THE STRESS PRESCRIPTION, 7 Days to More Joy and Ease, Elissa Epel, PhD, contains a host of information on the body’s response to stress, both perceived and real. My reminder notes to myself are at STRESS RESPONSE details. I highly recommend this book to those who wish to better understand how the mind-body interaction. It includes a whole host of additional reading and resources.
What I encountered in the last decade is seeing how perceived and real stresses were and are a significant factor in both my cancers and that understanding them has assisted to continued remission of the cancers. “Stress is woven into our experience in life so deeply, so essentially, that disentangling it from life itself is impossible. As tough as stress can be to cope with sometimes, we would be a lot worse off without it.”
By managing stress, we can enhance a healthier and longer life via the improvement of my immune system. A healthy immune system is an exceptionally strong “medicine”, which can be had with understanding/knowledge. Increasing positive emotions and reducing negative emotions goes a long way to achieve this. Fear and or trauma can set off the sympathetic nervous system with detrimental effects on the body and decline in the immune system. This leaves the body more susceptible to health issues such as cancer, diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Understanding the positive effects of the parasympathetic nervous system that regulates the involuntary body functions such as blood pressure, heart rate, digestion, sweating. This includes cell repair and clean-up.
Looking at stress at four levels, we normally are at a higher level of stress than we should be. This is especially detrimental if it runs a long time. There are things we can do to bring down our base line stress such as meditation. We can train our body to better handle stress with short bursts of acute stress. We can embrace uncertainty. We can let go of what we cannot control. We can experience joy.