The Stress System vs. The Rest System: Balancing Survival and Well-being

I was at the Foo Fighters the other day. I got out of work early, had time to chill, a table booked for food, and the weather was glorious. It was also my 9-year-old son’s first gig. What should have been a moment of bliss and being in the moment—witnessing my son’s joy—was just alright. I found my mind wandering to stressors and only felt that “in the moment” feeling fleetingly. I just wasn’t as present as I wanted to be, not as present as I might have felt a decade ago. I started wondering what had changed. A sizeable chunk of the problem is stress.

In my line of work, it’s abundantly clear that the balance between rest and stress is heavily weighted toward stress. Sometimes this might be due to things out of our control, such as physical illness, money, or unexpected life events, but often it’s the way a person is living that maintains the problem. Nine times out of ten, the people I speak with who are struggling with all manner of mental and/or physical health difficulties don’t really get the gravity of stress and really don’t take it seriously.

Stress is an inescapable part of life, a physiological response honed over millennia to ensure our survival. It is going nowhere. In the modern world, this stress system designed to protect us can often do more harm than good when overstimulated for a long time. Furthermore, the world now, compared to 10,000 years ago when we evolved into Homo sapiens, is very different and is changing at breakneck speed.

The last couple of generations have witnessed the most insane and weird things: social media, the emergence of AI, digital everything, the COVID pandemic, and the worrying future of our climate. Who knows what the next decade will bring? One thing I know is that it’s going to get a lot weirder.

Day to day, our eyes are no longer focused on our immediate surroundings. Our thoughts are no longer just on our immediate family or tribe. We don’t just move around to hunt and gather. We carry online identities viewed by hundreds if not thousands of people. To order a meal, you need another app. We are sedentary at work, seeing the world on a computer screen. We are constantly introspective about how we fit into a complex world with multiple identities, comparing ourselves to others, and wanting the latest thing. On top of this, we have genuinely hard stressors such as loss, chronic health issues, and a world constantly vying for our attention.

The stress response, present in every living thing with some level of a nervous system, impacts our health and well-being so radically that I think it needs to be understood by all of us. If we know more about how our bodies work, we can begin to manage this stress system better.

The Stress System: An Evolutionary Necessity

The stress response is often referred to as the “fight-or-flight” response. Freeze is often added, as well as other terms I cannot keep up with. Whatever the response is, it is embedded in our survival instinct and prepares the body to face immediate threats. It acts fast, independent of our ‘thinking’ brain. What good is running from a bear if you have to think about running first? Evolution has granted us with a body that takes control of itself all by itself. Amazing really, this is called the autonomic nervous system, aka ANS. These include heart rate, digestion, respiratory rate, pupillary response, urination, and sexual arousal. The autonomic nervous system operates largely unconsciously and is divided into two main branches:

1. Sympathetic Nervous System (SNS): This is often referred to as the “fight-or-flight” system. It prepares the body to respond to perceived threats by increasing heart rate, dilating airways, and releasing stored energy.
2. Parasympathetic Nervous System (PNS): This is known as the “rest-and-digest” system. It promotes relaxation and recovery by slowing the heart rate, stimulating digestion, and conserving energy.

Detection of a Threat: When your body detects a threat—like seeing a dangerous animal or hearing a loud noise—it starts a complex chain of events to prepare you to handle the situation. This is often referred to as the “fight-or-flight” response.

HPA Axis Activation:

1. Hypothalamus: The process begins in your brain with a region called the hypothalamus, the command center.
2. Pituitary Gland: The hypothalamus sends a signal to the pituitary gland, which then releases a hormone called ACTH (adrenocorticotropic hormone).
3. Adrenal Glands: ACTH travels through your bloodstream to your adrenal glands, located on top of your kidneys.

Role of Cortisol and Adrenaline:

• Cortisol: Once the adrenal glands receive the signal, they release cortisol, a hormone that helps manage your body’s use of fats, proteins, and carbohydrates. It also suppresses non-essential functions that might get in the way of handling the threat (like digestion and immune responses). Cortisol has many functions. In the short term, it is remarkable, but in the long term, the good effects turn bad. Short term: improved immune response. Long term: suppressed immune response. Short term: helps metabolize energy. Long term: causes insulin resistance, increased fat deposition, and metabolic issues.
• Adrenaline: The adrenal glands also release adrenaline (also known as epinephrine). Adrenaline boosts your energy and increases your heart rate, blood pressure, and breathing rate. It also turns down some parts of your body that aren’t immediately needed, like digestion, so that more energy can go to the muscles and other vital areas. Ever get a dry mouth when stressed? This is your stress system turning off your digestive system to prioritize blood flow and energy to more essential organs that will save your life. After all, why would you want to slowly digest a meal when running from a bear?

Sympathetic Nervous System Activation: At the same time, your sympathetic nervous system (part of the ANS) is activated. This system controls your body’s rapid involuntary response to dangerous or stressful situations.

• Increased Heart Rate: Your heart pumps faster to get more blood to your muscles.
• Rapid Breathing: You breathe faster to increase oxygen supply.
• Energy Release: Your liver releases glucose for a quick energy boost.

