Dr Serani's 6 Myths About Stress

Psychologist Dr Deborah Serani dispels six myths about stress in the hope of promoting greater understanding. It sounds a lot like being aware of the allostatic load of your life. I've borrowed this following explanation of allostasis from Dr. Salt's summary of a classic paper:

[stress has] many mechanisms, but among the most prominent are the manifestations of physiological stress responses as a result of living and working conditions, inter-personal conflict, as well as the sense of control of one’s environment and optimism/pessimism toward the future. "Allostatic load" refers to the cost of adaptation to a stressful environment, which elicits repeated and sometimes prolonged adaptive responses ("allostasis") that preserve homeostasis in the short run but can cause wear- and-tear on the body and brain. Functional symptoms and syndromes, decreased cognitive function during aging, abdominal obesity, increased risk for hypertension and cardiovascular disease, insulin-dependent diabetes and decreased immune responses are all manifestations of allostatic load.

We have powerful ways of modulating the harmful output of the stress response systems that include belief systems and behaviors. An important quote attributed to Dr. McEwen is, "We must also remember that the biggest problems for the human race in the future are those associated with our own behavior and misbehavior and the impact of the social and physical environment on our bodies and brains."

I think that managing stress can be very like a first attempt at balancing pebbles. It takes a lot of consideration as to:

• the opposing forces (gravity, the wind)
• the suitability of materials (are you really looking after yourself well?)
• the correct support (do you know what support you can scrape together from the surrounding resources?)

Copyright 2006, Tony Plant Happystance Project