Increasing numbers of people say they suffer from stress. Stress is the most common reason for people taking time off work. The second most common reason is colds and viruses, the severity of which is magnified by stress. The Confederation of British Industry estimates that stress costs British industry £7 billion a year.
The stress response is the mind-body reaction that has been vital for our survival as a species. When the mind goes on red alert, it pours out adrenaline and cortisol into the bloodstream, priming the muscles for action. Blood flow is directed away from non-urgent functions like the digestive system and towards the major muscle groups in the so-called 'fight or flight' response. This enabled our ancestors to be at peak performance when under attack. It also enables a footballer to run that bit faster in a big match than he or she would normally be able to and athletes to regularly break longstanding records at the Olympics. It is designed to provide peak physical performance and mental focus during brief periods of crisis.
Thankfully, we are not often in real physical danger these days but our minds initiate a red alert to trigger an emergency boost when we believe we may not be able to cope with a situation. In modern life, this can entail several problems. Firstly, without frequent life-threatening, our minds can become attuned to a lower level of pressure and trigger off the same response for situations that do not present any real danger like the threat of an exam, a bullying boss or the danger of losing your job. Secondly, there is often no physical outlet for this state of heightened tension. Thirdly, these situations are long-term in nature and a response that was designed for brief periods of peak performance is being activated over an extended period.
The increased blood pressure, redirection of blood away from the digestive system and the suppression of white blood cell production from which our ancestors could easily recuperate after a short burst of the hormones lead to high blood pressure, increased susceptibility to colds and viruses, back pain, poor sleep, depression and digestive problems like IBS.
Although the stress hormones are chemical, it is important to remember that the trigger for pouring them into the bloodstream comes from the mind. There is by no means a correlation between the amount of pressure someone is under and the level of stress they experience. A stress audit of the civil service revealed that average stress levels among staff decreased in successively higher levels of the organisation. The most senior staff had some of the lowest levels of stress. The opportunity to influence a situation greatly increases our tolerance of pressure. Most people could tolerate being in a small room if they could leave at will but if they discovered that the door was locked, their stress levels would soar. Equally, shopfloor workers often experience much greater levels of stress than their bosses, who have more influence over their situation. Remember how stressful it is to be stuck in a traffic jam even though there is nothing at all to do!
To function at top performance we need to be able to allow our minds to trigger stress reactions to give us a boost for specific short-term events but to stop them going into crisis mode on an on-going basis. Exercise is a simple, powerful way to provide a natural outlet for pent-up tension and the endorphins it produces provide a natural, deep relaxation and sense of well-being. Being able to say 'no' can be equally important, not so much for the reduction in a person's workload but in order to regain that feeling of control that boosts a person's pressure-tolerance level. A good therapist will help you look at your perceptions of what you are and are not capable of coping with and your skills for dealing with controlling and influencing a situation. In addition to this, a hypnotherapist will be able to teach you how to use self-hypnosis to switch off and relax whenever you want to and if there are any specific situations that provoke a stress reaction in you, he or she will show you how to use hypnosis to learn to feel inwardly relaxed while coping with that situation.
See also: Ultradian Rhythms