If you are like most of us, more than once you have asked yourself how to relieve stress from your life. Stress is a natural and important part of our bodily function. It is the result of the fight or flight response that is hard wired into us to protect us from physical threats.
That response, which gets us ready to do battle or run, does a number of things to make our bodies more efficient for the task. For starters the adrenal glands pump out adrenaline and cortisol to get our heart beating faster, our lungs breathing deeper, our blood vessels constricting to get more blood to muscles faster, and a whole litany of other functions to include the production of a blood clotter in case we are cut.
While it is ramping up some systems for the fight, it is also ramping down some systems that are deemed nonessential for the task. Those systems include digestion and immune systems.
Unfortunately, most of our stress today does not come from physical threats but from perceived threats, like trouble at work, financial problems or even just getting stuck in a long line. What that means is that our fight or flight response is stuck in the "on" position because our body still perceives a threat.
This obviously is not a good thing.
Long term exposure to the effects of the fight or flight response can create serious problems such as:
- Heart disease
- Depression
- Difficulty sleeping
- Digestive disorder
- Increased susceptibility to disease
- Increased anxiety
Exercise is the quickest way to burn off the hormones and turn off the switch even if it's only temporary. Aerobic or strength training both perform the task that the response was originally designed for. There are other obvious advantages of exercise including lowering blood pressure and reducing weight.
Relaxation techniques. Probably the most overlooked option by most people. Think back a moment to when you were a kid. As children, we developed natural relaxation techniques. Maybe it was a blanket or a teddy bear but when we had it, our breathing slowed and our anxiety level went down. Our brain was attuned to associate those items with safety and effectively turned "off" the switch.
Some adults are lucky enough to still have a teddy bear equivalent but for the rest of us we have to learn how to relax. Often times this involves forcing the brain into a relaxed state by altering ourselves physically. Deep breathing or yoga poses are examples of this. While we are performing physical tasks, what we are really trying to achieve is getting our brain to kick in with the idea that we are relaxed, safe and calm.
Stress is the physical manifestation of a mental state.
And that brings us to another approach which involves "entraining" the brain. You may have tried something similar to it, in fact it would be almost impossible not to have. Entraining the brain is a system that attempts to move the brain's existing mode to a desired mode. For example if you are anxious and you want to be calm, then you want the brain to switch and tell the body that it is calm.
We use music, or reading, or art or other stimuli that we find soothing to try to achieve that switch. Often times it will work, particularly if you've been using the same technique over a long period of time. The piece of music that calms you down becomes your teddy bear.
Entraining takes it to another level. The brain gives off measurable brain waves and they vary in length or frequency depending on the state it is in. Entraining involves introducing a beat or tone through the ears that will cause the brain to resonate at the desired frequency. Once the brain is at that frequency, the body responds to the brain.
This is a great way to reduce stress or induce sleep. It can however, be used to change the state of the brain into other desired frequencies associated with creativity, cognitive function, weight loss and a host of others
Lastly there are "Mother's Little Helpers" like Valium, Prozac and others. We won't address any of these here because we believe that drugs are an absolutely last option to any condition.
Stress can truly mess up your life. Take the time to develop an effective plan to manage it and you'll have a happier, healthier experience.
If you'd like to learn more about entraining your brain, and you have a set of stereo headphones, visit http://brainwavesymphony.blogspot.com, scroll down to the video, plug in your phones and crank up the sound. Try not to fall out of your chair. See if you don't agree that this is an excellent way to relieve stress naturally.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Rachel_Willson
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