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Stress and the Autonomic Nervous System

 

 

• over 13 million working days are lost each year due to stress

• stress costs our country £7 billion per year

• stress is believed to trigger 70% of visits to doctors

(Statistics from the Government’s Health and Safety Executive HSE)

 

Stress is a relatively new term which describes “a condition or feeling experienced when a person perceives that demands exceed the personal and social resources the individual is able to mobilize” - (Richard S. Lazarus). The Oxford English Dictionary defines it as “pressure or tension”. It occurs when one becomes overwhelmed rather than excited by events and challenges in life.

 

Although many people assume that stress is a bad thing, it can be a motivating force which is beneficial. There are two types of stress, one known as ‘eustress’ – that which promotes positive effects and the other known as ‘distress’ – that which causes negative effects.

 

The moment when ‘eustress’ becomes ‘distress’ depends upon an individual’s capability to cope with any given situation. One person may be stimulated by their busy drive to work, feeling excited about the day ahead, whereas the other may become irritable. Individuals filter the same experiences through their own psychological perceptions and can react positively or negatively despite the severity of a situation.

 

Common everyday events that can cause stress include the afore mentioned driving, moving house, lack of sleep, money worries, time constraints, relationships, having too much or too little to do and change of any kind.

 

Stress (distress) has a debilitating effect upon performance as when feeling its effects, the functioning of both mind and body are impeded. When a person perceives stress, activity becomes centred in the sympathetic nervous system which prepares the body using the ‘fight or flight’ reaction. This is a series of physical, mental and chemical reactions that are triggered if a person feels endangered or threatened.

 

The ‘fight or flight’ instinct involves the most ancient part of the human brain, often called the Reptilian brain. In prehistoric times, humans needed sharp reactions to protect themselves from predators. When endangered, this sudden reaction would enable them to either fight or run away (take flight). These days, even though humans need this instinct less often, it is still triggered, often unnecessarily by minor events and the effects of this reaction can cause damage to the system.

 

During the stress response the sympathetic nervous system responds by releasing chemicals including cortisol, noradrenaline and adrenaline into the system. This triggers a chain reaction resulting in the diversion of blood and energy away from non-essential activity and towards the parts of the body most needed. The following effects occur:

• Chemicals, such as adrenalin start pumping

• Heart rate goes up

• Blood vessels dilate

• Breathing increases

• Sweat production increases

• Metabolism slows down

• Muscles become tense

• Pupils enlarge

• Sex hormone production goes down

Conversely, when a human relaxes, the parasympathetic nervous system is triggered into full function and the following effects occur:

• Heart rate is regulated

• Blood vessels return to normal

• Breathing normalises

• Sweat production regulates

• Metabolism returns to normal

• Muscles relax

• Pupils retract

• Sex hormone production increases

 

People are generally quite aware of the effects stress can have upon health. Many large industries spend time and money combating and preventing stress within the workforce. However, less considered is the effect that stress can have upon children and their learning.

 

When the sympathetic nervous system is triggered, energy is directed away from the thinking cortex of the brain to the Reptilian brain – which has no reasoning ability and can only govern the ‘fight or flight’ instinct. Even minor stressors, such as an adult raising their voice, can trigger stress (fear) in a child, which can switch off their thinking ability.

 

Educational Kinesiologists, inspired by yoga have developed movements known as Brain Gym® which are based upon the following premise: stress can inhibit learning

 

"Under stress, activity in the mind/body system is centred in the sympathetic nervous system, which prepares the body for fight/flight (aggression/fear) reaction. As a result, activity in the limbic system, and in the neocortex of the cerebrum, are minimised.

 

In addition, the learner who is stressed in a learning situation can go into a homolateral learning state, in which the dominant brain hemisphere takes over most mental processes. As a result, the learner may no longer have full access to the functions of the non-dominant hemisphere. One-sided learning can occur, thus affecting performance. The Brain Gym® movements consciously activate the whole mind body system, stimulating nervous-system activity equally in all parts of the brain and lessening the flight/fight reaction. When learning is easy and stress-free the learner regains his/her innate interest in learning and is again motivated to achieve learning goals.”

 

Quote from www.brainwise.co.uk

 

On a personal level, my aim is to teach yoga to children so that the next generation will not have to remedy the effects of stress in adulthood – they will already have gained a toolkit of resources as part of their school education. Indeed, many children already suffer tremendous stress which can often be misinterpreted as ‘bad behaviour’ due to family break-ups, poor nutrition and lack of exercise.

 

Therefore, I believe that yoga is an ideal way to combat not only stress-related illnesses in adults but also challenging behaviour, obesity and under-achievement in children.

 

BIBLIOGRAPHY

 

Brain Gym® Handbook – The Student Guide to Brain Gym – Paul Dennison, Ph.D. and Gail Dennision

Anatomy and Physiology – Louise Tucker

The Breathing Book – Donna Farhi

Learn to Meditate – David Fontana

Yoga, The Spirit and Practice of Moving into Stillness – Erich Schiffmann

www.yogajournal.com

 

Written by Justine Aldersey-Williams 24/04/07

 

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