Stress
Stress is a word
used frequently today, understood little and a lot of research exists to investigate
it. There are different types of stress. Broadly speaking there are two types:
immediate and chronic.
Immediate type stress involves our involuntary sympathetic nervous system
and adrenaline. It can be a response to normal demands from our environment,
or it could function in any ‘fight or flight’ situation where
we perceive our life as being threatened; we either overcome it or escape
from it. Either way we stay alive. This is effective in the short term, but
a maintained adrenaline response would exhaust and even kill us
This
type of stress can be seen as the upward line of the graph (PJ Nixon - Charing
Cross Hospital, London). It occurs when a challenge arises, or is presented
to us, in our life and we are able to respond accordingly to match it. In a
perfect world it should flatten out (as the ‘intended’ line), as
our capacity to respond matches the demand (arousal) put upon us. Sadly the
reality is different, as demand frequently exceeds our capabilities. Now chronic
stress sets in.
Chronic stress is that form of stress from which we cannot escape, e.g. worries
about work, relationships, money etc. From this we can see that stress is usually
seen in terms of the external factor causing the stress, but this is not actually
so. Stress is really an expression of our bodily response to an ongoing situation,
i.e. it is an expression of our relationship with the external factor and what
that does to us. The hormone of chronic stress is cortisol.
Cortisol suppresses the body’s stress reaction. It is actually trying
to be protective; it acts as an anti-inflammatory and is used as such by orthodox
medicine. However, it puts all repair processes on hold, including the immune
system; so even if you do benefit from steroid (cortisol-like drugs) therapy,
afterwards you still have to heal, i.e. return to homoeostasis (homeostasis
– see ‘What is Good Health?)
Many people have ongoing stress reactions to their environment on an everyday
basis, and most probably don’t even know they are experiencing stress;
all they do know is that they have symptoms they don’t like. Their bodies
are dynamic, searching for equilibrium and doing their best at any point in
time.
Member of
the Osteopathic Council of Ireland