Understanding and Dealing with the Effects of Stress, Tension and Anxiety

Michael Sutton Pure Yoga Teacher

Living in modern society, it is very hard to escape from daily stress and tensions due to work pressures, relationships, instant communication, money, the list is endless. Many people seem to be able to cope with high levels of stress and seem not to be affected, other people do not cope well with even moderate amounts. How come some people do not seem to be effected at all and others are? Unfortunately, everyone is effected it's just a matter of how long the body can cope with it before symptoms begin to appear.

Firstly with need to understand that stress and anxiety are quite different, they are related and one often effects the other but they are not the same. Stress originates from the feeling that certain things, events, situations should not be happening. When we believe that something should be happening but clearly isn’t, then this equates to anxiety. However, they both have very similar effects on the body. Production of growth hormones, reproductive hormones, digestion are disrupted, cognitive capacity is disturbed and also reduced.

Prolonged stress causes detrimental have although issues due to exhaustion of the adrenal glands, otherwise known as adrenal fatigue which has a profound inhibitory effect on our immune system. Scientific research states that excessive stress is a factor in a variety of illnesses. anxiety disorders, depression, high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, gastrointestinal troubles, some cancers, and premature aging, migraine headaches, episodes of asthma, and fluctuation of blood sugars.

Let's imagine you are standing in the queue at your local bank and bank robbers enter holding guns. 

Your body instantly and automatically responds:

Heart rate is increased to prime the muscles for action. The liver produces glucose providing more energy. The adrenal glands are stimulated to secrete chemicals to increase alertness. Digestion is stopped to divert all energy for optimal reaction, pupils dilate and the bladder relaxes, which is why we often feel the need to urinate right before a big speech or a performance or any time we become nervous.

Incidentally, there are two halfs to our nervous system, the sympathetic nervous system which prepares the body for an emergency or bank robbery in this case.

The opposite of this is the parasympathetic nervous system which calms and returns the body back to its natural state.

Even though we may never experience this situation in our life time, the long term effects of stress, tension and anxiety have similar results by creating constant low level adrenal activation which causes a build up of excessive energy and is difficult to discharge due to constant daily emotional stress and nervous tensions.  Therefore the sympathetic nervous system becomes "stuck on" and doesn't deactivate, many people end up feeling like they are constantly "on the go" which then leads to people feeling "burnt out". 

As a result, the long term effects of low level release of adrenaline prevents the production the “feel good” chemicals in the body, this withdrawal leads to sadness and eventually depression. Constant low level tension in response stress and anxiety strains the body automatically by increasing blood pressure, heart rate, respiration, metabolism, and blood flow to the muscles. This is the "fight or flight" response which is intended to aid the body to react quickly and effectively to a high-pressure situations. However, when we are constantly reacting to stressful situations without making adjustments to counter the effects, it then threatens the immune system and general well-being.

The solution...

Or,

Research on yoga for the improvement of mental health is not new. Yoga lowers stress levels as well as reduces anxiety. It has also been shown to be beneficial for everything from enhancing self-esteem to improving sleep quality. Yoga has an antidepressant effect on the body because it creates the stimulants dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin and endorphins which are all natural antidepressants, our "feel good" chemicals which reduces negative anxious or detrimental emotions after completion of a mindful yoga practice. It also has a direct positive effect on the nervous system by returning it to its natural, calm and tranquil state as well as providing balance, synchronization and activation of both hemispheres of the brain, even dormant parts.

The brain is also affected in many other positive ways, especially brain waves and their electrical outputs.

Most of the time, waking hours are predominantly spent in the beta brain wave state. Beta is characteristic of alertness, concentration, focus, logical and rational way of thinking, unfortunately, the beta state is also associated with stress. It can prevent us from thinking straight, causes brain fog, and prevents us from thinking out-of-the-box or achieving our natural flow state. Poets and writers would call it "writer's block" or Beta block which occurs when the brain can no longer transfer to the alpha state. Alpha waves by contrast heighten the imagination, visualization, memory, learning and concentration. It is the base for our own conscious awareness and is the gateway to the subconscious mind which is essential when programming it for success.   

This state naturally occurs when practicing yoga due to all rays of attention being directed towards the asanas (postures) pranayama (breath control) and meditation which are all intimately connected with the breath which has a direct effect on the mind. This calm alert state allows for the parasympathetic nervous system to activate again and allow the body to release all excessive nervous energy to discharge which is why people feel so refreshed, rejuvenated and relaxed yet at the same time, alert and mentally "switched on" after a yoga class.

This relaxed, recharged and refreshed state brings about harmony for physical, mentally and the emotional bodies. If will feel better then we have the opportunity to be better and act better and make positive influences towards ourselves as well as towards others. We cannot cultivate wonderful qualities like love, compassion and empathy if we are full of negative charged emotions like stress, tension and anxiety.

Therefore......

If you are having relationship issues....Do yoga.
If you have excessive work related issues....Do yoga.
If you have any issues....Do Yoga. 

Yoga helps us in every aspect of our lives, if we have any issues before our yoga class, after the class the issues will still be there, yoga cannot take it away but it will helps us to look at our problems from a different perspective due to the positive physiological and psychological effects that are only truly unique to yoga.

With Metta,

Michael Sutton Pure Yoga Teacher