Over my 30 years of experience as a Physical or Physio- therapist I noticed my younger patients showing signs of extreme stress about 10 years ago which I felt was a huge concern. I had read studies on the long-term effects of chronically elevated stress-hormone levels, on adults and the results were not pretty: high blood pressure, cardio-vascular disease, cancers, lumbar disc degeneration, diabetes, to name a few. I figured that the effects of elevated cortisol levels on young developing bodies was going to be even more catastrophic. If you read Jonathan Haidt’s latest book ‘The Anxious Generation’ he pretty much nails the reasons why this is happening. He discovered that three things changed in social media around 2012 when the incidences of mental health challenges in teenagers began to escalate, those were the introduction of the ‘like’, and ‘share’ options and the reverse camera.
My concern about these escalating stress levels was one of the motivating factors that led me to do a psychology degree so I could play a bigger role in finding solutions for this challenge. During my fourth year of study, I noticed many connections between what I was learning about the mind and the effects of stress I had been feeling in the muscles and fascia of the patients I had worked on over my career. Having a background in Physical Therapy and a Degree in Psychology gave me a unique advantage in understanding the autonomic nervous system which is the link between the mind and it’s expression in the body.
Our bodies are incredibly sensitive to our environment; they are constantly taking in information about what is going on in our surroundings by sampling the incoming data and assessing our level of safety. Anything that threatens our safety causes us to tense up and brace, things like financial worries, and relationship insecurity are huge because they threaten our survival as we know it. These perceived threats are triggered by our five sensors: for example, sounds, like a tone of voice, or something creeping up behind you; sight, we perceive body language, facial expressions, a weapon of sorts; smells, like hospital disinfectant, can trigger an emotional response in your body which affects your whole system. Think of the emotions of fear, anger, embarrassment, anxiety, and how they feel in your body and then how they influence the thoughts that invade our minds.
You are Not a Bodyless Mind perched on top of a Mindless Body your mind mirrors your body, and your body mirrors your mind. Understanding this relationship is the key to preventing your stress and burnout. Have you ever wished someone could take the quagmire of information out there about managing stress, and avoiding burnout, and break it down into something practical and simple to understand? That’s exactly what I do. My mission is to gather insights from top mental-health experts—through their books, podcasts, and research—sift through the noise, and distil the key facts into a step-by-step process to understand your mental and physical well-being.
I’ll help you make some sense of the reasons we are burning out and how to turn it around so you can take control. If you have been feeling overwhelmed and often lose control, let’s get that control back; instead of the tail wagging the dog you can now start wagging the tail.