Stress can be defined as the information that our nervous system has to deal with.
Stress is not just being busy at work, but all information. It can come from the outside through our senses, but also from the inside as physical, psychological, or mental information/stress. When we are able to handle the information, we call it positive stress, i.e. we can evolve and adapt in relation to our internal and external environment. When we are exposed to too much information (quantity) or to "dangerous" information (quality), negative stress is created. To protect ourselves from this information overload, we react both emotionally and physically as if we were facing imminent, even life-threatening danger. This drives our nervous system and body into a state of stress.
Physically, many things happen in our body when we are under stress. The nervous system increases the activity of what is called the sympathetic nervous system. This means, among other things, that the stress hormones adrenaline and cortisol are released and that all systems in our body that are not needed for our direct survival decrease in activity, such as the digestive immune system and reconstruction/healing. Instead, the activity of the blood circulation (higher blood pressure and pulse) and muscles (tension) increases in order for us to protect ourselves from "danger" by fighting or running (called fight-flight in English). The stress response is natural and vital for our survival. It is, however, a state that we need to get out of quickly, once we are out of danger, in order to have time to recover. If this natural recovery is not allowed to take place, we can remain in stress with very negative consequences for our health and well-being.
Without time to recover, we end up in a state of chronic stress.
The nervous system gets used to and stops responding to information that is constant, i.e. the background information starts to be perceived as something normal. We begin to live in a state that is detrimental to our health without being able to perceive it.
We become tense, particularly evident around the spine, neck and shoulders. The immune system malfunctions, as does digestion. The hormonal system is disrupted, blood pressure tends to rise and much more. The foundations are laid for many of our lifestyle-related diseases.
We also react emotionally.
We are more easily irritated by our surroundings and ourselves. We end up in a state of diminished well-being where instead of being able to live up to our full potential, we end up in a negative experience of not daring or not being able to cope. We under-perform, suffer from feelings of escape, feel like failures, experience boredom and even depression.
Our nervous system's ability to process information is much the same as if we were still living in a peasant society. We are struggling to keep up with developments in the information society. The society we now live in is filled with information at an ever-accelerating rate. We are becoming more and more stressed at work, through mass media, internet and e-mail, even at home and in our leisure time, and have less and less time to recover. This trend is deeply worrying and we need to try to change both our life situation (individual, social, cultural) and our ability to cope with stress. We are contributing to this through Network Spinal Care.
