From Resistance to Flow: The Role of the HPA Axis
Every time you learn a new skill, you must first overcome some level of resistance. You can transform the “barrier” into an opportunity by realizing that this veil is keeping the skill’s essence from you. It might not be enough to simply reframe the resistance in order to win this tense battle.
“If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat.”
Sun Tzu — The Art of War.
Understanding what our stress response system is doing during all of this resistance will help us comprehend the enemy a little better.
Your senses immediately alert the amygdala, a crucial part of your brain that plays a role in emotional processing, when they pick up on a threat. It sounds the alarm and immediately sends a signal to the hypothalamus when it interprets the signal as a threat. The hypothalamus functions as the body’s “HQ,” sending messages via the neural system to the rest of the body so that the person has the energy to run or fly.
Your autonomic nervous system’s two components are used by your hypothalamus (HQ), much like a car’s gas and brake pedals. The brake or, as I like to say, taking your foot off the gas would be represented by your parasympathetic nervous system, whereas the gas would be represented by your sympathetic nervous system (flight, fight, or freeze). Through the dilation and constriction of blood vessels, these actions regulate bodily processes like breathing, blood pressure, and heartbeat.
The amygdala first shouts at the hypothalamus to release SAM. I realize that releasing SAM sounds like a hit man. The sympathetic-adrenal medulla is referred to as the SAM. the middle or inner layer of the adrenal gland). When the brain instructs the adrenal medulla to produce epinephrine (adrenaline) into the bloodstream, the sympathetic nervous system is activated. Numerous physiological changes start to occur as soon as adrenaline (also known as epinephrine) enters the bloodstream. In order to force blood to your muscles and organs, your heart beats more quickly than usual. Along with your bronchiolitis (small airways) becoming broader, breathing starts to accelerate. This increase in oxygen consumption makes people more attentive. Your senses — sight, hearing, and others — become more acute. While all of this is going on, adrenaline (epinephrine) causes the release of fat and glucose from storage, giving your body the energy it needs to deal with the perceived threat at hand.
Before your brain’s visual areas have a chance to register what has transpired, all of this takes place. This is why, in times of great peril, humans seem to possess a ninja-like sixth sense.
The HPA axis was also activated by all of this activity in the hypothalamus. the pituitary, adrenal, and hypothalamus glands. This time, the adrenal gland’s outermost layer is being used.
The HPA axis releases a number of chemicals to maintain the sympathetic nervous system’s momentum as the adrenaline (epinephrine) spike starts to fade. When that imagined threat is still there, the HPA axis shifts into another gear. Adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH), which is triggered by the production of corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) from the brain, is subsequently sent to the outer layer of the adrenal glands to encourage the release of cortisol. This maintains a red alert on your machine. Breathing and heart rate are kept at a high level, as are all of the senses. Your parasympathetic nervous system eases off the gas pedal, your cortisol levels fall, and the stress response subsides once the threat is passed.
As a natural reaction to danger, our stress response has worked to serve and protect us. Breathing tests our blood pressure and enhances our energy levels thanks to the adrenaline rush that quickens the heartbeat. Our blood vessels need to be repaired right away because of the sudden acceleration and added pressure. Cortisol then enters to repair the damage. This stress hormone helps release more energy while increasing the availability of chemicals that heal tissues. Cortisol also inhibits activities that would be unnecessary in a situation of “fight, flight, or freeze,” allowing energy to be directed toward what is necessary for “flight” or “fight.” Our digestive, reproductive, immunological, and growth functions are among the organ systems that are repressed. This built-in alarm system transmits Morse code to the limbic system, which manages emotions, drives, and fear.
Your heart rate and blood pressure return to baseline levels as soon as the perceived danger has passed, adrenaline and cortisol levels fall, and all of your other systems resume regular operation. Traumatic events can nevertheless leave emotional scars that may reopen in response to both internal and external mental triggers. That might trigger a mental rehearsal of the horrible incident, setting off the stress reaction. Others either don’t do it or aren’t aware that it occurs. Along with these potentially repeating actions, there are stressors that are persistent and make you feel perpetually threatened, which keeps your sympathetic nervous system — which controls your fight, flight, or freeze response — on high alert.
Chronic stress results from this, along with the release of cortisol and other stress chemicals. Anxiety, depression, digestive issues, headaches, muscle tension, muscle pain, heart disease, high blood pressure, sleep issues, weight gain, poor memory, and a lack of focus are symptoms that your cortisol tap has been running.
Here are some things you can do to regain power.
You now know that your SAM (Sympathomedullary Pathway) has already begun and that adrenaline (epinephrine) has now activate your sympathetic nervous system into action when you become aware of the threat, danger, or stressor. The activation of your parasympathetic nervous system will assist in calming down your body and regaining control over your fight-or-flight response (assuming the threat is not life-threatening).
You have a sympathetic response when you breathe in and a parasympathetic one when you breathe out. Fast breathing is a symptom of the sympathetic nervous system, so we can slow our breathing by exhaling more slowly. This is done while breathing through your nose, which encourages your body to produce more nasal nitric oxide.
Therefore, the strategy would be to breathe through your nose for 2 seconds before exhaling for 6 seconds, with the intention of completing it without feeling any physical tension. If you have tightness, cut it down to 1–3 seconds. The idea is that your exhale should be longer.
The physiological indication is another activity you can deliberately do because your body already does it constantly throughout the day. In the 1930s, a straightforward exercise was found to help people quickly regain control over the stress buildup. Dr. Andrew Huberman, a professor in the Department of Neurobiology at Stanford University, revived the public’s awareness of the physiological sigh by pointing out that we sigh unconsciously on average every five minutes, including just before we go to sleep, when we sleep, and when we cry. This equals 12 sighs every hour.
According to UCLA neurology professor Jack Feldman, we sigh to enlarge the alveoli, the half-billion tiny, delicate balloon-like sacs of the lung where oxygen enters and carbon dioxide leaves the circulation. Collapsing alveoli makes it more difficult for the lungs to exchange oxygen and carbon dioxide in a healthy way. Feldman claimed that the only way to induce them to open up once more is to sigh. This increases the amount of a typical breath and makes the body feel more at ease.
The workout consists of two brief, rapid inhales via the nose, with one extended expiration through the nose. This is quite similar to the short inhale and lengthy exhale exercise from earlier. stimulation of the sympathetic and parasympathetic systems
The best thing about these techniques is that you don’t try to use your mind to control your body; instead, you use your body to control your mind. The latter approach will simply fuel your anxiety and worry.
This is how you go beyond the opposition and turn the struggle into an opportunity!
To access the article’s original version on our website, click here: From Struggle to Flow | The Role of the HPA Axis
