The power of the mind is of extreme importance when dealing with high levels of stress. Instead of succumbing to the dire effects of stress, the mind can be conditioned to channel stress into a positive experience.
The general perception that stress negatively affects health, contributes to a higher mortality rate, due to our perceptions being perceived as reality. Changing your mindset in a challenging situation to view the stressful event as a positive experience, on the other hand, improves the body’s ability to recover from stressful and challenging events and situations. This shift in stress perception enhances the ability to thrive under pressure and in challenging situations, showing the true power of inner strength. Reappraising stress as a positive experience offers protection to cardiovascular and mental health, while enhancing cognitive abilities. Such improved stress resilience, to adapt to stressful situations, is within our reach.
Extensive research, backed by personal experience, has shown Richard Sutton (international health and performance educator and consultant, amongst others for tennis star Kevin Anderson and the Chinese Olympics team) that the way we perceive stress, as well as changing certain behaviors and practices, can help to buffer extreme stress:
- Viewing stressful events as a positive experience, instead of a bad experience, can boost the individual’s character and abilities, while promoting personal growth.
- Reaching out and connecting to others in times of crisis – their support and encouragement can help you cope with stressful events.
- Implementing daily relaxation practices such as yoga, meditation, breathing exercises, massage, swimming, and other forms of relaxation are valuable coping mechanisms.
- As part of a healthy lifestyle, diet becomes even more important during times of stress, as your body needs healthy foods and high-quality dietary supplements to assist in reducing inflammation and to provide more energy. Some foods are best avoided, such as preservatives, food additives, and artificial ingredients, as well as limiting the intake of alcohol and caffein.
- Charitable behavior acts as a buffer between stressful events and the onset of health problems, indicating that the more you give to others, the greater the degree of health protection during stressful periods.
- Genetics can play a role in some people being able to deal with stress better than others. Genetic variants of the oxytocin receptor gene affect the sensitivity to oxytocin uptake in the brain.
- Experiencing compassion with the suffering of others can trigger biological changes through activation of the parasympathetic system, such as lower cortisol levels, lower blood pressure and heart rate, as well as reduced inflammation markers in the blood stream. In this way compassion, caring and reaching out to others can buffer the adverse effects of stress on the body and speed up the recovery from stressful events.
“Engaging in pro-social behavior as well as the bonds that form as a result, may be the most effective way of buffering stress that we know of”, says Sutton.
The “tend and befriend response” vs the “fight or flight response”
In an emergency the body initially releases adrenalin and then cortisol to prime the body to deal with acute stressful situations. This is the so called “fight or flight response” When stressful situations become chronic in nature, continuously elevated levels of cortisol become harmful to physical and mental health.
Oxytocin is produced in the hypothalamus, which is viewed as the brain’s command center, and secreted into the bloodstream via the pituitary gland as a hormone. The two primary events that trigger the increased released of oxytocin as a hormone into the bloodstream are childbirth (where oxytocin stimulates the uterine muscles to contract) and breast feeding (where the suckling action of the infant triggers the release of oxytocin, which promotes the movement of milk into the breast and allowing it to be excreted by the nipple). The term oxytocin is derived from the Greek word meaning “swift birth”.
Oxytocin is also released at nerve terminals elsewhere in the brain as a neurotransmitter, in response to social interaction and stressors. Oxytocin appears to play a role in establishing and maintaining social bonds, both in adulthood and during formative periods of early life. Oxytocin inhibits fear responses in the amygdala, and this reduction in fear and anxiety promotes prosocial behaviour and interactions, such as social recognition, affiliation, bonding, and trust. It also has complex interactions with social reward circuitry in the brain.
Oxytocin is sometimes referred to as the “love hormone”, as amounts in the blood rises during romantic hugging and orgasm. People in the first stages of romantic attachment also show increased levels of oxytocin in the blood stream and these levels remain stable for a minimum of six months.
During stressful events, seeking interaction with others increases levels of oxytocin. The “tend and befriend response” is the exact opposite to the “fight or flight response”, as it increases oxytocin and reduces cortisol.
How successful athletes deal with stressful events:
Sutton found that professional, highly successful athletes have four well established habits that aid stress resilience, which help them cope with stressful events.
- They reframe in their minds the challenge posed by the stressful event into a positive experience.
- They reach out and connect to others in times of crisis, instead of the natural “introverted” response to deal with stress internally.
- They train themselves to turn off the body’s stress response after the stressful event. ( see Blog: Stress Series 3 – Stress relieving methods)
- After the stressful event, they return to healthy lifestyles and activities that promote good mental health.
No wonder that high-level athletes on average live longer (5-6 years) and are healthier than non-athletes. However, those involved in sports activities with intense physical contact and repeated bodily collisions do not share the same health advantages, resulting in a 11% shorter lifespan.
Other topics in the Stress Series include:
- The stress response
- Stress relieving methods
- Stress in the Workplace
- Early life stress
Sources:
The Stress Code. From surviving to thriving. Author: Richard Sutton. Published 2018, Pan Macmillan South Africa. P 318.
Tend and Befriend: Biobehavioral Bases of Affiliation Under Stress. Published 2006 by Shelley Taylor. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 15(6), 273–277. (www.taylorlab.psych.ucla.edu)
Modulating social behaviour with oxytocin: how does it work? What does it mean? Published 14 December 2011. Pub Med Central. National Center for Biotechnology Information. National Library of Medicine. U S National Institutes of Health. (www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)
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