It’s no joke that with the holidays comes stress. While our body is able to handle stress in small quantities, overexposure to stress over extended periods of time, also known as chronic stress, can inhibit your body’s neurological response system.
Your body is naturally equipped with a neurological response system commonly known as the “fight-or-flight” response. When a threat is perceived, it triggers the part of your brain known as the amygdala, which is responsible for emotional processing. Your amygdala then immediately signals your hypothalamus, the command center of the brain, to communicate with your nervous system to provide adrenaline and cortisol to your body to increase your heart rate, blood flow, and boost energy to either fight off the threat or flee from it. Once the threat has passed, your nervous system is able to regulate itself by returning adrenaline and cortisol levels back to normal.
But when you suffer from chronic stress, your body is constantly stuck in that fight-or-flight mode because it perceives that stress as a physical threat. Having this stress response always present can not only disrupt your body’s system functions, it can also put you at an increased risk of many other health problems such as high blood pressure, heart disease, muscle tension, and so much more!
It’s important that you keep your nervous system functioning as optimally as possible to help eliminate the stress on your body and help regulate your neurological response system. Our team at Launch Wellness Center is here to help serve you this holiday season. Schedule a visit with our team to help beat the holiday stress before it beats you!
