When conducting a Polygraph test to figure out whether a suspect is lying or not the equipment the police apply measures body signs that indicate a stress response, if you have watched the process before, either in real life or on the movies did you notice that the electrodes and sensors they use are placed on the body and not on the head? That’s because no matter what you try to project to the world, your body will always tell the truth.
How does a lie transmit to the body?
Did you know that every thought you have turns into proteins? And that those proteins become the neurotransmitters, hormones, and enzymes that run your body. Each thought engenders a cascade of chemicals coursing through your body choreographed by your Autonomic Nervous System, expressed physiologically (racing heart rate, upset stomach, increased sweating) , and felt emotionally (anger, anxiety, depression). Negative thoughts send you into Fight and Flight (controlled by the Sympathetic nervous system) and produce a cascade of chemicals that affect your body negatively. If the negative thought produced anger, all the stress hormones and neurotransmitters associated with anger would be released and impact your: sweat glands, heart rate, pupil dilation, immune system, sleep cycles, hormonal system, digestion, cell reproduction etc, then you would feel anger in your body, and can you see that, over time, this could lead towards burning out?
Positive thoughts, on the other hand, would produce positive chemicals which might be felt as joy, anticipation, or calm. Your body would go into Rest and Repair (controlled by the Parasympathetic nervous system) and all your healthy biochemical pathways would be activated to, breathe calmly, digest your food, balance your moods, restore your sleep cycles, build your immunity, etc. Can you see how important this Rest and Repair state would be to recover from your burnout?
If a lie detector can “Tune-in” to our bodies stress responses, then maybe we can also learn how to tune-in to our own stress responses, recalibrate our bodies, and regulate our nervous system back into the healthier Rest and Repair state because the more time we can give our cells to rest and repair every day, the more likely we are to heal from burnout.
Doing a mental “Body Scan” a few times per day will help you become more aware of how your body is responding to your environment. Has your heart rate increased, is your breathing fast or shallow, do you feel pressure, are your muscles tight anywhere in your body, are you feeling any pain in your body? All of these are signs of your body being in a state of fight and flight. To regulate your system back to rest and repair you need to find ways to calm your body. Take a “body break” if you are at work, get up and move around, walk in nature or appreciate a beautiful view, and breathe deeply like a calm person would. Social engagement with another person who is calm can also have the effect of calming your body. Once your body is calm it is easier to access more uplifting thoughts.
Pay attention to your thoughts, are you dwelling on stressful thoughts? Are you focussing on situations you have no control over like world peace or the lack thereof? Does it help to wallow in those negative thoughts? Are you choosing to believe your thoughts without questioning their validity? Is there a more uplifting narrative you could be focussing on instead? Thinking is not a passive affliction, it is one of the most powerful ways we can change our situation, using the analogy of TV watching, if your life feels like a suspense thriller or horror movie then change the channel and focus on something that you love. There are only two things we can control in life, our thoughts and our actions, and that is difficult enough. If you are trying to control anyone else’s thoughts and actions, their TV channel, you will soon become exhausted.