How to ‘Self-Regulate’ In Order to Reduce Stress
Using your fight-or-flight response to your advantage.
Of the many spectacles of the human body, it seems peculiar to pick a nerve to talk about. Nerve cells are like the ugly stepsister of human anatomy, Cinderella being the brain. Why would you take a nerve to the ball when you could take the brain?
There are 7 trillion nerves in the human body. Perhaps this is why nerves get a raw end of the deal, there is only one brain and one heart, nerves are in endless supply. Yet, there is a nerve worth talking about, a nerve that is your secret weapon in a stressful situation. That nerve is called the vagus nerve.
The Flight or Fight of the Modern World
“74% of UK adults have felt so stressed at some point over the last year they felt overwhelmed or unable to cope.”
With the added pressure of lockdowns, uncertainty around health and jobs, life is understandably stressful right now. Stress was first introduced by Hans Selye, an Endocrinologist:
“a general adaptation syndrome in which a complex mechanism of activation of neuro-endocrine system works to prepare the body to attack or escape behaviour”.
