Relaxation - what does it really mean?

Sitting by the television at the end of a day, blocking out the things that happened during the day?
Perhaps a two week holiday once a year?
Maybe a cool drink on the weekend with friends around?

Well, sure, those things can help us feel relaxed. For a bit. But how long does that bliss last? True relaxation is something that we can experience, then is able to carry on and affect us even when we're busily dealing with day to day pressures. How? Well, first we need to chat about that other word, Stress.

Stress is not a dirty word!
A long time ago, our human body developed a handy and extremely efficient means of survival, in what was a pretty dangerous world to live in. When you headed off to hunt for evening dinner, there were many things to be well aware of, if you wanted to return home safely and not end up as someone else's dinner.

Our clever brain set up an emergency system. Knowing that many critters lurking in the hills were likely swifter - or at least bigger - than we humans, our brain developed a concoction of chemicals and minerals, right inside our body. This potion was designed to distribute throughout our nervous system, containing enough zing that it entered our muscles as well... and one drop of it, at the appropriate moment, could launch our body into Superhuman mode. Nearly instantly, our eyesight became sharper, our hearing more sensitive... the muscles in our legs tensed, ready to catapult us at super speed. Every function of our body, nearly every internal organ, jumped into hyper-speed, ready to flee for safety.

You've felt this potion at work yourself. When that car appeared from nowhere and you swerved just in time... heart pounding in your chest and a lump in your throat. Without even thinking about it, your reactions were so fast. And did you notice how you needed to stop for a bit after it. Tingling all over, your heart still racing, maybe even beads of sweat on your forehead. Pretty soon, after a few deep breaths, you relax again and return to normal. But without that sudden burst of energy, you may not have faired so well.

Think about this also : have you ever sat in a movie theatre, as the crescendo scene builds up and the music begins racing, and felt your heart beating faster and your emotions syncing in with what's happening on the screen? That's how good your brain is. It can even deliver the Super Potion when the danger isn't actually real. You become so involved in the theatrics, and they are so believable, that as far as your brain is concerned this is real and present danger.

And here lies the trap.

While it is a very, very good thing that our body can Stress Up, ready for action, it can not successfully sustain itself in that mode for extended periods of time. This Super Potion requires a lot from our body and nervous system. After only a few moments of continuous stress, we begin to sort of "burn out". Our body cannot keep in that state for too long... otherwise the opposite effect actually begins to happen. Our eyesight weakens, our hearing becomes confused, our sense of balance is disrupted. Each organ that is operating in fast mode becomes weaker and needs a rest. Our heart doesn't enjoy pounding away for too long... it puts pressure on the blood flow throughout our body.

Contained Stress
So, stress is a required part of our bodily function. We need it. When we're waiting for that tiger to jump through the shrub and attack, we need to be ready to flee.

But imagine, if you will : instead of a tiger approaching, we think about that deadline approaching - or the rent payment approaching - or any number of other worries. Like being at the movies, our brain registers these things as real and present danger. Our brain releases the Super Potion. And we wait, stressed and ready to flee.

What about, however, when the rent payment isn't due for another two weeks? What if that deadline for the boss doesn't actually have to be delivered for another four days? The Potion is being released each time we become anxious. Our body is put under stress and, as we have already discussed, we cannot sustain that for long periods of time. What happens? We begin to burn out.

Summary
This is a very brief summary of stress and we will go into more accurate detail further along. Suffice to say though that we now realise two things :

1. Stress is a natural and necessary function of our body
2. We cannot sustain levels of intense stress for too long

There is little doubt in the minds of medical practitioners around the world that stress is a major cause of many forms of dis-ease.

While it is not practical to remove all of the things that make us anxious, worried and stressed, we can learn ways to help contain the stress levels - called Stress Management - and learn to better deal with anxiety.