WHAT
How our body reacts to a source of stress within short, average and long term?
WHY
I have just seen a small report on arte-tv1 which speaks about the answer (urgent and unconscious) of the body to a rough stress. We see in particular a climbing accident, a beam to be crossed over the space, a musician who feels nervous before rising on stage … This last case has this of interesting: the musician was coached to deal with her stage fright (nerves), and one of the things which calmed her is the fact of having the explanation of the mechanisms of this stage fright.
HOW
The idea is to make contribute all the parts of the body by allocating all energy on the resources assigned to what allows us to run fast (muscles, lungs, heart, …), the whole with a good dose of adrenalin and of cortisol to be concentrated well, not have pain too much, and to be combative! Then, to “hold” that state, he sets in sleep mode what is not vital at the time (digestion, microbial immunity …).
At the time it is a very good reaction … but you should not confuse stress and chronic stress. Our body is not made to go the distance if this excitement continues: we run out and abime our organs. Physiological effects are made more and more visible, as for example:
► Muscular tensions with pains and associated fatigue
► hair loss
► Digestive disorders (burns, stomach pain, constipation …)
► Blood test showing more sugars or cholesterol
► Immunizing weakening
► Taking or loss of weight
► Cardiac disorders (palpitations, even cardiovascular risk)
► Anxiety, unstable humor, insomnias, depression
WHAT CAN BE DONE WITH IT
In brief, the stress that can be life-saving but don’t make an excessive use of it: on a daily basis, it is better to practise some methods of relaxation !
Look further / Usefull link(s)
♦ Book « l’intelligence du stress » from Jacques Fradin
Notes
1■ Xenius « Quand le corps se met en mode d’urgence » played on arte (march 2017)