The Science of Stress
Scientists have known for many decades that the brain has a system to
calm the body (the parasympathetic system) and a system to activate the
body or get it ready to deal with a specific stress or fear (the
sympathetic nervous system). The sympathetic system, when stimulated,
is responsible for the fight-or-flight response, a primitive state that
gets us ready to fight or flee when we are threatened or scared.
This
“hard-wired response” happens with overt physical threats (such as being
approached by a vicious dog) and also with more covert, internal,
emotional threats (such as a self-esteem injury or worry about the
future). The heart beats faster, muscles tense, hands sweat to cool the
body, breathing rate and blood pressure increase, the hands and feet
become cooler to shunt blood from the extremities to the big muscles (to
fight or run away), and the pupils dilate (to see better). This
response to stress is powerful and immediate.
Psychological trauma also inflames the emotional centers of the brain
and resets our bodies to a higher, more stressed level, causing a
constant outflow of the fight-or-flight response.
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