How can where you sit increase your stress?

• 20 January 2018
• Jane Evans
• no comments

 

 

You can’t cheat the history of your body

But you can understand and work with it. Because although the body isn’t designed to forget what it lives through and stores memories in its cells and muscles of experiences. Especially of perceived threat. It is there as a resource to manage its reactions to these memories.

Get ready to jump!

If you nearly get hit by a car crossing the road. Then for each future attempt, your body will get tense as it subconsciously gets ready to JUMP! Muscles will become tight and lean, adrenalin pumping, heart beating faster, blood pressure going up and you become super focused on the road. It happens in a split second and may escape your awareness. If anyone was with you, they’d pick up on it. Think herd of dear, a twig cracks, one head goes up, followed by all the others!

The body remembers

Just think back to when you were learning to ride a bike. You had to focus on each thing you did. Until you could do it then your body just got on with it. It’s known as procedural/implicit memory.

Why does body memory matter?

Because it forms part of your stress response system. If you keep putting your body in a position that reminds it of previous threat, it will repeatedly flick into hyper-alert fight or flight mode. This a state of high tension or collapse. Don’t be fooled by collapse though as meanwhile the internal stress-response engine is running at full speed!

Your restaurant experiment

The next time you go out to eat conduct your own experiment! Be curious and notice if when given a choice. Where do you sit? Subconsciously many of us prefer our back to a wall, sight of other people’s coming and goings and of the exits!

Why?

It’s linked to survival!

• No one can come behind you
• You can check for threat from others
• You can escape

It happens automatically as the body and primitive brain prioritize your safety. Otherwise, the human race would be extinct!

Surely we can overrule our body memories and get on with daily life?

Yes, you can. Yes, you do. But…it creates stress.

Watch this short clip to connect with the ongoing health consequences of continuing to ignore stress.

If you want to make intentional changes using science-informed strategies and resources so stress becomes manageable and wellbeing, productivity, and focus improve. As an:

• Individual
• Organization

Email me to arrange a time to talk: Janeevans61@hotmail.co.uk