Stress for Success: Understanding Stress to Improve Your Brain, Body, & Function

Part I: Our Brain and Nervous System

Stress – we have experienced it at some point in our lives. A normal thing to feel, especially while navigating through a global pandemic. Stress can take on many forms. It could be what you feel during your Zoom work meeting, the adrenaline rush you get sprinting to the front door for your food delivery, or what you feel melt away when you’re biking down the Burke-Gilman on a sunny day. The effects of stress can greatly impact our lives. Understanding what stress is and how it can affect our mental state, physiological function, and motor control is our best way to use stress for our benefit.

Stress as The “Alarm” System for The Brain

Homeostasis refers to the state of stability, balance, or equilibrium within a cell or the body.1 Stress is a stimulus that disrupts this steady state. Stressors can be external,1,2 meaning the information we get from our environment through smelling, tasting, touching, hearing, or seeing. It can also include and co-exist with internal elements1,2 like hormonal fluctuations, an upset gastrointestinal tract and our emotions - anger, sadness, guilt, shame, or fear.

When stress hits our brain, a cascade of reactions occur to help us return to the safe and stable state of homeostasis1,2. In other words, stress is what sets off our body’s “alarm” system”.3 We respond to this alarm through both internal and external acts aimed to restore a state of stability. These actions occur because of the hardworking communication network of our nervous system.

The Nervous System

The brain is our central control center of the body[1]. It sends and receives messages to our organs and muscles through a network of nerves called our autonomic nervous system (ANS).2,4,5 It is composed of two subsystems, one that responds to the presence of stressful stimuli and one that responds in the absence of it.

The sympathetic nervous system (SNS), otherwise known as our “fight or flight” phase of the ANS, 2,4,5 quickly responds to stressful experiences by telling our muscles, organs, and brain, “We have to go, NOW!” It puts us into a state of motion. Conversely, the parasympathetic nervous system (PNS) is our “rest, relax and digest” phase.2,4,5 It puts us in a state of stillness by relaying the message, “Hey, you’re safe!” to your brain.

They work together to regulate our vital systems that control:

· Blood pressure

· Gastrointestinal tract

· Urinary/sexual function

· Vision

· Body temperature

· Hormonal fluctuations

· Immune system responses

· Sensorimotor control4

Stress and The Power of Good Communication

Let’s think of it this way: Your brain is the “boss,” your muscles and organs are the “employees,” and these multiple nervous systems are the “communication networks” you use to get messages across to one another – chat, email, meetings. A great boss will try to balance out the work for their employees and make sure roles are clearly defined. They will delegate where more work is required, and pull back on resources in areas that are not needed. This work environment is happy and stable. This is homeostasis!

When there are communication glitches, you are doing more than your role, and your boss tells you to work harder without an end in sight, this can lead to poor efficiency and an unstable work environment, which causes a stress response. Thus, the goal is to practice good communication between your brain, organs and muscles, so that each one continues to perform their specific vital function within the system. This dynamic gives you the power to utilize your resources to overcome temporary stress states rather than inevitably exhaust them when stress is prolonged.

What You Can Do Right Now

Identify your stressors/triggers and what your internal/external reactions are to them.
Determine if you need to up-regulate or down-regulate your nervous system
- Are you feeling lethargic? You may need to up-regulate. If you are feeling anxious or overwhelmed, you may need to down-regulate.
- Up-regulate by:
  - Exercising to increase your heart rate
  - Laughing
  - Learning something new and challenging
- Down-regulate by:
  - Meditating or practicing diaphragm breathing
  - Journaling
  - Sleeping
  - Recovering and resting after a tough workout
  - Taking a break from the activity you are doing
Make time for the things you need
- Start as small as spending 5-10 minutes doing something that is truly for you daily. It does not need to be at the same time every day.
- Make a list of everything you need or want to do, then prioritize and limit your list to your top three

· Give yourself some patience and grace

o Anticipate that your routine will be disrupted

o Let go of unnecessary expectations

o Feel proud of little victories, even if it’s changing out of sweatpants for the day!

How Physical Therapy Can Help You Use Stress For Success

Physical therapists are movement specialists who can
- Guide you in connecting your brain to your body
- Help you identify what physical stressors your system may be taking
- Refer you to appropriate resources
- Teach you specific exercises that facilitate or inhibit the nervous system for desired muscle, brain, and nerve activity
- Encourage accountability, structure, and healthy habits with goal setting

Stay tuned for Part II where I will discuss how stress can influence how we feel pain.

References

Chrousos GP, Gold PW. The Concepts of Stress and Stress System Disorders. Overview of Physical and Behavioral Homeostasis. Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). 1992;267(9):1244-1252. https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/395527. Accessed April 28, 2020.
Kozlowska K, Walker P, Maclean L, Carrive P. Fear and the Defense Cascade: Clinical Implications and Management. Harvard Review of Psychiatry.:263-287. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4495877/. Accessed April 28, 2020.

3. Teaching People about Pain/ Medbridge/ January 2015/ Adriaan Louw, PT, PhD

Gibbins I. Functional Organization of Autonomic Neural Pathways. Organogenesis. 2013;9(3):169-175. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3896588/. Accessed April 28, 2020.
McCorrey LK. Physiology of the Autonomic Nervous System. American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education. 2007;71(4). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1959222/. Accessed April 28, 2020.