Is Stress Your Problem
Is stress the problem or the inability to adapt to and recovery from stress the real problem?
The fight or flight stress response is meant to be a short term, mobilise every resource available, emergency survival strategy to get out of a life or death situation.
In the survival state of fight or flight the brain signals an increase in breathing and heart rates. The increased rates needed to deliver more oxygen rich blood to major muscles so you can either run away from the danger or defend yourself from it.
The brain will activate specific organs in the body to mobilise stored energy. This energy is important to be able to flee or fight off the attacker. This means that there is an increase in blood sugar levels and free cholesterol in the bloodstream.
The brain will also signal a shut down of the digestive tract and redirect blood supply away from digestion, as in that life or death emergency moment it is not important to be collecting the building blocks for future maintenance projects.
These are just 3 of 16 things that the brain activates or stops during the fight or flight survival response. The brain is expecting to be in this high energy emergency state for only a relatively short time, 30-40mins.
If the survival state remains active longer, whether stimulated by real or only perceived physical, chemical or emotional threats and this goes no day after day, for weeks, months or years on end, this will re-pattern the brain and nervous system towards survival and protection pathways. These pathways become dominant and efficient, taking less stress in the future for them to be activated.
Science has stated for more than 30yrs now that 95% of all chronic illnesses have stress as the primary contributing factor. The re-patterning of brain pathways to survival and protection means the consequences of stress linger, long after the stress may have ceased.
Measuring your brains’ state of survival vigilance and directing chiropractic care and lifestyle changes towards optimising brain function, addresses the cause behind the symptoms, illness or quality of life challenge that the low grade constant stresses in a modern lifestyle now appear to lead too. When therein is able to better adapt to stress and recovery from it then optional expression of health will be present.
