External Barriers to Change – Stress Part 2

Let’s start at the beginning.  What is stress?  Defining stress is no easy task.  This little booger of a word is really hard to nail down, mostly because stress is a largely subjective experience that we all interpret differently.  What is stressful for one person may be pleasurable or have little effect on others.  Hans Selye was the first guy to really start using the term “stress” as we use it today.   His definition of stress is “the non-specific response of the body to any demand for change.”  That’s pretty wide open.  The American Psychological Association defines stress as “the pattern of specific and nonspecific responses an organism makes to stimulus events that disturb its equilibrium and tax or exceed its ability to cope.”  Not much more clear-cut.  I could go on, listing off several other definitions from various sources, there’s certainly no shortage, but the point is that all of the definitions of stress are quite vague and all encompassing to accommodate the multifaceted and subjective nature of this human phenomenon.

Let’s dig a little deeper.  What are the different types of stress?  Surely you’ve heard the terms acute stress, chronic stress, perhaps even eustress.  Any short-term episode of stress is typically classified as acute stress.  Acute stress can be unpleasant or thrilling and exciting.  Acute stress that is thrilling and exciting is often referred to as eustress and is typically experienced in response to a relatively brief, moderate level stressor in a setting that overall feels safe.  Roller coaster rides, a fast run down a challenging ski slope, or a passionate first kiss are all examples of eustress.  An auto accident, an imminent deadline, a child’s occasional problems at school, or a root canal on the other hand, while all relatively brief and moderate level stressors, are anything but thrilling and exciting and typically occur in a setting that feels much more dangerous, out of control and unpredictable.  This kind of acute stress is the well-known “fight or flight” response, and despite its unpleasant characteristics, is a good thing to have, because it helps keep us alive. By its very design, the fight or flight response leads us to fight or to flee.  When our senses perceive an attack, harm, or threat to our survival, the adrenal gland secretes adrenaline, glucocorticoids, and other stress hormones, triggering an instantaneous and simultaneous increase in respiration, blood pressure and heart rate.  Large amounts of oxygen are pumped into the blood stream and throughout the body, enabling muscles to respond both instantly and with immense amounts of exertion.  Once the fighting is over, and the perceived threat—which triggered the response—has been eliminated, our body and mind return to a state of calm.

From an evolutionary standpoint, the fight or flight response is designed to protect us from the predators that once lurked in the woods and fields around us, threatening our physical survival.  During times when our physical survival is truly being threatened, it is an extraordinary response to have on our side, but what happens when the exact same stress response gets turned on for purely psychological states?   When we’re worrying about bouncing a check or making the mortgage payment, having an argument with a family member or boss, or thinking about the ozone layer or mortality, even though it’s not life or death, our perception is often enough to trigger the exact same physiological reaction as if it was.  Our bodies release the same stress hormones, causing us to hyperventilate, our hearts to pound, and our muscles to tense.

Now imagine for a moment how often we Americans find ourselves immersed in this sort of psychological state. More or less frequently, do you suppose, than our ancient ancestors found themselves face to face with a saber tooth tiger?  Well, if our responses to the annual nationwide Stress in America™ survey are any indication at all, the answer is, more frequently – a lot more frequently.  So what’s the problem with that?  The problem is that the human body, while designed to withstand occasional extreme stress for brief periods of time, is not designed to withstand the sustained high level of chemicals released during frequent and chronic episodes of the fight or flight response.

While acute stress can in some cases be thrilling and exciting, chronic stress is not.  Chronic stress is the grinding stress of unrelenting demands and pressures that wears us down day after day, year after year. It’s the kind of stress over which we feel we have little or no control. It’s the stress of financial instability, of dysfunctional families, or of being trapped in an unhappy marriage or job situation. That which becomes old and familiar, which a person gets used to and eventually forgets is even there.  Over time, chronic stress causes a cumulative buildup of toxic and corrosive hormones that our bodies can’t properly metabolize.  Its long-term attrition depletes physical and mental resources, destroying our bodies, minds and lives; upsetting our immune and reproductive systems, impacting our behaviors, accelerating the aging process, altering our brain chemistry and fat cell storage, impairing cell communication and killing us through cancer, heart attack, stroke, suicide, violence, addiction, and a myriad of other hormonal, immune, and autonomic nervous system disorders.

Oh yes, and it has a tendency to disrupt our attempts at change, in case you missed that…