Stress, science & Mindfulness
You are not alone, we all feel stressed. It is worrisome that stress is gradually becoming a way of life and we must STOP. It is important to realize that it is not OK to choose to live with stress. Stress has adverse effects not just on our health but also on our relationships, people around us and our overall satisfaction with life.
Prolonged stress has huge impact on our physical and psychological health making us susceptible to eating disorders, insomnia, menstrual issues, sexual dysfunction, cardiovascular diseases, hypertension, early aging, heart attacks and strokes, to name just a few. Before we start understanding how to take control, it is important to understand why we feel stressed.
There is no simple answer as there is multitude of reasons that causes stress. However, when I talk to my clients dealing with stress, we brush a little upon the science behind stress. While talking science may seem pointless, I have seen, understanding how our brain plays a role in us feeling stress is a good place to start.
The Amygdala
Amygdala is an almond shaped structure in the brain responsible for associating an experience with an emotional response. It helps you to quickly respond by choosing “fight or flight” when in danger, it coordinates with the other parts of brain to release hormones, preparing your body to stay and fight or run. Hormones released due to such stimulation cause emotions like anger, fear and anxiety and result in elevated blood pressure, increased heart rate, perspiration, shortness of breath and the like.
While in evolution, this response was crucial for our ancestors to survive the many predators and physical threats; the amygdala activation is stimulated for more of psychological threats among our generations. While physical threat could be something like a car accident for us, psychological ones could be fear of failing a subject, scoring low on a review, losing a job, losing a loved one or facing a breakup. Emotionally intense experiences such as these form strong memories and becomes triggers for stress response.
Over a period of time, our body learns to feel stressed each time a similar or combination of such psychological threats seem to appear, and our body prepares for the fight or flight response releasing stress hormones. This results in prolonged stress, especially, when triggers are likely to surface often.
It is NOT OK to choose to live with stress!
Luckily, our brain has what scientists call neuroplasticity. Neuroplasticity is a term that refers to the brain’s ability to change its structure and function in response to experience, allowing us to learn new skills, unlearn unhealthy habits, heal from injuries and so on. Many activities help in reducing the levels of stress we experience. It could be adding relaxing activities, creating a social net that provides us support in day-to-day life, or meditation and mindfulness practices recommended by many professionals to bring down stress.
Mindfulness practice
In fact, research shows that mindfulness practices induce neuroplasticity resulting in structural changes in brain that reduce stress and improve focus, memory and mood. While we may not have control on external environment, we can use mindfulness techniques to strengthen our neural network. Mindfulness practices show decreased activation of amygdala, reduced stress and anxiety, lengthened attention span, better emotional health and more. Studies show even a 30-minute practice a day goes a long way in stress reduction. We can choose what is best for us by picking one or combination of practices like sitting meditation, body scan meditation, or mindfulness walk/exercise/eating/shower. So, take control, start with mindfulness practice for at least 30 minutes a day, today.