Take your health into your own hands

Take your health into your own hands

Take your health into your own hands

When we are stressed we have more difficulty perceiving danger

We are often mistakenly led to think that a high-stress situation gives us the ability to pay more attention to the dangers around us, increasing our state of alertness, or perhaps making our senses more overpowering and able to pick up on any detail. But the reality is not always this, in fact most of the time the opposite happens! In fact, stress would only diminish our perception of pitfalls and dangers.

The study

This thesis was pursued by a team of New York University scholars, led by researcher Candace Raio, and published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. According to the study, in fact, stress decreases our abilities in perceiving danger and predicting new dangerous stimuli. It thus contributes to making our bodies less flexible to the new forms that a threat might take, making us very vulnerable and thus putting our own health at risk in certain situations (think, for example, when we are driving or handling dangerous objects). According to Candare Raio in fact, “When we are under stress, we pay less attention to changes in the environment, exposing ourselves to increased risk precisely because we ignore new sources of danger.”

The test

To reach this conclusion, New York University scholars subjected some volunteers to a conditioning test divided into two phases. In the first phase, all participants viewed a series of photos, some of which were accompanied by a small electric shock on the wrist. The photos with the discharge depicted images of danger, those without, on the other hand, depicted harmless situations. The following day half of the participants (the unlucky ones we would say) underwent a procedure to increase the stress levels in their bodies: they had to immerse their arm in ice water for a few minutes in order to increase the levels of certain stress hormones, such as cortisol and the alpha amylase.

At this point the test was repeated again, however, reversing the shocks, which this time were carried out with the “safe” images. According to the researchers’ measurements, participants under stress showed a slower physiological reaction in ‘detecting new dangers, almost as if they had not grasped at all that the dangerous stimuli had changed. In fact, stress inhibited their ability to learn, interfering with their ability to associate shock with danger.

This is very important research, as learning how to quickly intercept dangers, or even predict them, can be very important for our safety and survival. So is being resilient and adapting quickly to the transformations that danger can have from one moment to the next.

Eight tips to combat stress

  1. We live in a world that constantly puts us under stress! Work, study, family problems, sports, now everything is a cause for stress if we are unable to organize the various activities throughout our daily routine. Even a summer vacation, if not thought out in detail, can be a cause of mental and physical stress on our bodies. How then to find an escape route to this oppressive condition ? Again, the practice of Mindfulness plays in our favor, describing the 8 tips to combat stress. Let’s see together what they are.

Tips for combating stress

1 – Be aware of all the signs (physical, emotional and mental ) that indicate to you that a particular situation or event is stressful. Try to react rationally and calmly rather than impulsively to what happens to you.

2 – Remember as much as possible throughout the day that you are a complete, infinite being, losing nothing by allowing your sensitivity and love to express itself.

3 – Pay attention to the feelings, whether negative or positive, that you are experiencing in a stressful situation. When they are present be aware of what your behavior is in response to them and judge whether it is an appropriate reaction or not, keeping in mind the consequences of your actions.

4 – Pay attention to how much your feelings and moods affect the way you feel physically at that moment. Reason about your body movements, how you drink, how you eat, and how you appear in the eyes of others.

5 – Notice whether your mind turns its thoughts to memories of the past or, on the contrary, projects itself into anticipations of the future, and how much this all revolves around the I, ME and MINE. Is all this necessary ? Does it cause you pain ? Wouldn’t it be better to take your mind off these thoughts ?

6 – Be more aware of the present moment, focus your attention, especially through the use of breathing, on what you are experiencing at this very moment. Reflect on the here and now, without letting your mind digress too much into thoughts and memories that may increase the uncomfortable situation resulting from stress.

7 – Be aware of every feeling that arises from your body, whether positive or negative ( fear, anger, jealousy, laziness, joy, security, calmness, etc.).

8 – Imagine that your life was coming to an end at this moment, how would you like your mind to be at this moment ? You can think about what to do practically to make your intention come true consistently, in everyday life.

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CULTIVATING HEALTH
 
MENOPAUSE
 
MOM IN SHAPE
 
TRADITIONAL CHINESE MEDICINE
 
HEART SURGERY
 
MEDICINES AND MEDICAL DEVICES
 
PARENTING
 
THE CULTURE OF HEALTH
 
HEALTH UTILITIES
 
GENERAL MEDICINE
 
NATURAL MEDICINE, THERMAL
 
MIND AND BRAIN
 
NEUROVEGETATIVE DYSTONIA
 
WAYS OF BEING
 
HEALTH AND SOCIETY
 
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EYES
 
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BONES AND LIGAMENTS
 
ENDOCRINE SYSTEM
 
NERVOUS SYSTEM
 

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