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IS STRESS PREVENTION REALLY POSSIBLE?
I don’t think it is possible to prevent stress as you say. Stress is a part of life that all people have to deal with. The important thing is how you react to stressful things (calmly vs. going bonkers) and so if it is possible to prevent stress, it should be secondary to how we react to it.
Dear Reader,
I agree with this section of your statement: “Stress is a part of life that all people have to deal with. The important thing is how you react to stressful things”. I respectfully disagree with the parting words: “so if it is possible to prevent stress, it should be secondary to how we react to it.”
For discussion’s sake, it’s vital that we first define the terms, “stress” and “stressor.” Stress is the body’s response to any registered threat or demand. This response is a chemical chain reaction triggered inside of you every time one of these threats or demands knocks on your door. Stressors are the things that trigger those reactions from a head-on collision to a case of bed head.
Active stress prevention is possible, effective and worth doing because it blocks and blunts those chemical reactions that are explained by something called the Psychosomatic Model, or stress domino effect. I call it the stress domino effect because our stress reactions are cascading events in our bodies, much like a zigzag of falling dominos where each tumbling tile can cause the next one in line to go down.
Now, I’m going to get a little ‘physiology 101’ on you for a minute because this model is so key to explaining how and why stress prevention and management work. Ladies and gentlemen, give it up for the Psychosomatic Model/Stress Domino Effect:
Domino 1: Sensory stimulus
The thing or event that gets your attention—let’s use a credit card bill as an example)
Domino 2: Perception
Your actual seeing, hearing, smelling, feeling, tasting, and/or sensing of this event (seeing a credit card bill in the pile of new mail)
Domino 3: Cognitive appraisal
What you think of this event, or how you interpret its occurrence—good, bad, good and bad, or indifferent (“Credit card bill means I am required to pay money; I don’t have enough money to pay this bill; this bill is bad.”)
Domino 4: Emotional arousal
How you feel about this event now that you have determined its meaning (fear: “Not having enough money sucks; I feel trapped, panicked and bad about myself because I can’t pay the bill.”)
Domino 5: Mind-Body connection
A biologically tangible mechanism that acts as a bridge between your thoughts and physical responses.
Domino 6: Physical arousal
Chemical hormones are produced in your brain and transported to glands that control and operate your organ systems, a process triggered by your emotional arousal
Domino 7: Physical effects
The reaction—or switching on or off—that your organ systems experience as a result of the chemicals produced during the mind-body connection (increased heart and respiratory rate, increased muscle tension, sweating, etc.)
Domino 8: Disease
The impact of constant organ-system activation and deactivation (Domino 6) over time: Body systems malfunction or break down, and are unable to fight sickness
If we take action to prevent, stop and limit the impact of dominos 1-5 from falling, we can insure that the all-important Mind-Body connection (domino 6) is not made, thus making it impossible for an occurrence to affect us physically, i.e. stress us out, make us go bonkers, tense our muscles, interrupt our sleep weaken our immune systems, etc.
Of what actions do I speak? Well, sticking with the credit card bill example, you could totally avoid the Dominos altogether by not using or paying off the card(s) so that you wouldn’t even get a bill in the mail. You could also start using the credit card less now so that future bills will be lower, thus reducing negative cognitive appraisal down the line (Domino 2). Or, if Dominos 1 and 2 have already hit the dirt, you could keep 3 (Emotional arousal) fully or partly upright by talking with a relative, friend, counselor, etc. to limit or reverse your poor self-esteem.
The examples of stressors, reactions and prevention strategies are unlimited and often complex. I offer this well-studied model to back up my statement that it’s possible to prevent the physiological stress response. And I realize that for some, this science may just be a stressful way of stating the obvious. But, it may motivate others to jump into the stress prevention and management game by laying out the strong ties between our thoughts, actions and health.
Les
11/08
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