From Amanda's very early writing (1990s to early 2000s), shared as it was originally written.
stress and psycho adrenalin
I had the great fortune to meet and hear Kieran Perkins speak last week - it's one of the perks of my job! It was fascinating to hear about his experiences in Atlanta - not to mention the rest of his life!
He made a comment that stuck in my mind. In the three hours before his gold winning performance he sat alone and prepared himself mentally for the task ahead. Recognizing that he was anxious and knowing the effect 'psycho adrenalin' would have on him, he was determined to regain his mental control - focus and positive mental attitude. Which obviously he did - in a stunning, gold medal way!
It was the first time I had heard the word 'psycho adrenalin'. He knew that if he let himself stay fearful , that state of mind would keep his system full of stress chemicals ('psycho adrenalin') which would exhaust him before he'd even reached the starting blocks.
How many times do you feel exhausted and you haven't really done anything physical to cause that exhaustion? Or you feel drained of all energy and vitality? I think it might be the old 'psycho adrenalin' folks! In fact I know it's the stress chemicals.
And just when you thought it was safe to feel stressed.....American researchers are changing our thinking. It appears that a stressful experience does not just initiate a burst of chemicals which then fade away. It seems to change us - to actually alter the way our bodies and brains function.
In an excellent article on stress in the January 1996 edition of Psychology Today , psychologist Robert Epstein PhD was quoted as saying " You need a little black bag of tricks you can pull out very easily, without anybody noticing, throughout the day. Because if you wait until you're feeling stress to take action, then it's already too late. But if you take a proactive stance, you can raise your threshold of stress tolerance".
We have known for a long time that prolonged stress destroys our immune system and plays havoc with most of our body systems (especially the gut, lungs, adrenal glands and heart) ; that it damages our blood cells and, precipitates strokes; affects our memory and moods (by altering brain chemicals like serotonin); and that it is a precursor to rheumatoid arthritis.. Other than those effects, stress isn't too bad!
In other words, we can fool our minds but we can't fool our bodies. Our bodies react physiologically (big phrase meaning releases stress hormones!) to stress even if our mind says 'we're OK'! Of course, it helps to be realistic in response to a situation - rather than reacting with panic and mentally screaming 'OH NO'! Which immediately sends the body into 'red alert' mode. But denying how we feel doesn't work either - our body is too smart.
But wait , there's more folks. It now seems that our body becomes sensitised to stress, so that while our mind thinks everything is cool, our body thinks the 'end is nigh'. Michael Meaney Ph D of McGill University suggests we find ourselves in a mildly stressful situation, recognize it mentally as mild stress, and despite that, our body goes berserk. In other words we are responding totally inappropriately. And our actual brain circuits change. Oh, oh.
Even anticipating a stressful situation , regardless of whether it turns out that way, sends a stress sensitised body into a frenzy and pumps it full of body destroying stress chemicals. It also appears that childhood stress has an impact on our future reactivity to stressors. Double 'Oh oh'.
If all this is true, (and it seems to be validated by loads of University professors researching in the area of stress), then we need to make some changes very fast.
What can we do? I think Dr Epstein has the answer - for now anyway. Intersperse your day with a number of unobtrusive 'stress busters'(TM) before you feel stressed.
The following are some discrete stress busters you may choose to practice. They might seem too simple and easy to be effective, but they are great ways to actually change your physiological makeup (big words meaning neutralise the stress chemicals).
Take two deep breaths (filling up the base of your lungs - not just heaving your shoulders up high) every time you look at the phone or just before you answer it;
or focus completely on the task at hand and eliminate self talk (you know, the trillion words passing through your mind every minute that are telling you that you are hopeless or helpless or useless etc);
or stop and stare out the window and think of nothing for 2 minutes every two hours (set your watch);
or close your eyes and cover them with your palms for one whole minute every hour (extraordinarily relaxing);
or stand up and stretch every joint in your body every hour;
or when things happen to which you would normally respond with a huge internal 'OH NO' , catch yourself and instead say 'oh, that's interesting!'. Sounds stupid but really works!
or make sure you have some sort of lunch break and go outside - even if it's only for ten minutes;
or re live a funny or pleasant experience;
or find a favorite fun song like "The Life of Brian" (you know the one from Monty Python that says 'always look on the bright side of life'? ) and sing it to yourself every couple of hours;
or whistle as you walk from office to office or meeting to meeting (makes people wonder what's happening in your life and why you're so chirpy!).
These are just a few of the millions of effective little stress busters I have folks! Stay tuned and we'll look at some other strategies that bust stress and boost energy and stop that nasty sensitisation process .
