The Stress Response
Internally, our bodies are constantly changing and adjusting to maintain a state of balance. This internal state of balance is called homeostasis. The ability to adapt internally is needed to sustain life.
The Autonomic Nervous System (ANS) is a primary factor in maintaining and restoring homeostasis. The ANS is automatic or involuntary. The control centers for the ANS are in the brain. Impulses are carried from the brain throughout the body by two different systems: The Sympathetic Nervous System (SNS) and the Parasympathetic Nervous System (PNS).
Both of these systems affect the same organs and tissues, they just impact them differently. They typically, but not always, work in opposition to one another.
The Parasympathetic Nervous System (PNS)
The PNS is meant to restore, rejuvenate, heal and conserve energy. The PNS quiets the body. Physiologically, things are slowed down and the body, even at a cellular level, is allowed to recover and heal.
The Sympathetic Nervous System (SNS)
The SNS is our protector. It reacts in response to a threat or stress. It initiates our “fight or flight reaction” or the stress response. The SNS is meant to keep us safe from harm. When the SNS is activated, the body reacts with a massive discharge of energy to accomplish a common purpose: to protect itself. This allows the body to act above and beyond the normal everyday function.
Stress
In physics, stress is the force, strain, or pressure on a system. Hans Selye, an endocrinologist and pioneer in the field of stress research, defined stress as the non-specific response of the body to any demand. Stress calls for a response in the body.
We all need a certain amount of stress in our lives. Selye refers to good stress as eustress.
Real verses Symbolic Stress
Real stress refers to a life threatening event that triggers a response. Examples would be your reaction to a car driving towards you at high speed or spotting a mountain lion when out for a run.
Symbolic stress refers to the stressor that triggers the same response in the body but is not life threatening, although at the moment it may feel like it. Examples are living in chronic pain or with illness, worry over job, finances, relationship, and/or family.
The brain cannot differentiate between real and symbolic stressors.
The Stress Response
The brain sees stress (real or symbolic) and that triggers a reaction throughout the body. The reaction is the stress response. The same reaction occurs whether the stress is a lion about to attack, a car about to hit you, (both real), or, the stress from chronic pain or illness, having worry over finances, relationships, work or family, (symbolic).
The degrees or level of reaction certainly can vary, but the physiologic changes that occur when the SNS is aroused are the same.
Physiologic changes of the stress response include:
- 1. Heart rate and strength of contraction increases.
- 2. Respirations become rapid and shallow, setting off a series of chemical changes in the body.
- 3. There is a change in the vascular (blood vessel) system throughout the body. Some vessels open and blood floods into tissues and organs needed for action (skeletal muscles, heart and lungs). Other blood vessels that feed non-vital areas constrict or get smaller. Skin, digestion, kidney and liver function are affected.
- 4. Blood sugar levels increase to supply the body with more energy to meet increased demands.
- 5. Stress hormones produced in the adrenal glands help to heighten alertness. These stress chemicals keep the SNS activated.
When the SNS is activated for a period of time and the stress is not removed, this self-perpetuating cycle will continue. A constantly aroused SNS can lead to anxiety, illness, and disease.
Symbolic stress is often not as easily resolved or removed as real stress.
One of the primary goals of biofeedback therapy is to learn techniques to self regulate the body’s autonomic nervous system. Imagine learning ways to turn down the stress response in your body, to change your reaction to a stressor. Imagine being able to call upon the parasympathetic nervous system to help you calm down and restore a sense of well being. Biofeedback therapy is one very effective way of doing this.
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