Let’s Talk About the Human Stress Response System
Are you like the cave people of olden days? Maybe you’ve been in a relationship with a caveman or woman… we’ve all been there. However, that’s not quite what I mean here. In the days of old, people relied heavily on their fight or flight stress hormones to survive dangerous encounters. With hungry sabre tooth tigers and woolly mammoths all around, it was wise to be on guard.
Actually, even in modern times, the hormones produced in your Endocrine System deserve daily medals, since they continually work hard to save your life, even if you don’t realize it. Remember that time you were driving along, not paying attention, and nearly ended up in the river or nearly drove off that cliff? Well, it was your highly effective stress response system that saved your life that day. And you didn’t even think to say thank you.
Get the picture? It’s in you and you need it, but lately we have become a little over-dependent on it. Give the poor thing a break. It’s tired. In fact, it’s worn out. Millions of people suffer daily from a condition called Adrenal Fatigue from overworking the stress response system all the time. It’s time to start making better decisions and use that noggin a little more and not just while driving. Stop relying on your hormones, so much, to save your butt.
Time to Push Back a Little When It Comes to Your Stress Response System
I’m not saying that the average person is a dummy, although there are two well-known book series on the market that think we are, not only, dummies, but if fact, complete idiots. I’m just saying that perhaps we’ve gotten a little lazy. We’ve been letting life push us around a little too much. When we let life push, it will always push hard but when we push back, just a little, the natural laws of physics kick in and then we don’t need our stress response quite so much.
You remember your high school physics don’t you? Remember inertia and mass and when the immovable force met the irresistible object. Of course, we all know that there is no such thing as an immovable force or an irresistible object in our universe. The point is that when we push on something, it will move, as opposed to our always being on the receiving end of the push. This applies to work, relationships, parenting and everything else. So, push back a little or even a lot and take back control of your health and your life.
When you push back in healthy and constructive ways, your body starts to make better stress hormones and brain chemicals, such as Dopamine, Oxytocin, BDNF and Nitric Oxide. With these soldiers in your camp, chronic stress doesn’t stand a chance.
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