Face mask shortage. Toilet paper shortage. Shelter-in-place. Isolate. Schools closed. Work from home or be off work or be an essential worker and try not to get sick.
We have never experienced anything like this! Not even close!
We have all our usual stressors, like bills and family issues. Now, this huge stressor has been added on top. How do we cope?
TODAY, LET’S HIT STRESS FROM THE INSIDE.
First, some physiology. That’s means looking at what’s going on inside your body. There are two sets of nerves in your body with opposite functions. One is called the “sympathetic nervous system.” You have may know it as the “fight or flight” response. It’s also called the “stress pathway.” That’s the system that turns on when stressful events happen. Extra blood goes to the muscles and your heart beats faster in case you have to run really fast. In the past, when people were running from bears or fighting invaders, this was a good thing. Now, it’s activated when we worry about the Coronavirus, and it’s not so useful.
The good: This system saves your life when there is a car bearing down on you and you need to jump out of the way. It’s why you can run fast or fight hard if a bad guy is after you. It also helps you work hard and meet deadlines so you can pay the bills. It gets the job done.
The bad: In chronic stress situations, this system is turned on all the time. The liver puts extra sugar in the blood in case you need to run or fight. This is bad for diabetics and, in fact, can help cause diabetes. Your heart beats faster for no reason which makes it wear out. Blood is sent away from the stomach and intestines, so you have more digestion issues, constipation and irritable bowel syndrome.
The other set of nerves in your body is the “parasympathetic nervous system.” It is also called the “relaxation pathway” and has all the opposite functions and effects of the stress pathway. You will see them in the table below.
Our stress pathway is overloaded these days. We need to move our bodies into the relaxation pathway. How do we do this? One way is to work on it externally, like listening to relaxing music. The other way, which I will discuss here, is to work on it from the INSIDE.
| BODY PART | STRESS PATHWAY – sympathetic nervous system – “fight or flight” | RELAXATION PATHWAY – parasympathetic nervous system – “rest and digest” |
| 1. BRAIN | Thoughts are focused | Thoughts are relaxed |
| 2. EYES | Pupils dilate | Pupils constrict |
| 3. HEART | Heart rate increases | Heart rate decreases |
| 4. LUNGS | Airways open, Breaths are faster | Airways constrict Breathing slows |
| 5. STOMACH, INTESTINES | Stomach, intestines stop digesting | Stomach and intestines digest and push food through |
| 6. LIVER | Liver puts sugar in bloodstream | Liver secretes bile for digestion |
| 7. MUSCLES | Muscles get increased blood flow | Muscles relax and heal |
So what do you do about it? See # 1, 2, 4, 5, and 7 below for ways to work on each of these body parts to increase the relaxation pathway and decrease the stress pathway.
1. BRAIN: For a few minutes turn off your brain. You have a body and a mind. Worry is located in the mind. Right now, stop thinking. Bring your attention to physical sensations. Shut your eyes. Focus on your breathing. What does it feel like as the air goes in and out? What do you hear? What do you smell? What does the chair feel like underneath you? What do your feet feel? This is even more effective if you can do this outside in nature – listen to the birds and the creek, smell the flowers, feel the damp earth under your bare feet.
2. EYES: With your eyes shut, gently move your eyes up and down and to both sides. Then let them flit around moving quickly wherever they want to go. Staring is what your eyes do on the stress pathway. Bouncing around is what they do during REM sleep. Consciously think about relaxing your eyes.
4. LUNGS: Breathe in slowly, using your abdominal muscles instead of your chest muscles. Hold it a few seconds and breathe out slowly. Purse your lips so you have to push a bit to get the air out. This stimulates the vagus nerve which is one of the most important of the parasympathetic nerves. Push as much air out as you can to empty the lungs of all the stale air and then inhale deeply.
5. STOMACH & INTESTINES: Progressively relax each part of your body. You already relaxed your eyes. Now consciously relax your head and neck. Move your jaw gently up and down, back and forth. Relax your tongue. Relax your stomach and your abdominal area completely.
7. MUSCLES: Consciously relax your shoulders, arms, hands. Then your back, hips, legs, and feet. Some people find it helpful to first tense their muscles tightly for 20 seconds, and then relax them completely.
Also, get some exercise. The stress pathway sends extra blood, sugar and a hormone called cortisol to the muscles to prepare you to escape from your enemies. When you go for a run, it uses up all that extra sugar. Your heart exercises and gets stronger. Exercise during the day helps you to sleep better at night.
OTHER THINGS THAT HELP:
- Distract yourself from stressful things and spend time thinking about relaxing or fun things. When a worrisome thought invades your mind, just gently push it away and replace it with a relaxing thought.
- Watch a comedy.
- Tell jokes.
- Read a good book.
- Take a walk in nature.
- Watch the sunset.
- Listen to nice music.
- Write in a journal.
- Call a friend and tell them today’s conversation will only be fun things.
- When something good happens, consciously spend time thinking about it and feeling how good it makes you feel.
- If you are on the internet and see a heartwarming story or laugh at a toilet paper meme, think about it, enjoy it, share it.
- If the news or social media are adding to your stress, turn them off.
- Pray. Read your Bible. Churches across the country are having Facebook church or Youtube church. You could spend all day and never watch them all. I can be super stressed, but listening to my pastor bring God’s word into my living room has been one of my best stress-busters of all.
