Fight, Flight and the unexpected curse of opposeable thumbs

The Good News: We have been evolving away from our primitive animal survival instincts for the past thousands of years.

The Bad News: We really have not traveled that far.  Our bodies respond to mental stress (getting cut-off in traffic, unexpected car repair bill, boss putting an unmanageable deadline over your head, family interaction, etc.) the same as it did thousands of years ago when a saber-toothed tiger attacked.
That response is, in a nutshell, adrenalin.  We are all familiar with the shock/jolt to the system adrenalin gives us; yet, many of us probably don’t know about the cascade effect.

When adrenalin superchargers your system--speeding your heart, adding strength to your movement, diminishing the effects of pain, narrowing your mental focus--there are a lot of other hormones dumped into the body’s bloodstream as well.

The Good News: Action/Movement uses this orchestra of hormones, so when the tiger attacks and the body is hit with high octane super-charging chemistry, we run; and the act of running starts the reversal of the effect. Many people reading this have heard of ‘runners high’--  Endorphins.  Guess what?! THEY are your reset program.

The Bad News: When you get cut off in traffic, have an unexpected bill or insane deadline, how often do you get a chance to run, climb, jump or otherwise set into motion the decoupling of adrenalin?

While you are answering that I have to give you more Bad News (I know I have been alternating them but sometimes It Is What It Is): the effect of stress, without release, is cumulative, meaning if you don’t find the Off switch the body stays in red alert a long time. So those “Danger Will Robinson!” chemicals are roaring through your body while you are buying bread, working at the computer or playing with your kids;  and if you should have several stressors in a day, you go from Red Alert to Super Red Alert without the downtime of a nice Amber.

And . . . sorry to say . . . there is more Bad News, but this one also leads to our upside.

Our bodies are adaptive. If we are in mild-to-high states of stress arousal a lot of the time, our bodies reset to a degree without the aid of Endorphins and this becomes the norm—the body assumes it is now to operate in medium- and high-stress modes and so it is constantly pumping out adrenalin.  Think that is good for you?

Okay, so here is the upside, and it’s a biggie. In fact it cleans the slate, and I know you know what is coming . . .

                                                              M O V E.

That means run if you are a runner, push weight if you are a strength trainer, stretch and focus if you are a yoga-body mind enthusiast, or if you aren’t any of these find your flavor.

Movement, focus, exertion, these are the elements (sans the science which is VERY interesting) to reset the body, by association the mind, and improve your life.

Questions?  I HOPE you have a few.

That’s what I’m here for.