Running Away From Problems

Ever since I first learned about the Hans Selye and the stress response of the human body I have been intrigued by the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems. Typically these systems are presented as if they are distinct, you are either in sympathetic (fight or flight) or parasympathetic (rest and digest) mode.  The reality is that both systems work together all of the time to create an autonomic balance in the body.  Physiologically the body works to maintain homeostasis, or balance within normal limits.
 
But wait… the media tells me that stress is bad, right? It causes heart attacks and cancer and high blood pressure, so we don’t need it, we need the rest and digest, parasympathetic, relaxed phase only, right?
 
Not so fast, it is not quite as simple as good or bad and cause and effect.
 
First of all, there is “good” stress (eustress) and “bad” stress (distress).  Good things in our life, like getting a new job or getting married cause stress, but it is the good kind.  Bad things, like losing a job or losing a loved one, cause stress; we cannot avoid the bad stress in our life.  Now, if I was someone else, this blog would turn to be about how the bad stress makes us appreciate the good.  Since this is me, this blog is about how the bad stress is happening, how do we handle it?
 
Second of all, the body responds to stress regardless of the cause.  The autonomic nervous system cannot tell if it is physical stress from something like running a marathon or psychological stress like giving a presentation in front of a large audience.  Both elicit the same response of increased heart rate and increased breathing, sweating, etc.  That is one of the things that makes my research so interesting.  Is an athlete having issues outside of sports that lead to a sympathetic response or is it just because of the lack of recovery from their training?  The body doesn’t know, but if you keep running races or keep speaking in front of audiences, eventually your body understands the threat a little bit better and accommodates.
 
With stress we grow and change.  Have you heard of how weight bearing exercise helps strengthen the bones and prevent osteoporosis?  That is a physiological phenomenon called Wolf’s law (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolff%27s_law).  When we stress our bones, they adapt to the stress and get stronger.  All exercise improvement comes from the SAID principle (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/SAID_principle), specific adaptation to imposed demands. That is why a workout becomes easier over time, unless we do something more to challenge ourselves.  We need stress in our lives... to some extent.
 
If stress isn’t the problem, what IS the problem?  The problem is how we manage the stress that comes our way.  Instead of facing the stress and dealing with it, we let it pile up like laundry in the corner until it becomes so insurmountable that we have no idea whether to wash it all, throw it out or just go out into the world naked. Instead of preventing the stress from taking over by taking time for ourselves most days, we think we don’t have time away from the business of life or that we are being selfish if we don’t look after ourselves.  Except when the stress becomes too much, our body forces us to shut down through things like illness.  That stress shows us!  Slow down or I will get you anyway!
 
Completing my PhD was extremely stressful, so I combated that stress by running (trying not to overtrain while studying under-recovery from exercise… talk about a plan!).  Running became a great way for me to work out any potential problems as I often think best with my feet pounding the pavement. In fact, I “wrote” a good portion of this blog on my last run (and the rest of it in the local bagel shop).  I added in yoga to help combat a good portion of the mental stress of writing and the physical stress of running.  I created a plan for the stress that I knew was coming instead of giving it permission to take over. 
 
Stress won’t go away. It can and will help us grow if we don’t let it consume us or cause us to become ill.  Exercise is a great way to combat the daily stress in our lives.  The next time you are faced with stress, consider running or walking or biking or swimming or Zumba-ing away from it.  Let the body learn and grow and adapt.  You will come back physically stronger and mentally stronger.