. This flow of energy and information can be altered or impacted by a number of factors, some of which we will be exploring as we go through The Anjuli Method. 

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The peripheral nervous system has two branches: 

1. The Autonomic Nervous System (ANS,) enervates the heart muscle, smooth muscle, gland, and many organs.
2. The Somatic Nervous System (SNS,) gives you conscious control of the skeletal muscles. 

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Most of what we will be talking about when we are discussing the stress response will be the two branches of the ANS. As the name suggests, the ANS controls the automatic functions that keep your body alive. This includes heart rate, respiration, and blood pressure, to name a few. The two branches of the ANS are: 

1. The sympathetic: responsible for fight /flight response, but can also be referred to as active and alert (when it is active but we are not overcome by our stress response) 
2. The parasympathetic: responsible for the rest and digest response when we are feeling balanced and in homeostasis. 

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What happens when our stress response is activated? It seems straightforward and simple but it is actually a complex multi-layered response that is mostly an unconscious and automatic biochemical cascade. When the sympathetic nervous system is activated into a state of flight or flight the following things happen:

1. Heart rate increases 
2. Blood pressure is elevated 
3. Breathing becomes rapid 
4. Blood vessels dilate to allow blood flow to essential muscles and organs 
5. Nonessential functions like digestion and immunity are shut down 
6. Blood flow to the brain is altered 
7. Access to the higher-level functions like planning and attuned communication are impaired or offline

These physiological changes occur until the body, with internal and external inputs, decides that the danger is over, the parasympathetic nervous system is activated, and we enter into rest and digest. 

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For most people most of the time, the stress response (fight/flight/freeze, etc.) and the shift into rest and digest are unconscious and automatic. By understanding the process, and the factors influencing it, we can start to take action. We can learn to shape our reaction to stress and our ability to regain homeostasis more quickly. We can also build our capacity to stay in balance by expanding our windows of tolerance (see Our Balance Zone: Understanding Windows of Tolerance.)

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For most people most of the time, the stress response and the shift into rest and digest are unconscious and automatic. By understanding the process, and the factors influencing it, we can start to take action.

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Throughout The Anjuli Method, you will hear the term “embodied nervous system.” I use this term to refer to the peripheral nervous system with an emphasis on developing a conscious awareness of the energy and information flowing through that system from the brain to the body and back. 

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While this isn’t something that we are normally taught how to do, there are other cultures and traditions where this is part of the shared understanding of human capability. We can learn to tune into, and then influence the information being exchanged in our nervous system. That is the power of awareness. It is also step one in the Stabilize phase, bringing your awareness to the physical and mental patterns to recognize and utilize the information available to build resilience.