Stanford researcher says THIS is why stress matters

In a recent podcast interview, Stanford Researcher, Dr. Robert Sapolsky, was asked,

"What do you wish more people knew about how stress impacts the human body?"

Dr. Sapolsky has spent his entire career studying what stress does to our bodies--he's written a half-dozen books about it.

And yet, surprisingly, his answer didn't mention cancer, heart disease or longevity.

He mentioned kindness.

"For me, the most meaningful thing is that it does crummy things to your brain. Stress makes you less empathic, less tolerant, it makes you less willing to take someone else's perspective, it narrows your tunnel of concerns and I think what we see is in a world full of stress, people are crummier to each other." 

And that's understandable. 

When stress hormones are released, you go into self-preservation mode and your systems dealing with growth, tissue repair, immunity, reproduction and digestion are muted.

In this mode you get more tribal, more reactive, more insular as all energy is diverted towards survival.

Now does any of this remind you of your experience with social media, news, politics or your phone?

It all boils down to what I mentioned last week: your nervous system does not know the difference between stress that is real in front of you, imagined or theoretically impending.

And so although you probably aren't currently in any physical danger the majority of the time, your hormones might be responding as if you were due to your workload, ruminations or media consumption.

And that stress response then influences your thoughts, words & actions.

For all of these reasons, I do not see it as a stretch to say that your relationship to stress might be THE most important factor in how empathetic, patient, reactive, avoidant or generous you are capable of being each day.  

Understanding your habitual response to stress, what triggers it, how long it lasts, and what to do to return to homeostasis becomes so much more than self-care. 

It becomes selfless, self-care. 

It becomes community care.

Relationship care. 

It becomes a prerequisite for showing up intentionally in this world that is not designed with your nervous system in mind and is advancing faster than your evolution can keep up.

Here's one step you can take today:

After work, before you put in your earbuds, open instagram or read NPR, ask yourself the question, "Am I grounded enough for more?"

If the answer is no, simply give yourself a few moments do nothing. 

Or do something to help you find groundedness first and then go to consume more.

Or simply just begin to realize how easy it is unintentionally pour fuel on the fire by adding more information when you are already past your capacity.  

Noticing this pattern is a great place to start.

If you want more concrete steps, next month I will be leading a workshop on Stress--Relief & Resilience Skills. If this is something you'd like to learn more about, reply to this email with the word "Interested" and I'll keep you in the loop with more details.

Sending you all love and light.

My name is Kevin and I want to help you live an intentional, resilient life.