Childhood Disrupted

Some of us experience stress once a week, while others face it almost everyday. Though we experience stress in various forms and at varying levels, it’s always a physical experience. In fact, we have mechanisms to deal with stress built right into our bodies.

The human body responds to stress in two ways: getting ready for it, and relaxing after it. Whenever you experience a stressful event, your body prepares you for it by increasing your alertness. This is achieved when the hypothalamus in your brain triggers the pituitary and adrenal glands in your body. Your immune system is fired up, your pulse quickens and your muscles tense. Yes, this is your fight-or-flight response.

Just imagine you’re lying in bed in the quiet of the evening, when, suddenly, you hear a clatter on the stairs. Eyes wide, heart pounding, you listen carefully as your body stiffens. Within seconds, your body has prepared you for possible danger.

And another few seconds later, you realize that the noise was just your son heading back up to his room after grabbing a midnight snack. Your muscles and your body relax, the adrenal and pituitary glands as well as the hypothalamus decrease their activity, and the production of stress hormones ceases.

These lightning-fast responses reveal just how capable our bodies are of dealing with stress. And yet, it’s widely believed that any form of stress is bad. In fact, most of us will go to great lengths to avoid stress. The truth is that moderate forms of stress can actually increase your ability to handle stressful experiences in the future.