Stress occurs when a biological message is sent from your brain to your body telling it to fight or flee. Because the body understands that it needs to prepare for one of these options, a lot of things begin to happen automatically. The brain communicates with the adrenal glands telling them to rush adrenaline and noradrenaline (hormones) directly to the muscles in preparation for responding to an immediate fear or threat.
It is the job of the brain to protect the body. It accomplishes this by telling the noradrenaline to redirect blood flow from lower priority areas of your body, such as the skin or abdomen, to the muscles to give you an energy surge. At the same time, the brain is instructing the adrenaline to speed up your breathing to take in more oxygen to feed the work being done on the muscles with the noradrenaline.
The problem occurs when you are in a state of indecision about how to react to the situation. While struggling between which decision to make, these two hormones are in a state of frenzy waiting on the decision of whether to fight or run away. When this condition persists, these two hormones continue to fight against each other and most likely will cause you to become sick and can result in vomiting, nervousness, panic attacks or even passing out.
Historically, this reaction in the body was absolutely necessary for our survival. Our ancestors hunted in the wild and came face to face with danger every day. The process is very efficient and works well. Of course these days we are not faced with the natural dangers of thousands of years ago but the chemical processes in our body has not changed much with the times.
Although we are no longer running from rival tribes or chasing dinner, our body doesn’t realize that fact. It interprets frustrations and demands from employers, traffic and other modern day stressors as being as much a threat as the tiger that might have been chasing your early relatives.
The end result of this amazing system is stress. Because our responses are different than in primitive times because the stressors are much different, we are left with the challenge of finding ways to manage our stress effectively.
While there are many stress management techniques available today, finding the right solution in a particular situation can be a challenge. It is important to search for the best option depending on current needs. Options can be reviewed by researching the internet, browsing through books at the local library or by contacting your health care provider.
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