Mapping Stress

Stress can mean different things to different people and each of us may have a different response to any given stimulus based on many factors. We know stress is personal and subjective and is one of the greatest influences over our health and well being. (A stressful situation — whether something environmental such as difficulties at work, or psychological, such as persistent worry about a loved one — can trigger a cascade of stress hormones that produces physiological changes.) We also know that there are tools that help us change our perception and reaction to stressful stimuli which then offers us more potential to shift any harmful impacts.

This combination of reactions to stress is known as the “fight-or-flight” response because it evolved as a survival mechanism, enabling people to react quickly to life-threatening situations. The sequence of hormonal changes and physiological responses helps someone to fight the threat or flee to safety. This is a fantastic function of our nervous systems and certainly has times where it is needed. But as we know, the body can also react to stressors that are not life threatening (such as traffic jams, work pressure, and family difficulties). Our stress response these days is being activated in different ways than it was long ago and this is where it gets tricky.

Over the years, researchers have learned not only how and why these stress responses occur, but have also gained insight into the long-term effects stress has on physical and psychological health. Over time, repeated activation of the stress response takes a toll on the body. Research suggests that prolonged stress contributes to high blood pressure, chronic illness, inflammation, heart disease, obesity, early onset aging, dementia and also contributes to anxiety, depression, and addiction. And these are just naming a few. We are continually realizing the ramifications of habitual or prolonged stress on our health. (And the key element to take note of here is the habitual and prolonged stress aspect.)

To understand stress we need to realize our brain/body complex has evolved through time to meet our ever-changing environments and what ‘survival’ has meant.
Our neural circuitry in the brain is designed to create ‘habits’ to make it easier for each of us to perform tasks without thinking. Each time you repeat a habit, whether a task, a perception, a thought, behavior or emotion, it becomes more ingrained and unconscious. The same is true of the habit of stress.

Our stress and threat reactivity is partially shaped by our personal genetics and experiences but also by evolutionary biology. Believe it or not, our propensity to look for the ‘negative’ is a human trait we carry over from our early ancestors. The brain keeps us closely tuned in to what is ‘bad’ or potentially harmful in our lives to ensure our survival.
The brain is a critical hub on every level in our quest to survive. Without you realizing it, in the course of just one breath cycle, a quadrillion-plus messages and signals will cross your brain in roughly a tenth of a second. All our thinking, emotions, desires, bodily functions are courtesy of close to a trillion brain cells as they fire in our brains sending messages to other neurons. Basically the brain is a connection machine constantly moving information around.

Research is beginning to show us that a lot of this brain activity has been dedicated in service to negative thoughts rather than positive. The reason for this can be found in our ancestry and the need to survive. We needed our brains to constantly scan our surroundings for possible threats and if you weren’t diligent, you might not survive.

Technology has allowed us to actually see the functions of different parts of the brain and the roles they play. The amygdala (our alarm center) has two thirds of its cells dedicated to processing negative or potentially negative information. This part of the brain dates back to our reptilian predecessors and is often called the ‘lizard brain’. It differs from the prefrontal cortex that helps us stop, think and evaluate situations. The prefrontal cortex takes its time to evaluate data and make decisions. The amygdala scans moment to moment and makes fast snap judgments based on what is perceived as a threat. It has been ‘hardwired’ to focus on the negative and quickly react.
Basically our brains categorize memories we have experienced as bad, threatening or unsafe and the amygdala stores them to be retrieved the next time a similar situation arises. This is a mechanism for keeping us safe.

Every day we are faced with trying to balance our brains’ deeply ingrained evolutionary tendency to survive and see ‘threats’. This primal reaction is then intensified by our own unique life experiences and the increased frequency of perceived threats. Thousands of years ago a ‘threat’ was a wild animal or finding food daily when you had to forge for it. And while our modern times still have threats to our basic physical survival, we have also developed stress responses to everyday thoughts and emotions when it comes to jobs, social dynamics or relationships. In our daily lives, some of us find our stress response being activated continuously throughout the day and we are less able to regulate and relax. And to top it all off, our biology does not differentiate between a physical threat and a thought or an imagined threat.

This amazing stress response and biological system is so effective and serves to keep us safe. And it is essential that we learn to adjust and adapt the information we are sending to it so it can best support us and not constantly activate or charge into overdrive. We do this by engaging our awareness and bringing light to some of our unconscious habits, thoughts and emotions we have. And ur prefrontal cortex is a great ally for doing this.

The Potential

We know that we have this amazing biology that has evolved over thousands of years. Our stress response is a part of our design and took shape due to very real needs for survival. And we know our brain and biology is ever evolving over time to adapt to our environment and needs. There is incredible research speaking to these adaptations and specifically to how our brain has grown and made significant changes. For the purpose of our focus here, I am going to bring attention to the part of the brain known as the the prefrontal cortex or PFC.

The PFC is an area of the frontal lobe which is one of the lobes that makes up our cerebral cortex. (The cerebral cortex is the outer layer of the brain and is amazingly responsible for higher level processes such as thought, language, reasoning, memory and more.) The PFC is an area at the very front of the frontal lobe and is responsible for ‘higher cognitive function’ such as decision making, emotional regulation, imagination, self control and problem solving. The PFC has been shown to be activated when an experience becomes ‘conscious’ and that ideas and perceptions intertwine in this area and help to create conscious experience.

The PFC, like many aspects of our human biology, is very complex. The overview above is basic but I share it to highlight the important elements about this amazing area of the brain. And the exciting piece for me is that studies have shown that the PFC has increased in size over time (along with the overall size of the brain). What this tells me is that yes, we have these much older areas (like the amygdala and aspects of our stress response) and a brain that is wired for survival (as we discussed above) BUT, the PFC has been developing and growing to support our evolution towards making different choices, discernment, conscious regulation, using our imagination to support a balanced stress response and so much more. We have the wisdom and information to engage and develop our PFC more and more to redesign our stress response, our thoughts, our emotions, our perceptions and beyond.

Our stress response is there to support us but first we have to develop our tools and practice our skills to retrain it to function more sustainably for our daily lives. AND the great news is that our brains and bodies are designed for change. They are set up for us to engage them and train them in ways that are more and more supportive for us.

Sound Body Wisdom supports this change and engagement with proven tools and skills by helping you develop a practice to consciously interact with your PFC. You learn to relieve stress and improve overall health by understanding your habits when it comes to thoughts and emotions. You will discover the power of the many available tools and skills to interact in a balanced way with your mind body complex and have more resources for making the changes you want for yourself.