5 ms·
The autonomic nervous system and the adrenal cortex. Homeostasis is taught as a textbook fact, the body reverting to a baseline over time. What’s not taught is
by robg 4y ago
The autonomic nervous system and the adrenal cortex. Homeostasis is taught as a textbook fact, the body reverting to a baseline over time. What’s not taught is how much the impacts of daily life events drive a continuous stress response. Fight or flight is not just a reaction to deadly threats. It’s active every moment of every day to ensure survival. The adrenal cortex is always active, to traffic, your boss and colleagues, relationship struggles, and overall health and wellness like sleep and nutrition. Yes, the system reverts to a baseline over time but how much that baseline varies is obvious in tracking resting heart rate.
- rzzzt 4y ago"Understanding Stresses and Strains" from 1968 presents a good depiction of the mechanism with familiar-looking cartoon characters: https://archive.org/details/understandingstressesandstrains https://archive.org/details/understandingstressesandstrains The caveman pressing the alarm button is something I think of a lot.
- eternalban 4y agoI had to see it. Thanks for sharing.
- rramadass 4y agoAny books you could recommend? I presume you already know of this book: The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma by Bessel van der Kolk.
- sirsinsalot 4y agoThank you. Bought and reading.
- robg 4y agoThat’s a great one. I’ve been looking for something that links the physiology with knowledge work and life demands, but I haven’t found it yet.
- chucklenorris 4y agoI'll add one more book reccomendation on this subject: Sapolsky's "Why zebras don't get ulcers". It's a really eye opening summary of the physiology of the stress response literature. Quite scary at times.