STRESS

Part 2 of a series of 5

Much of our stress comes from threats, real or imagined, to our social status and not to our lives. However the fight or flight reaction can also kick in when there is no life threatening situation facing us. Anything that threatens our sense of well-being can trigger it to some degree and even something really small can be enough to cause a sense of threat. When our ego, social status, our strongly held beliefs, our desire to control things or even to have things in a specific way is threatened, the sympathetic nervous system is triggered which catapults us into a state of hyperarousal, even fight or flight whether we like it or not.

When hyperarousal becomes a permanent way of life, people become tense and anxious. This leads them to suffer from chronic muscle tension in many areas of the body such as the shoulders, upper arms and right down into the hands. Other areas of the body that can also be affected are the jaw, face, forehead and even the whole sculp. Some people carry this tension between their shoulder blades or upper back which usually goes down to the lower back, hips, legs and feet. Muscles of the inner organs can also suffer from this tension. The heart rate is also elevated into a state of chronic hyperarousal. These are common responses to every day stressful circumstances and not only to life-threatening situations. This happens automatically due to perceived threat or danger because the fight-flight reaction is part of our nature even if we do not have to fight wild animals in our current day and age. The effects of these reactions on the body have major unhealthy consequences on our psychological, social and physical wellbeing if we lose control. Therefore it is important that we strive to be aware of this inner tendency and how easily it can be triggered.

Sometimes human beings have a buildup of fight/flight reactions within their body’s due to them still having all the body reactions one gets in these varying fight/flight modes such as the releasing of stress hormones, neurotransmitters, increased blood pressure, muscle tension, which includes feelings of hurt, fear, anger, resentment and threatened, despite it being socially unacceptable to start a fight/flight reaction e.g.in a meeting the boss says you did not perform well, denies to pay any business travel costs leaving you having to cover the travelling costs, can also be some of the triggers of these flight/fight reactions.

Within social situations we deal with these varying flight/fight reactions by suppressing our feelings as best as we can. We attempt to build a high wall around these feelings pretending that we are not triggered and we don’t have any problems. We dissimulate, hiding our feelings from others and sometimes even from ourselves.

Relating to my own experience of many years of marriage, I suppressed my feelings and just kept quiet. This was the worst thing I could have done to myself; it was even unhealthy keeping my thoughts and feelings hidden from my partner. After many years of swallowing and hiding these feelings, it caused huge muscle problems within my whole body. We as human beings have conditioned ourselves to put these aroused emotions and feelings deep inside ourselves. Speaking for myself, I can say that if I had not been such an active person, working with my body all the time, I would have been terribly ill after all these years. It was this active lifestyle to some extent, which helped me contain the stress level on my body over many years. However after 40 years it did not work anymore and I started spilling out the truth.

Most people inhibit the outward signs of the stress reaction and carry on as usual for far too long, preferring to take the easy way out by holding it all inside. This is a very unhealthy habit that human beings condition themselves into and usually only realize it when there is some sort of huge breakdown, in some cases it could end up being a little too late.

Internalising the stress reaction does not allow you to peak which is necessary for physical release and recovery afterwards. You carry the aroused stress hormones around inside you which also have an effect on your agitated thoughts and feelings. Internalizing your feelings and holding on to that stress will result in it becoming a lifestyle causing unbelievable tension. This in turn will result in a lot of health problems because of our sympathetic nervous system. This can lead to long-term physiological dysregulations, resulting in problems such as increased blood pressure, cardiac arrhythmias, digestive problems, chronic headaches, backaches, and sleep disorders.

The diagram below illustrates the process of somatisation.

Many people cope with stress which in itself is destructive, it is known as “maladaptive coping”. It is unhealthy causing more stress, although it does help us to tolerate stress and give us some sense of control. In the long term it will end up compounding the stress that we experience.

In part three we will look at more reactionary stresses, including maladaptive stategies, and what happens when we get stuck in that stress or it becomes a lifestyle.

You can read Part 1 of this STRESS Series — ‘What happens when we get stuck in stress?’ here.

Resources:

Dr. Jutta Lenz is a Doctor of Philosophy, has a Masters Degree in Psychology and she also specialises in Sports Science, Educational Science, Business and health coaching and teaching yoga. She is a management consultant, facilitator, business and health coach in companies national and international in the US, Norway, Germany, Austria and Switzerland. She also spends time working with the governments of Germany and Austria. Jutta is a change management facilitator for individuals and organizations while they are going through a time of transformation to deal with life crises and conflicts. She offers participative coaching and counselling as well as health coaching that includes stress management, burnout, lifestyle and nutrition.

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