Understanding Chronic Stress: An In-Depth Explanation

16:35

16:35

Understanding Chronic Stress: An In-Depth Explanation

by Holly Mcfee | The Yoga Solution

Type

talks

Activity

Meditation

Suitable for

Everyone

Plays

3

Chronic stress affects much more than how we feel. It changes the way your brain works, how your nervous system responds, and the way your body functions day after day. In this educational talk, you’ll learn what happens during the stress response, why modern life can keep us stuck in fight or flight, how chronic stress affects thinking, sleep, digestion and energy, and why activating the relaxation response is such an important skill. Expect to finish this session with a clear understanding of what’s happening inside your body and brain during challenging times, with practical ideas for beginning to restore balance. Please note: This content is for educational purposes and is not a replacement for professional medical or mental health care.

Stress Nervous System Relaxation Hormones Mindfulness Breathwork Self Care Nature Public Speaking Sympathetic Nervous System Hpa Axis Parasympathetic Nervous System Vagus Nerve Stimulation Stress Hormone Reduction Mindful Movement Breathwork Techniques

Meet your Teacher

Holly Mcfee | The Yoga Solution

Leeds, UK

Meet your Teacher

Holly Mcfee | The Yoga Solution

Leeds, UK

Transcript

Hi. You're probably here because the many, Many challenges of modern life are incredibly overwhelming. Maybe stress management techniques have been working here and there, But you've got to a point where you really want to understand what is going on in your brain and in your body. Well, Welcome. You're in the right place and I would absolutely love to help you understand. So I think that to understand what stress is, We need to imagine that we're going back to cave men and women times. I know that sounds ridiculous, I've been teaching this many years and I promise I have my reasons. But before we go into that, I just want to be really clear that this initial part of understanding stress can be quite doom and gloom, Like it can be quite depressing, Ironically quite overwhelming but I promise you that there is a light at the end of the tunnel. So we're going back thousands of years and imagining that rather than sitting wherever you are at the moment, That you are sat in your cave, You're having a nice chat and then a tiger walks past. So in that moment, What would you want to happen? Well, You would want your brain and your body to reprioritize all its resources, All of its systems to give you the best possible chance of staying alive. And the good news is that that is what happens. The first part of this survival mechanism is a neural response, The sympathetic nervous system. And when the sympathetic nervous system is active, Your heart rate increases to be able to send blood around the body quicker. Blood is diverted away from the digestive organs, The reproductive organs and the skin and into our skeletal muscles, The muscles of our legs, Arms and torso. Your blood pressure also increases again to get the blood moving around the body really quickly. Your breath rate increases to furnish this quick moving blood with fresh oxygen. Your liver starts to break down reserves into glucose, Sugars that our muscles can use and then speaking of the muscles, They are told to tense up. And to be alert, Prepared for action, To allow you to fight the tiger. Or to allow you to run away from the tiger to flight from the tiger and actually you might have already heard of this response as the fight or flight response and if the sympathetic nervous system is still firing after about 15 to 20 minutes ish The brain mounts an endocrine response, A hormonal response known as the HPA axis. Which results in cortisol being released into the bloodstream. Cortisol is often talked about as the stress hormone. It really helps us to stay aware, Like hyper aware of our surroundings, Our environment. It helps us to feel energized and it will push away something like sleep, Which would be a really bad idea if there was a tiger wandering around. So in and of itself, The sympathetic nervous system and the HPA axis aren't bad, Right? They're not like the baddies. But they start to become problematic when they are firing over long periods of time, I. E. When we are experiencing chronic stress. If you think about that list of things that we just went through, Heart rate increasing, Blood pressure increasing, Breath rate increasing, Using up energy reserves, Diverting blood flow away from digestion, Reproduction in the skin and into muscles, All of those things are absolutely fine in the short term, But in the long term, They can start to have a profound impact on the body and on the brain. And if we go back to cavemen and women times, If you have an encounter with a tiger, It's probably going to be over pretty quickly. Either you overcome the tiger, You manage to run away from the tiger, Or the tiger has overcome you, In which case, Well, Being stressed isn't a problem to you anymore. But the things that cause us stress, They tend to be things like what, Like the news, Getting another project at work, Financial concerns, Something going on with your friends or your family. Wishing that there was more time to do all of the things that you want to do. And these things, They don't have a clear end point. And so the stress response keeps firing and firing and firing. And that's what becomes chronic stress. This whole body impact of chronic stress, In my opinion, Makes it non-negotiable to understand stress, The stress response, And its counterpart, The relaxation response. I think knowing about the relaxation response and knowing how you can activate your own relaxation response is an absolute superpower. I think it gives you a whole world of options and opportunities. If somebody asks you to speak publicly about a topic that you're really passionate about, You can say yes. Because whilst it might be extremely challenging and you might be really nervous, You know you have the tools to get back to balance afterwards. It's quite amazing. We'll get into how to activate the relaxation response in a moment, But first there's three really important things that I need to tell you about chronic stress. The first is. Fight or flight and modern day stressors. The second is neurons that fire together, Wire together. And the third is why you can't think straight in times of stress and what happens to the rational brain. Okay. So first. . . Fight or flight and modern day stresses. So not only is it the case that most of our modern day stressors don't have a clear end point, The other quite concerning thing is that the fight or flight response isn't necessarily a fitting response for our modern day stressors. You know, If you've got a monster of a credit card bill, You probably can't deal with that by kicking someone from the credit card company, You know? If you're really stressed out about getting another project at work, Then running away from your line manager, Once again, That's not going to solve that problem. Second, Neurons that fire together, Wire together. That's a nice little phrase to explain that when something happens in the