By: Lindsey Hammond Teigland, PhD, LP
Licensed Psychologist
You watch your feet move as you step out of the elevator.
You feel almost out-of-body as you walk down the hall, push through a glass
door and into the conference room. The front of the room, equipped with a white
board and projection screen, is at your disposal for the presentation you’re
about to give. Doing a good job won’t change much. Doing a great job could earn you a promotion or attract other employers.
How do you feel? Warm and confident, endorphins ready to
carry you? Or do you feel cold and clammy with a sense of dread, like the situation
has already overtaken you? How you answer those questions might indicate how
you respond to stress, emotionally and physiologically.
Let’s back up. What is “stress” and what role does biology
play in it? Stress is essentially an uneasy situation that prompts an emotional
response and involves behavioral, biochemical and physiological changes. Stress
isn’t always a bad thing; a good balance of it can provide an energy boost that
can get you through an intense, finite period of time. Too much of it, however,
can weigh you down and lead to chronic health problems from insomnia to
obesity.
There are three major biological events when stress occurs.
The first is when epinephrine (also known as adrenaline) is released by the
adrenal glands, causing an increased blood and oxygen flow. This allows
oxygenated blood to reach the muscles and the brain. Then norepinephrine,
another hormone, is released from nerve endings in the sympathetic nervous
system (the “fight or flight” system), which constricts veins leading to the
heart. Finally, cortisol, a stress hormone, is released to mobilize energy in
cells and keep up energy for the duration of a stressful situation. We feel
these biological processes as physical symptoms such as agitation, increased
heart rate, and shakiness, or feeling “stressed.” Constantly having this stress
response system turned “on” is what depletes the body, inhibits normal
functioning and, in the long run, makes us sick.
Unfortunately, many Americans find themselves on the “too
much” end of the stress balancing act. A 2010 American Psychological
Association Survey found that more than 40 percent of adults surveyed reported
lying awake at night because of stress. So, how do we decrease the “bad” stress
and return to a more optimal level? Here are three tips from the psychological
research that can help you get back to equilibrium:
1.
Take
control of your thinking. How people respond to stress strongly depends on
how they perceive it. A large body of research shows that how we interpret our
own physiological responses to stress and what we do with that information is
vitally important. People who interpret stressors as a challenge instead of a
threat help their bodies keep the stress response system in check. Furthermore,
recent research in neuropsychology shows that our brains are wired for “neuroplasticity,”
a fancy word for change. With frequent practice reframing your anxious thoughts
to more positive and calming thoughts, your brain is actually capable of
changing your automatic response to anxiety provoking situations.
2.
Keep a
Gratitude Journal: Remember when Oprah made the gratitude journal so
popular? It turns out that the gratitude journal, and journaling in general,
isn’t just a gimmick. Research on happiness shows that people who spend time
daily reflecting on the positive things in their lives have increased feelings
of well-being. Furthermore, Dr. Jamie Pennebaker from the University of Texas
has done extensive research on the benefits of expressing oneself in writing
during stressful life events such as job loss, illness, and relationship
break-ups. In one study, they found that people who wrote about emotionally
challenging events experienced health benefits such as fewer visits to the
doctor over the course of a year.
3. Make Time for Friends and Family. Just
in case you needed more incentive to prioritize your social life, here it is.
Advances in neuroscience continue to support the idea that we are social
animals, that we are hardwired for empathy (as evidenced by the newly
discovered mirror neurons), and that our brains actually register less pain in
stressful situations when we are surrounded by social support. In addition,
people with strong social networks show increased resiliency, happiness, and
even cognitive capacity. Think working over happy hour will reduce your stress
tomorrow? Think again.
Of course, incorporating these tips into your daily life can
be easier said than done. If you’re suffering from overwhelming stress-related anxiety,
you may want to consider including counseling to help formulate and implement a
plan specific to your life and needs.
Sources:
American Psychological Association. Understanding chronic stress. http://www.apa.org/helpcenter/understanding-chronic-stress.aspx
Holsten, J. Neuroplasticity:
Changing our belief about change. http://www.dailygood.org/view.php?sid=221
Singer, T. (2012, March/April). The perfect amount of
stress. Psychology Today, 79-85.
Synder, C. R. & Lopez, S. J. (2007). Positive psychology: The scientific and practical
exploration of human strengths. Thousand Oaks, California: Sage.
