How to Avoid Fighting or Flying in the Face of Stress

On World Mental Health Day we’ve put together a practical guide to follow in the face of stress, one of the biggest factors affecting mental health. Our guide suggests a path that is neither fight or flight but focuses on the Relaxation Response instead.

Do you fight or do you fly? Here’s a tip…don’t do either.

We all know the fight of flight response. That sudden surge of hormones that causes our hearts to pound, pupils to dilate, muscles to tense and our pores to sweat.

That physiological reaction and associated term was once reserved for life-threatening situations as a survival mechanism. But it has instead evolved as an typical response elicited by us in everyday situations that are yes, annoying and stressful, but are by no means life threatening!

Just think about those times you’ve felt that surge — deadlines at work, queuing to get on the tube, even being stuck behind a group of tourists on Oxford Street, London. None of which are a dangerous situations, including deadlines at work (!) and none of which warrant the fight or flight response.

But what’s ironic is the physical effects of consistently and continually eliciting these stress hormones is in itself life-limiting. Over time contributing to a number of long term medical conditions including cardiovascular disease and poor mental health.

We have a responsibility as an employer, with the acknowledgement that work can be one of the most stress inducing environments, to provide support for our employees to manage these situations in another way. To prevent long term effects and build resilience by re-training our response mechanisms.

Enter the Relaxation Response…

The Relaxation Response is designed to help people counteract the toxic effects of fight and flights. By slowing breathing rate, relaxing muscles, and reducing blood pressure — it’s the fight or flight antonym.

It’s your body’s ability to release chemicals and brain signals that make your muscles and organs slow down, increasing blood flow to the brain. It brings your body back to pre-stress levels by tapping into the wonderfully named parasympathetic nervous system.

With the biology lesson over, let’s get to the quick guide on how we can achieve a relaxation response:

Steps to a Relaxation Response

1. Sit quietly in a comfortable position. (ie. Not our meeting room chairs!)

2. Close your eyes. Chin in.

3. Focus on deeply relaxing all your muscles, beginning at your feet and progressing up to your face. Keep them relaxed. Fight the tension reflex.([Tip: Relax your tongue — and thoughts will stop!)

4. Breathe through your nose. You should become aware of your breathing. As you breathe out, say the word “one”* silently to yourself. For example, breathe in, and then out, and say “one”*, in and out, and repeat “one.” Your breathing shouldn’t be forced but relaxed and natural.

5. Continue for 10 minutes. When you finish, don’t immediately get up and throw yourself into emails. Sit quietly for several minutes, at first with your eyes closed and later with your eyes opened. But don’t fall asleep!!

6. Don’t worry about whether you’ve reached a deep level of relaxation. People have their own pace of relaxation. With more practice it’ll come easier. Don’t put stress on trying to be relaxed! When you feel yourself getting distracted with thoughts, try to ignore them, leave them to the side and return to your repetitive word, ‘one’*

*It doesn’t’ have to be ‘one’. You can choose any soothing, monosyballic, mellow sounding word, preferably with no meaning or association, in order to avoid those unnecessary thoughts creeping in. That rules out ‘job’ or ‘work’!

The best time to practice the Relaxation Response is first thing in the morning and practicing just once or twice daily can be enough to counteract the fight or flight response and bring about a pre-disposed level of deeper relaxation.

I’ll tell you a secret — only two of those steps are essential: a mental device (a simple word, phrase or activity to repeat to keep the mind from wandering) and a passive attitude. This means that any activity involving a repetitive mechanic such as running, chopping vegetables, gardening, knitting… can send us into a relaxed state.

Talking of knitting, after noticing the remarkable connection between regular knitting and longevity, extensive research was done on a number of old women who had been knitting regularly all their life and the results showed astonishingly low stress levels! So the proof is in the pudding — or jumper, or scarf in this case! Let’s get knitting!

Tia Castagno is Global Head of Innovation. Tune in to her ‘Time to Mind your Mind’ Facebook Live here.