nervous system, The more it happens, The more likely it is to happen. And essentially what we're talking about there is new ways of thinking or replacing unhelpful with new, More helpful habits. It really takes a while. It takes a lot of effort so be kind to yourself and again we'll get back to this a little bit later on. And then third is why you can't think straight in times of stress, Like what happens to rational thinking? Remember that the stress response is a survival mechanism and so we don't want to even waste a millisecond of time before activating that survival response. So if you see a tiger, It makes sense that you react immediately. You don't want your rational brain getting involved, Slowing down the process, Like, Well, You know, Maybe this tiger doesn't like the taste of humans. Maybe it's already had breakfast and it's not hungry at the moment. You want to react straight away, Don't you? And that's what happens, And that's really good. So the part of the brain that deals with the threat detection is called the amygdala. And when the amygdala is in the driving seat, We're more likely to look at the world and to perceive things through these threat lenses. We're more likely to feel scared. We're more likely to feel anxious. We're more likely to feel fearful. And that's creating a bit of a vicious cycle because then you're more likely to react to things in a stressful way that you may not have reacted to before. Things that are neutral, Things that wouldn't normally stress you out. The rational part of the brain is called the prefrontal cortex. And like I say, In those times of stress, The prefrontal cortex goes offline. But we can get it back online. And knowing how to do that is that superpower. So let's summarise where we are so far. We know that the stress response is a survival mechanism. There's the sympathetic nervous system that kicks in first, And then after a little while, There's the HPA axis, Which results in cortisol being released into the bloodstream. All of this compounds to increase heart rate, Blood pressure, Rate, Use up energy reserves and divert the blood into muscles ready for us to fight or flight, Which means that it's diverted away from digestion, Immune function, Reproductive function and the skin. But remember. . . There is a relaxation response. This is the counterpart. Of the sympathetic nervous system called the parasympathetic nervous system. And when it's active, Cortisol stops being released into the bloodstream. The main nerve of the parasympathetic nervous system, Also known as the rest and digest response, Is the vagus nerve, Which you might already have heard of. When the parasympathetic nervous system is active. Blood flow back to the digestive system, The reproductive system, The skin and most of the immune function is restored. Heart rate, Breath rate and blood pressure can start to return back to your normal. Energy reserves can be filled up rather than depleted. And it's more possible to fall asleep. And to stay asleep. So how to activate it? Well. . . I know this sounds ridiculous, But it really helped me get my head around it. Essentially, Anything that you wouldn't do if a tiger was roaming around. If you do that, You are telling yourself you're safe. There's no threat to your survival at the moment. Things like softening your gaze or closing your eyes. Like sitting comfortably. Or lying down. Like paying attention to your breath. Or starting to lengthen your exhale breath. And yoga's amazing here because it brings together the thinking mind. That attention on the breath. And then movement of the body to stretch out those tense muscles from the survival response. In fact, Moving mindfully, It doesn't necessarily have to be slow or gentle movement, But moving mindfully will help to activate the relaxation response. A walk out in nature, Laughing, Crying, Self-massage, Anything that you wouldn't do if a tiger was roaming about. And I think that activating the parasympathetic nervous system, That relaxation response, Rest and digest response, Same thing, Different names. I think it's a two-pronged approach. Prong one is getting back to balance every day or as often as you can. Things like doing yoga, Doing breath work, Doing meditation, Massage, Baths, Walks, Anything that's calming. That makes you feel like you're getting back to balance. And so you can start to shift the baseline of where your nervous system spikes from. And the second prong is having a toolbox of what I call reactive strategies. So when something happens that's stressful, You know you can get back to balance. And this is really important and it addresses something that I think is misunderstood about stress a lot. Often when people think about reducing their stress levels, They immediately think about, Well, I need to get a new job or I need some help around the house or I need to get a loan out to ease my financial concerns. And so the stress triggers are out there and we can't do anything about our stress levels until those things are resolved. And that's not true. We can always have a toolbox. Now, I'm not saying you should put up with a ridiculously stressful job or you should be doing all of the housework and just get on with it. Having coping mechanisms doesn't then mean that you're a doormat, Right? So find a level. But if you know that you can meet challenging situations and still be okay, You can be calm in the midst of chaos. It's an absolute superpower. So whatever you enjoy doing to get back to balance, Whether it's meditation, Whether it's breath work, Whether it's yoga, Whether it's walking, Whether it's doing circuits or HIIT or whatever it is, Commit to that. And bring yourself back to balance after stressful moments. And then keep doing prong one to shift the baseline of your stress a little bit lower and a little bit lower but knowing that you have the capability to reduce your chronic stress load. And to meet stressful challenges. And be able to get back to balance is life-changing. It opens up a whole new world of options and opportunities. You can try new things. You can learn new skills. You can meet new people. You can go to new places and then still fall asleep easily that night without waiting for your system to calm down after that challenge. So build your toolbox. Work with me. Work with local yoga teachers. Explore all the resources here on Insight Timer. Find practices that work for you. Learn them inside out, Put them in your toolbox and use them as often as you need to whenever you feel yourself getting stressed. A knot in your stomach. Your heart rate increasing. Your brain thinking thoughts that are super quick and not kind of the same thoughts that you would be thinking if you were calm. I'm telling you, This is life-changing. It changed my life. I just wish someone had told me earlier. So I really hope that that has helped you understand chronic stress and how we can manage stress without having to leave our job, Our houses, Our families and pack up and go and live in an ashram. Please do get in touch if you have absolutely any questions. I'm so passionate about demystifying this. I'd love to help. I think everybody should know this. Thank you so, So much for watching. And take care.