Hans Selye, “The Father of Stress”, was an icon in scientific circles worldwide, an influential endocrinologist, known for his research on the effects of stress on the human body.
An Austrian / Hungarian scientist who later moved to Montreal, Canada -
When I was given a 30 minute window to question Hans Selye, he told me that “Stress” is a misused word and as well, misunderstood.
He went on.. "people say I’m under stress, but there’s no stress out there to be under!"
“Pressure” is on the outside, and when an animal or a human being is placed under a pressure, or forces themselves to be under pressure, in an environment they are not used to, say, at work, on a sporting field, or in a domestic situation, the human body reacts with a STRESS RESPONSE.
This stress response can either be negative, it can be positive, or it can be neutral.
How we handle pressure is part learned, part innate, and more than all, it’s the experience of having been there before - Been there, done that!
Let’s pretend that you’re playing in a Grand Final, or in a hostile work space, doing a deal, or having a heated discussion with a family member, do you tend to? snap! yell! explode! act physically. Or perhaps you just store it up inside your brain and body, and retreat.
In the animal kingdom, the acute stress response is called Fight or Flight. ....bash em or run for it. Bursts of Adrenaline, and more adrenaline.
Humans, supposedly more sophisticated, may decide not to forcibly react immediately, If you’re at the start of the 100 metres in the Olympics Final, and the race is called off because of dangerous, stormy, lightning and thunder, and you’re told the final will, again, be in 3 days time, you stew for 72 hours, and this causes the chronic stress response to kick in, with massive overdoses of cortisone and cortisol hormones filling your body and mind - these will slowly destroying you.
The Pressure Cooker of life is literally stewing you, and will result in a dramatic onset of ill health. You see its not just the toxins we put in our body thorough what we eat or which are absorbed through our skin. Stress the silent killer has its roll to play.
Learning how to cope.
One of the greatest (and most fortunate) experiences for me is marriage, for 50 years, to an amazing girl, mother of 5 children, and Gold Medal Nanna, and lucky, Women are always right!
So, get out of the Pressure Cooker often. The pressure cooker of life has two release valves on it -
1 - a Physical Valve and
2 - a Psychological (emotional) Valve.
Let’s learn how to release this pressure, and live an energetic, healthy and happy life!
- Dr John Tickell