Changes in Vigilance, Psychological, and Physiological States:

• Vigilance: Your senses become sharper. You are more alert and focused on the threat.
• Psychological Changes: You might feel anxious, afraid, or aggressive. These feelings are your body’s way of preparing you to either fight or flee.
• Physiological Changes: Your muscles tense up, pupils dilate (to see better), and sweat production increases (to cool your body).

Wind-Down Process: Once the threat is gone, your body needs to return to its normal state. This process can take from a few minutes to several hours, depending on the intensity of the stressor and your individual response. The parasympathetic nervous system (another part of the ANS) helps calm your body. This is the state we need to be in to rest, recover, process, and be intimate. The parasympathetic nervous system does a lot for our body, such as:

• Decreasing Heart Rate: Your heart slows down.
• Lowering Blood Pressure: Heart contractions decrease, helping to lower blood pressure.
• Slowing Breathing: Your breathing rate returns to normal.
• Reducing Hormone Levels: Levels of adrenaline and cortisol gradually decrease.
• Metabolic Slowdown: Energy is stored for future use.
• Digestion: Everything from digestive juices to increased nutrient absorption, urination, and defecation happens here.
• Immune Function: Reduced stress and inflammation lead to better immune function.
• Sex and Intimacy: This is where the magic happens.

Modern Stressors and Their Impact

We aren’t meant to spend much time in the sympathetic nervous system state. Ideally, it’s a short-term response to immediate threats. However, the problem today is that even small stressors, like receiving a worrying email, can trigger this same stress response. It might not be a full fight-or-flight reaction, but it’s there, lingering and disrupting our hormones, emotions, thoughts, and behaviours. This lingering stress response can lead to chronic stress, which negatively impacts our overall health and well-being.

What’s worse is that things that happen to us, like a nagging email from our boss, make us worry, which prolongs stress. For most of who have stressful things happen to us in this modern world, its not as easy as just switching off. We overthink scenarios, we dwell, ruminate and worry.

We need to think of stress as a balancing act. Too much stress throws our whole mind and body off kilter. Too much relaxation does the same. We’ve got to do our best to find that sweet spot.

I like to use an analogy. Think about a phone battery. Someone who is well has a full battery; their mind and body are functioning as well as they can. The person’s hormone and chemical profile is as good as it can get for them. When it’s full, they can think and feel as optimally as possible. They can be sad when something sad happens or feel happy when something joyous happens. Sleep hormones are in the right place. Hunger strikes when you’re hungry. You have normal levels of energy. Your mental health is good for you; you’ll feel low, stressed, or anxious when it is reasonable to feel these. You get the picture. However, when your stress mode is turned on, it drains your battery, whereas rest mode improves your battery. When stressed for too much or too long, it might tip the balance, and there is a net drain on the battery. When the battery begins to run low, this is where things break down. Chemicals, neurotransmitters, and hormones begin to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Our emotions, thoughts, and actions change. Then we get caught in a vicious cycle, and before long, the battery drains completely. Then burnout hits. Then we break down or something snaps.

How Do We Achieve Balance?

Maintaining a healthy balance between the SNS and PNS is crucial for overall well-being. It’s hard for most of us to make massive changes and expect old habits to die, but here are some strategies to start employing. Reminder: there is no quick fix and I’m afraid the suggestions are ones that almost everyone would know. But here is the good part, majority of this stuff is in our control. If its not in your control you can certainly get help to gain a bit of control through a whole range of local resources or self help materials.

Regular physical activity, such as walking, jogging, or yoga, helps reduce stress hormones and promotes relaxation. Daily meditation and mindfulness practices can calm the mind, lowering stress levels and engaging the PNS. Breathing techniques like diaphragmatic breathing can activate the PNS and counteract stress. Healthy lifestyle choices, including a balanced diet and adequate sleep, support overall health and help regulate the body’s stress response.

Effective stress management is vital. Organizing your time, prioritizing tasks, and taking regular breaks can significantly reduce stress. Engaging in relaxing activities, spending time with loved ones, and enjoying hobbies also support balance. Check out your local NHS team or local charity, as many courses related to stress are being run.

Strong social connections and seeking support from friends and family can reduce stress and promote PNS activation. What’s great about our bodies is they are incredibly adaptive to our surroundings. For example, if you are feeling awful, being with people or doing things you typically find enjoyable or relaxing can nudge your adaptive body toward feeling better.

Incorporating these strategies into your daily routine can help achieve a healthy balance between the SNS and PNS, leading to better physical and mental health, improved stress management, and overall well-being.

So, there you have it. Hopefully now you are a little more clued up on our autonomic nervous system and how it works. It’s not just about getting rid of stress, but by finding that balance and by letting stress do its thing when needed and finding that time to rest and recover. If you are really struggling, lean on some support and get help. There are some great resources out there; Overcoming Stress: A self help-guide using cognitive behavioural techniques and the greatest of all time podcast; the Huberman lab.