Cope and Hope

Cope and Hope

30th Oct 2020

Stress – a word we use in our everyday vocabulary, a word engraved deeply into our existence. Why did it gain this popularity? To note, with an alarming increase in the disease burden caused due to stress, and peaks in the statistics (figures we don’t need to mention) over the past few decades, it would be an interesting journey to travel from how and why did we develop stress response? More importantly, why did the stress response survive through the Darwinian selection? Let’s look back from then to now.

Evolutionarily, the stress response was developed to protect us from different dangers of life, thereby, forming a basis of our surviving strategy. When we were faced with a life-threatening situation, our stress response was activated leading to immediate production of adrenaline and energy, making us more alert and active, and temporarily ceasing all time-consuming processes (like digestion, reproduction, and growth). This helped us combat the situation and give our best performance. Once the threat was over, the normal “rest and digest” was restored. Sounds like a quintessential strategy to survive. Efficient. Immediate. Temporary. Passes perfectly for Darwinian selection. This is what happens when we’re being chased by a lion.

Nevertheless, starting a stress response while being attacked by a lion, and keeping the stress levels high by constantly thinking that we can be attacked by a lion are two very different things. The first one saves our life; the latter, does the opposite.

What we developed as the best weapon to survive is gradually going against us.

“Often, our immediate reaction to a sudden crisis, help us save ourselves. Our response to gradual crises that creep up upon us, on the other hand, may be so adaptive as to ultimately lead to self-destruction”

Amish tripathi

However, the beauty of biology lies in its coping mechanisms when things go wrong.

A classical experiment was performed by psychologist Jay Weiss, to study the coping mechanisms adapted for stress. The results are undoubtedly fascinating. He set up an experiment where stress was induced to the rats, and the changes in stress levels were measured under different environmental conditions. Taken together, it was observed that stress is significantly reduced under three conditions.

Firstly, having different outlets of frustration is one of the best coping mechanisms. It does not help anyone to mute those hurricanes inside us, so just vent out that feeling inside that we all try to submerge. Secondly, a sense of predictability and control makes us better equipped to deal with stress and its effects on our health. Uncertainties are always difficult to deal with. We also experience situations when we feel a lot less stressed about things we have a control over, I guess a sense of comfort and familiarity is what makes us feel safe and less stressed. Lastly and undoubtedly, being in social contact with others has remarkable effects on our stress levels. Social isolation can make you go crazy, literally. It is important to keep that knit of family and friends close to your heart.

Although this experiment is not very famous among general public, and remained confined within the scientific community, its implications are far more important to every human being. Imagine subjecting our body to a similar response while being chased by a lion and while having cold feet before a presentation. Over the years, and over drastic changes in the lifestyle of every human being, we’re simply unaware of the changes that aren’t compatible with our physiology.

So once in a while take out time to retrospect the patterns that we form over time. Anhedonia, defined as the inability to feel pleasure in otherwise pleasurable activities is the first big sign to know that your stress levels are higher than usual and are affecting your health, both mental and physical. And when you notice your calm turning into a storm, just take a break to breathe. You’d be surprised to see how it changes your life.

“Breath is the bridge which connects life to consciousness, which unites your body to your thoughts. Whenever your mind becomes scattered, use your breath as the means to take hold of your mind again.”

Thich Nhat Hanh

Breathe in. Breathe out.

– Sanketa Raut

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