Rarely has there been a time when fear and anxiety has occupied so much of our thinking. For over nineteen months now, almost every media platform has reported on the coronavirus pandemic. It is hard to escape the terror, it is prolific!
Whether you are feeling the fear or experiencing the anxiety, constantly being immersed in the current environment will most likely uncover a deeply evolved set of unconscious responses to threats that human beings have developed for thousands of years. Our sympathetic nervous system is geared to act when we are in this state, it activates the fight or flight response. Simply put, your responses may not be in your control, unless you pay conscious attention.
The awareness of a threat often instinctively leads us to behave in ways that ensure our basic needs are met, physiologically our bodies act like they are in ‘survival mode’. This can preempt a more conformist and tribalistic mentality. This can result in us becoming less accepting of those with differing opinions and our moral judgments tend to become harsher. Sound familiar?
Science shows that exposure to circumstances that produce persistent fear and chronic anxiety can have lifelong consequences by disrupting the developing architecture of the brain. Think about the impact of this on the growing and developing brains of our children. It is essential that we are mindful of the impact of this stress on our younger ones.
Steps You Can Take
Science also shows that there are simple steps we can take to counteract the negative impacts of stress on our nervous system, to help dampen the fight or flight response that is automatically triggered in these situations.
- Showing kindness and gratitude towards others helps to switch these responses off.
- Choosing our words with care, helps to shape our neurology, and shift these responses.
- Belly breathing helps switch on and activate our parasympathetic nervous system, which drives rest, digestion and healing.
- Getting our nervous system checked by a chiropractor also helps switch our nervous system from ‘fight and flight’ to ‘rest, digest and heal’.
- Humming, singing and dancing all do the same thing.
- Spending time in nature promotes these great changes.
- Spending time with those we love triggers serotonin and oxytocin to be released which ensures we feel safe and loved, this drives health and wellbeing.
What we hold true here at Advanced Health Chiropractic is that we are always greater together and that humanity is ‘safer’, ‘stronger’, ‘happier’ and ‘healthier’ when we are operating from a place of ‘love’ and not ‘fear.’ So let’s focus on kindness and trust together.
Kia Kaha Aotearoa.