Stress is an intrinsic part of life and some amount of stress is good for us as it keeps us energized to meet challenges, motivated to complete goals, helps us to take charge of our survival instinct during a crisis to attack/ fight and safeguard ourselves or flee from an overwhelming situation. 

Stress is like a warning bell telling us to flee or attack/freeze and gets the ‘fight and flight response’ rolling. As soon as the mind perceives stress it signals to the adrenal glands to start releasing chemicals like cortisol, adrenaline as a resource for response to the hazard being faced. 

This release of stress hormones leads to faster heartbeat, quickening of breath, rising of blood pressure, tightening of muscles, sharpening of senses and collection of energy from your other systems in turn leading to increased strength and stamina and focus to tackle the situation at hand. This works well in acute stress, where when the threatening situation ends and things get normal, our stress hormones don’t linger for a long time and don’t have a lasting effect. 

In today’s world the demands of work, coping with grief, competitive situations meeting deadlines, achieving goals, family life, rush hour traffic, the globe are the external factors and the internal factors caused by perceptions, thoughts and beliefs are creating constant stress for people that is leading to chronic stress. 

Since our mind doesn’t differentiate between physical and emotional triggers, the moment it perceives danger caused by emotional and behavioural stress it releases stress hormones depleting energy from other systems in the body to be all equipped to handle perceived danger.

The fight and flight activation is only leading to stress being manifested in the body through physical and emotional pain and behavioural issues. Now since stress is omnipresent, the regular release of stress hormones create an imbalance in the body causing low immunity that is leading to chronic fatigue autoimmune diseases and life-threatening diseases. 

It is imperative to live in awareness of our thoughts and take charge of our life and health. We can conquer these fears through self-awareness, wisdom, and understanding of our strengths in the face of adversity. It is also evident during a crisis, humans develop a new surge of energy and inner strength to focus on possibilities instead of the negatives. This helps them face any challenge and take an active part in the care and treatment of themselves and confront reality in order to pick themselves up again. 

Once you are able to take care of yourself by then go ahead and try to motivate others to de-stress and help them find their inner strength
and resilience to face the stressful times we live in.

Nilima Narang ( Executive and Life Coach / Counsellor)