Stress and its Discontents
Stress is an enemy to both health and wellbeing, but the key in life is not to avoid stress but to become resilient to it. Not all stressful situations are the same; some are positive, like getting married, while others are decidedly negative, like being robbed at gunpoint. However, despite the different outcomes, the bodies response to stress is the same. It begins in a part of the brain called the amygdala. The amygdala is an almond shaped mass of nuclei (mass of cells) located deep within the temporal lobes of the brain. There are two amygdalae, one situated in each brain hemisphere. The amygdala is part of the limbic system, the structure of the brain that is responsible for preparing the body for emergency situations, such as being startled, fear, anger, and for storing memories of events for future recognition.
The stress response, which begins in the amygdala, first triggers a neural response in the hypothalamus causing it to secrete a hormone called adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH). ACTH is made in the pituitary gland and increases in response to stress. In turn, the adrenal glands then makes a hormone called cortisol, which helps your body manage stress. When cortisol levels rise, ACTH levels normally fall. When cortisol levels fall, ACTH levels normally rise. At the same time the adrenal gland is activated causing the release of a hormone called epinephrine. Adrenaline, or epinephrine, and cortisol, or hydrocortisone, are both stress hormones yet they play different biochemical roles. Adrenaline primarily binds to receptors on the heart and heart vessels. This increases heart rate, force of muscle contraction and respiration. Cortisol binds to receptors on the fat cells, liver and pancreas, which increases glucose levels available for muscles to use. It also temporarily inhibits other systems of the body, including digestion, growth, reproduction and the immune system. The purpose of all this is to create a boost of energy and prime the body for either fight or flight and survive long enough to die of something other than what’s immediately trying to kill you.
Epinephrine, or adrenaline, is our “fight or flight” hormone that causes an increase in blood pressure and blood sugar, an elevated heart rate, and the liberation of fat and glycogen stores. These physiological changes supply the body with extra energy and an increase in muscle tension to provide the body with extra speed and strength to overcome whatever obstacle it faces.
Now some would say that stress is a teacher, and I would agree, though not in the way that others may. The stress response is an evolutionary dinosaur that hasn’t quite outgrown it’s usefulness but is increasingly become a liability as much as it is an asset to survival. Stress is not the same as fatigue. Fatigue is a signal from your body that if you don’t stop whatever you are doing things will start breaking. Stress, on the other hand, is the body’s response to something outside of it. For this reason the stress response is singular because the body lacks detailed knowledge about what is causing the stress but can’t afford to wait and find out lest it risk failing to respond fast enough and suffering the consequences which may affect it’s very survival.
The brain is conspicuously absent from this conversation because in the case of fight or flight, the higher functions of the brain are simply too slow to be useful and would likely be a liability if it were involved in the basic stress response. Stress isn’t a teacher but it is good training. While the stress response is singular it can vary by degrees. Learning how your body responds to stress is the best way to learn how to manage it. There are countless tools for managing stress and the best ones boil down to a practice called mindfulness. Mindfulness is really just another way of saying, pay attention to yourself and how you’re feeling, thinking, and acting.
These tools can be used before and after you experience a stress response but not during. During an autonomic stress response you are quite literally ‘not yourself’. The higher functions of your brain that largely define your identity are mostly silent during a stress response. Your feelings, thoughts, and actions are in line with all other vertebrate animals from apes to snakes.
Why we have a stress response is simple, survival. In a stressful situation, where survival hangs in the balance, there are only two ways to react, you fight for your life or you flee and live to fight another day. There is no reasoning your way out of a life or death situation. If there were it would not truly be a life or death situation.
How we manage stress and how resilient we are to its effects will have a major impact on our health, wellbeing and may even affect how long we will live. The best tools for managing stress are the ones that work best for you, however they should all begin with mindfulness. It takes practice to be mindful of an autonomic process however with practice you can become more resilient to stress and you can more quickly recover from it.
The propensity for longer life is inherited but it it does not appear to be genetic. This suggests that it could be an epigenetic factor which can be influenced by the environmental stimuli such as stress and by conscious practice such as mindfulness. Breaking the cycle begins with the discomfort of doing things differently. In many ways the discomfort is more a function of unfamiliarity than it is unpleasant.
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