Dr. Hans Selye's "The Fight-or-Flight Response"
& STRETCHING
Dr. Hans Selye's "The Fight-or-Flight Response"
& STRETCHING
I was a student of Dr. Hans Syle's books even as a teenager and certainly long before I discovered Natural Hygiene in 1976. Dr. Selye made countless, controlled, and fascinating studies in the 40s thru 60s. He systematically traumatized healthy, young rats and then analyzed the effects of short and long term trauma in their physiology upon autopsy. He found, without exception, a set of symptoms a stress syndrome developed in all of his subjects. I was always intrigued by Dr. Selye's findings and extrapolations as applied to we humans whose lives can so often seem as if we are in positions of helplessness and trauma at the hands of institutional and familial and societal forces beyond any modicum of our control.
When I started GetWellHStayWell, America! in 1986, I began introducing his teachings on "The Fight-or-Flight Response" and making an Hygienic connection between The Energy Robber of Emotional UnBalance, "The Physiology of Fear," and Superlative Health. The connection I have made is genius, and I have seen no other Hygienic teacher or health educator make the connection as simply and clearly as have I for The Health Seeker. I make this boast today, giving credit to God for giving me the talent to make this connection in such simple and clear terms. And I ask you, once again, to study the foregoing sheet which so clearly charts out what happens when we fall into chronic activation of what I have termed "The Physiology of Fear." The response was built into the great design of the "fearfully and wonderfully made body" so that we humans can react with instinct-like, lightning speed in times of real and momentary danger. It was never intended for chronic activation in low-grade, on-going, and mostly subconscious dread and fear and malingering, despairing unhappiness, real or often imaginary!
But look what happens over time when chronic activation of this physiology occurs: a stress syndrome that precipitates so much muscular tension and so much malfunction in the body that physical and emotional diseases take over the person's life! (See 20 "Bad Signs of Stress" opposite.) And it is all so very unnecessary! There are simple steps even the most distraught Health Seeker can take! STRETCHING is just one. I beg you today, to study these few pages and help yourselves and help others, accordingly. God never intended us to have anything but peace (except for those intense and relatively few moments of extreme danger when quick reactions are called for). In fact, a great deal of Scripture is devoted to drawing our attention to the availability of a "peace that passeth all understanding." That Emotional Balance has a counterpart in Scripture just attests to the truth of The YearBook and its overall comprehensiveness as an owner's manual in all areas of The Health Seeker's life.
The lessons here for you today, therefore, are 2-fold: #1... Start examining your thoughts and feelings that precipitate "fearful neurotransmitters" and make prayerful choices that will initiate "The Love-&-Peace Response" & #2 START.S-T-R-E-T-C-H-I-N-G-!
Bad Signs of Over-Stress
Good Signs to Stretch!
The following is a list of the most common indications of stress. Check through the list. If you display 7 or more of these conditions, you are most probably suffering an undue amount of stress. You would do well to follow a relaxation program that includes daily, unhurried, time-out sessions of stretching!
1.Poor sleep
2.Waking up feeling unrested & dispirited
3.Jumping at unexpected noises
4.Impatience & irritability
5.Dissatisfaction with life in
general, relationships, or job
6.Any constant, pointless,
repetitive action or ritual: teeth-grinding, nail-biting, tapping feet, chain-smoking, etc.
7.Compulsive habits you know to be bad for you: overeating; use of presecription or recreational drugs, alcohol, tobacco, caffeine; gamboling; workaholism; etc.
8.Shallow breathing
9.Hunched, tensed posture
10.Obsessive thoughts
11.Physical symptoms: migraines, skin complaints such as rashes or itching, indigestion, asthma, stuttering, constipation, etc.
12.Constantly feeling frustrated in your goals and dreams
13.Being late for engagements
14.Pains in neck, shoulders, chest, or back
15.Sweating and/or shaking for no apparent reason
16.Loneliness or isolationism
17.Inability to show emotion
18. Inability to enjoy life
19.Constant preoccupation with time & events other than now
20.Constant, unreasonable desire to change the unchangeable, to not accept the inevitable
