‘I work better under pressure’. Who among us hasn’t said this and other expressions of how much stress helps us fulfilling our missions?
Stress is part of life. It is essential for dealing with challenges and responding promptly to sudden and dangerous situations. The body releases hormones, such as adrenaline and cortisol, which orchestrate a physical and mental response to increase available energy and focus.
However, prolonged stress keeps the body silently in emergency mode. Throughout the years, what would be biologically adaptive and positive can become our killer.
Physically, blood vessels, sugar metabolism, the immune system, and the normal levels of various hormones deteriorate. Over time, chronic conditions such as hypertension, high cholesterol and high blood sugar levels develop, which give rise to cardiovascular disease, obesity and diabetes. Increases vulnerability to inflammation and infections, the risk of cancer. Mentally, we lose our ability to focus, memory, learn and regulate our emotions – anxiety and depression take over our lives.
Chronic stress can be induced by unbalanced diets, alcohol, tobacco and/or other drugs, insufficient exercise and lifelong sleep deficit. In turn, a life of stress can induce quick satisfaction behaviours associated with cravings or even addictions. With our quality of life lost, we stop defending from threatening aggressions. How to recover this connection? Where to start again?
Yes, we can accept that we function better under pressure. But we have to make sure we know how to find a balance between both states – stress and relaxation. This balance depends on countless factors and dimensions of individual life. Paths that therapeutic yoga explores according to each individual profile. To transform this silent killer into the personal power of each of us!
Further Reading
Sapolsky, R. M. (2005). Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers. Henry Holt & Company: New York, USA.
