Stress
IS A CHANGE "AS GOOD AS A HOLIDAY"?
When you look at the list of the most stressful events that can happen to each of us during our lives, we see things like; death of a loved one, change of job, moving house. As discussed in previous editions of "health - e - talk", stress can be the worst thing for our health. Now what is it about the most stressful events that creates "stress", and starts to erode our wellbeing?
First there is the immediate "distress" that comes along with a major life event: To lose a loved one is the most emotionally crippling thing that can happen to us, and it is actually vital that we "experience" the grief. A change of job whether self or employer imposed, carries a lot of mixed emotions - so much of our identity in our culture comes from our "work". Moving house is one that creeps up on you - seems benign enough, but usually is an enormous process.
The initial bodily stress of these events comes from the "fight/flight" response occuring in our nervous and hormonal systems: And its amazing how different bodies respond differently to stress hormones!
But what I want to talk about is another kind of stress - the stress of CHANGE: The bigger the change the bigger the stress! Now, can an outsider predict how much stress is going to come from a certain amount of change in your life? The obvious answer is NO.
So what does determine how much of a stress reaction will occur? Most of us have heard of "Pavlov's Dogs". Pavlov was an early psychologist who discovered an interesting party trick of teaching dogs to associate the ringing of a bell with the approaching joy of food. Pavlov could train the dogs to salivate and have all the metabolic processes of digestion begin by ringing a bell. This discovery lead early thought on the way that humans respond to what are called "stimuli". We are trained to respond to stimuli in predictable and measurable ways - Stimulus leads to response.
This should mean that each of us responds in predictable and measurable ways to a stressful "stimulus". But we already know that this is not true - so what happens in between the stimulus and the response that changes that response?
The answer is choice! Some are conscious and some are subconscious, but when we are confronted with a stressful event - a choice occurs somewhere within us that determines whether that event starts to poison us with negative stress, or becomes woven into the rich tapestry that forms our positive life journey.
So, what to do? When we find ourselves in high risk stressful situations we need to try to make the right choices consciously and positively. This will assist our body to respond in the most beneficial manner. Look for the positive aspects to the event of change: There may be none in the immediate situation, but start to look towards the future to see the enjoyable and rewarding potential. Sometimes we will need to reflect deeply to see our own experiences from the bigger picture.
"The cell is immortal. It is merely the fluid in which it floats that degenerates. Renew this fluid at proper intervals and give the cell nourishment upon which to feed and so far as we know, the pulsation of life may go on forever." (Words of a researcher after keeping a chicken heart alive for 28 years by simply changing the fluid in which it lived - it died when someone forgot to change the fluid.)
CHIROPRACTIC PHILOSOPHY:
"Poison destroys that which intelligent life has accomplished; changes physiological to pathological action." (DD Palmer - 1910)
When you look at the list of the most stressful events that can happen to each of us during our lives, we see things like; death of a loved one, change of job, moving house. As discussed in previous editions of "health - e - talk", stress can be the worst thing for our health. Now what is it about the most stressful events that creates "stress", and starts to erode our wellbeing?
First there is the immediate "distress" that comes along with a major life event: To lose a loved one is the most emotionally crippling thing that can happen to us, and it is actually vital that we "experience" the grief. A change of job whether self or employer imposed, carries a lot of mixed emotions - so much of our identity in our culture comes from our "work". Moving house is one that creeps up on you - seems benign enough, but usually is an enormous process.
The initial bodily stress of these events comes from the "fight/flight" response occuring in our nervous and hormonal systems: And its amazing how different bodies respond differently to stress hormones!
But what I want to talk about is another kind of stress - the stress of CHANGE: The bigger the change the bigger the stress! Now, can an outsider predict how much stress is going to come from a certain amount of change in your life? The obvious answer is NO.
So what does determine how much of a stress reaction will occur? Most of us have heard of "Pavlov's Dogs". Pavlov was an early psychologist who discovered an interesting party trick of teaching dogs to associate the ringing of a bell with the approaching joy of food. Pavlov could train the dogs to salivate and have all the metabolic processes of digestion begin by ringing a bell. This discovery lead early thought on the way that humans respond to what are called "stimuli". We are trained to respond to stimuli in predictable and measurable ways - Stimulus leads to response.
This should mean that each of us responds in predictable and measurable ways to a stressful "stimulus". But we already know that this is not true - so what happens in between the stimulus and the response that changes that response?
The answer is choice! Some are conscious and some are subconscious, but when we are confronted with a stressful event - a choice occurs somewhere within us that determines whether that event starts to poison us with negative stress, or becomes woven into the rich tapestry that forms our positive life journey.
So, what to do? When we find ourselves in high risk stressful situations we need to try to make the right choices consciously and positively. This will assist our body to respond in the most beneficial manner. Look for the positive aspects to the event of change: There may be none in the immediate situation, but start to look towards the future to see the enjoyable and rewarding potential. Sometimes we will need to reflect deeply to see our own experiences from the bigger picture.
"The cell is immortal. It is merely the fluid in which it floats that degenerates. Renew this fluid at proper intervals and give the cell nourishment upon which to feed and so far as we know, the pulsation of life may go on forever." (Words of a researcher after keeping a chicken heart alive for 28 years by simply changing the fluid in which it lived - it died when someone forgot to change the fluid.)
CHIROPRACTIC PHILOSOPHY:
"Poison destroys that which intelligent life has accomplished; changes physiological to pathological action." (DD Palmer - 1910)
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