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All this is great in the short term. However, if after two minutes either you or the lion has not cleared off – your adrenals will start producing the long term stress hormone cortisol, with the resulting stress symptoms. Cortisol continues to keep your breathing fast, your heart rate up, and your sex drive, digestion, immune system and clear thinking switched off. On top of that, your blood pressure will stay high, putting you at risk of possible hypertension and heart disease – in the long term.
No lions round here
The stressor may not be that hungry lion after all.
It may be an unhappy marriage, working life, financial situation, bereavement, etc. So the 'symptoms' of stress – raised blood pressure, exhaustion, loss of sex drive, digestive problems like IBS and so forth are actually adaptive and essential functions that are now out staying their welcome. On top of that raised blood pressure .
And the stress relief solution?
The ultimate stress reduction is relaxation – lots of it and regularly. Whether that's through hypnosis, yoga, diet, exercise, or making time to do the things you enjoy.
In fact, if you do anything you wouldn't dream of doing when confronted with a lion (such as reading for pleasure), the stress response will switch off and you'll start feeling and functioning better. The instant you relax, stress symptoms begin to recede: your immune function works better again, your blood pressure normalises, your sex drive gets a look in and clear thought raises its sensible head once more. This means you'll be more likely to manage the difficulties that had been causing the stress in the first place.
The symptoms of stress aren't mysterious – they are in fact functions which have evolved to serve us but which are now being over-used to the point of working against us.
And that little boy at prize giving sure was good at managing his stress levels. I noticed him snoozing contentedly throughout the second half of the award ceremony.
Article by Mark Tyrrell. You can train with Mark from anywhere in the world, on our distance learning therapy courses, in topics such as Learn hypnosis online, Lift depression fast and the Fast Phobia Cure.
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