Make stress your friend and not your foe

Stress is all around us and we are wired to respond to stress by increasing the mechanisms that allow us to flight, flee or freeze. Our stress response is necessary for our survival. Our heart rate increases so that we can run faster; our pupils dilate so that we can see danger; our digestion stops and blood is shunted to our muscles. From the time we are conceived, the stress response has allowed us to survive and build resiliency. With stress that is not excessive or severe, we become stronger. The problem arises when there is excessive or chronic stress. With repeated stress, the response becomes more robust and lasts longer setting the milieu for chronic diseases such as hypertension, metabolic syndrome, depression and diabetes to name a few. 

The good news is that we can reduce and control our stress response to make it less dangerous by eliciting the relaxation response. One of the best and easiest ways is by using our breath. We normally do not think about breathing. It is controlled by the autonomic nervous system (ANS)  which is the involuntary part of out nervous system.It controls all aspects of our bodies without us having to think about what is happening. But although the ANS is involuntary, we can still exert some control on it. 

The ANS has two arms, the sympathetic nervous system - fight or flight - and the parasympathetic nervous system - rest and relax. When these two arms are in balance, our organs are functioning normally and our brains are creative and engaged. One of the best and simplest ways to balance the ANS, which usually means increasing the parasympathetic arm, is by using our breath. When we consciously breathe is certain ways, the vagus nerve is activation and the parasympathetic nervous system is engaged. You can start practicing breath work by using the 4-7-8 breath. It takes less than a minute and can be done any time you want to slow down or center yourself. It is easy! Take in a breath through your nose and count to 4. Hold for a count of 7. Exhale through your mouth with the tongue being your front teeth for a count of 8. Repeat several times. You can practice this with Dr. Weil:

Vivian Kominos, MD, FACC, ABOIM
Assistant Professor of Medicine, University of Arizona School of Medicine, Andrew Weil Center for Integrative Medicine