Most articles written about stress describe situations or occurrences that can, and often do lead to stress but are not necessarily stressful in themselves. Take the ‘final examination’, ‘the stage performance’ or ‘the critical sporting match’. Each of these is a major challenge. Each is a situation where the participant has to bring their best attributes and skills and apply them until the end of the challenge. Each of these examples could be a major occasion of stress but need not be. They all involve the participant using their AMYGDALA – the region of their brain under the Hypothalamus that contributes to emotional processing – but with appropriate breathing and relaxation techniques (and preparation), the challenging experience can be, exciting, exhilarating and both mentally and physically rewarding. Sometimes this emotional experience is referred to as Eustress or ‘positive stress‘.
Negative Stress, by comparison, is the name given to internal or external ‘pressures’ that cause you to have sustained increased heart rate, a rise in blood pressure, muscular tension and irritability and/or depression. Negative stress can seriously impact your health because as well as affecting your heart, it often also inhibits your immune system and can make you much more susceptible to contracting infectious diseases. Continued stress can also increase your risk of all cancers through its suppression of the immune system.
Some years ago when I was Director of a Genetics Department in a Hospital, I was invited to join a Kung Foo class. I thought the idea was appealing but at the start, much to my surprise I found it nigh on impossible to throw a punch. I would start out ready to punch but found that I could not follow through! My calm and encouraging instructor (a doctor) eventually managed to get me to follow through by getting me to hit something he was holding.
I couldn’t believe how wonderful I felt after throwing just one punch! The effect on me was extraordinary. I had the most amazing release of tension that I had no idea I was holding – I described it as ‘orgasmic’. In any case, I decided to suggest this ‘therapy’ to several business women I had been counselling for infertility despite their having no obvious reasons for their problems.
Within a few weeks each of the women who took up martial arts was pregnant! This was a surprising and delightful result.
I doubt that martial arts will resolve everyone’s stress-related issues (or fertility problems) and in my talks I give many other ideas for reducing stress. Nevertheless, the key point remains that much of our ‘self-destructive’ stress is caused by the very physiological systems that have evolved to keep us safe from predators and other external threats. So, in order to avoid stress-related illnesses, we need to work with our bodies – through food and behaviour – to keep our stress hormones in balance.
I have produced a small booklet ‘The Don’t Stess Handbook’ that can be purchased for a few dollars on Amazon – but if you would like me to come and speak to your business or group about Minimizing and Managing Stress, just contact me through my website ‘drjudyford.com’, Linked In or email me directly.