20220923 : stress

I was having a chat recently with a good friend of mine and we we talking about "stress". I thought about it afterwards and some thoughts came up:

One of the most widely used factors for contemporary diseases is "stress" (along with lifestyle).

I often wondered for a very very long time - what does it mean.

 Generally I knew that something we were doing was not right, but I didn't know what it was .

After many years, I found out the definition. (It may not be entirely right, but it is how I have understood it).

Basically, when we are in anxiety (mostly caused by fear - real or imagined), the body releases hormones to support the "fight or flight" response. (It's a very primitive and helpful response to safeguard us and we can't stop it).

In primitive days, we would actually "fight or flight" and the extra hormones would be used up.

However, in today's world, we don't "fight or flight", instead go back angry and mumbling to our desk jobs, or any other work or continue with devices to cope, etc.

Since all those extra hormones stay in the body and are not dissipated, they circulate in the bloodstream and gradually negativity affect the organs. Over a period of time, something will give!

As I said, I might be wrong, but I don't think I would be very far from the whole story either with that understanding.

Now I can guarantee, majority of folks will not know that and will be dished out "stress and lifestyle" very regularly. 

Without knowing what it is, I am sure nobody will know what to do about it either.

We are usually told - do exercises, do yoga, do pranayama, etc, etc. However most of us won't do it simply because we can't connect the dots in our minds .

It then makes sense to understand the reason why we have to do those things. We need exercises daily - not just to build muscle or slim down and look good but to 

stay healthy by dissipation of those hormones. We need meditation not for some lofty reasons but to bring the mind to a state where it doesn't get anxious an fearful easily. pranayama helps in so and so way, Etc., Etc.

Which brings me to the question - how to reduce it (if we can't eliminate it)?

The question then becomes personal. What is your daily lifestyle which causes anxiety and fear regularly. Do we feel secure at work or are we fearful and anxious always with our boss or co-workers? Does our boss induce calmness or screams often inducing anxiety and fear. Are my personal relationships calming and relaxing or that of anxiety? Spending hours in social media is no doubt distracting but it is also causing anxiety and fear (fear of missing out). How do I stop overthinking and bring down anxiety - financial anxiety, career anxiety, relationship anxiety, etc.

Moral of the story is - whether it is this or anything else, if we need to evoke an effective action - we have to connect the dots in the mind...