Today I learned about stress addiction.
It’s worth doing a little research on the topic for yourself. Combine it also with a google session on hypothalamus and amygdala, the centres in your brain that always keep a lookout for you.
How and why can you be a stress addict? Stress releases a lot of hormones in your body, including the building blocks for dopamine, the feel-good substance. This can become as addictive as drugs.
The downsides of being stressed are many. And the end result is quite often a burnout.
We are often raised to not listen to our bodies, and to go ahead and do the things that need doing. That one little task seems easy to complete. And then the next and then the next. At some point in there the stress and stress reactions take over, including the dopamine response. You of course also get a high from being an important person, from completing your goals and getting positive feedback for all your accomplishments.
While the stress is on, the body is in a sympathicus reaction, and after a while it becomes more difficult to find your way into the relaxed and healthy parasympathicus state.
Stress abusers will then often find that their bodies one day refuse to be part of this any more. The initial reaction can be to try again to ignore the body’s signals, try to keep going. But at some point there will be a crash.
The doctor here said that empirical data indicates that stress abusers are more likely to contract Parkinsons disease and other ailments as they age.
The cure? They talk a lot here about dosages. Activities in appropriate amounts, yes to activities, but keep the pulse level at a comfortable zone. Eat healthy. Work on the patterns and emotions in your life that drive you into stress abuse. Cold showers have also proved valuable!
If you were your own good friend – what would you tell yourself?
Also find things that make you laugh. If you are very tired, even laughter must be in smaller doses. Slow steps up, take your time for the increase of dosages. They suggest here, at the beginning 10 minutes activity, then rest for an hour. Then another ten minutes, then rest. The next week, increase to 15 minutes of activities, then rest. The next week increase to 20 minutes. And so on. Get lots of rest, like an hour of proper relaxation between activities when you are exhausted. Proper relaxation is for instance staring out the window, or meditation or staring at the ceiling from a position on the floor. Or sitting somewhere in nature and just existing for a long while.
Hypnotherapy can help you change habits. If you feel like you might be a stress addict and would like a more relaxed life, get in touch, and we can do a session.
Leave a Reply