Your brain is not broken
This is a long post. It is full of important information about your brain and body, as a responder.
Human beings evolved with survival mechanisms, allowing us to react quickly to life-threatening situations. A series of hormonal changes and physiological responses helped us to fight threats or flee to safety. In modern times, the body can overreact to stressors that are not physically life-threatening, such as work pressure or family difficulties.
When a responder experiences an event they perceive to be stressful (whether it stressed you out because it is scary, violent, exhausting, or otherwise stressful, reminds you of a past stressful event, OR even if you perceive it to be stressful), the amygdala sends a distress signal to the hypothalamus. This area of the brain functions like a command center, communicating with the rest of the body through the nervous system so that the person has the energy to fight or flee. The hypothalamus talks to the rest of the body through the autonomic nervous system, which controls such involuntary body functions as breathing, blood pressure, heartbeat, and the dilation or constriction of key blood vessels and small airways in the lungs.
The autonomic nervous system has two components, the sympathetic nervous system and the parasympathetic nervous system.
· The sympathetic nervous system functions like a gas pedal in a car. It triggers the fight-or-flight response, providing the body with a burst of energy so that it can respond to perceived dangers.
· The parasympathetic nervous system acts like a brake. It promotes the "rest and digest" response that calms the body down after the danger has passed.
As the initial surge of epinephrine subsides, the hypothalamus activates the second component of the stress response system — known as the HPA axis. This network consists of the hypothalamus, the pituitary gland, and the adrenal glands.
The HPA axis relies on a series of hormonal signals to keep the sympathetic nervous system — the "gas pedal" — pressed down. If the brain continues to perceive something as dangerous, additional hormone is released to the adrenal glands, prompting them to release cortisol. The body thus stays revved up and on high alert. When the threat passes, cortisol levels fall.
The parasympathetic nervous system — the "brake" — then dampens the stress response.
Many people are unable to find a way to put the brakes on stress. We might perceive work related demands as stressful when true stress reactions are biological derived to save our lives. Is your work related stress life threatening? If you are in constant survival mode, benign things in your life will receive an inflated reaction. If your job seems to be interfering with your basic safety needs, then it is almost impossible to connect with others, have high self esteem, even strive for more in life. If you can’t relax, recover, and rest, then you can’t really live.
Chronic low-level stress keeps pushing down the gas pedal and after a while, this has an effect on the body that contributes to the health problems associated with chronic stress.
So, if you feel ashamed that you’re stressed out, please know – YOUR BRAIN IS NOT BROKEN! It is working exactly how it should be with the input provided to it.
Alcohol and caffeine can also hijack our body’s normal emotional responses. Alcohol is a depressant and a stimulant – first it gives you a 20min euphoric feeling as your BAC rises with the release of dopamine. For 2-3hours afterwards, your BAC falls and your brain releases cortisol and adrenaline. You feel itchy for that next drink. You feel sad and, if you’re on call and can’t keep drinking, you feel depressed and sad. Add in caffeine, and you’re artificially re-stimulating your brain!
We already have messed up sleeping patterns and high exposure to abnormally sad and/or violent experiences, then we add in artificial stimulation to dopamine pathways from alcohol, caffeine, and other bad habits. Responders brains get caught in an unnatural cycle of stimulation and depression. What can you do to break out of it?!
I’ve already described starting with a sleep schedule. We’ve looked at your eating. Next up is removing or limiting alcohol and caffeine (PS – I still drink coffee but learned that I needed to limit it to no more than 3 cups on mornings that I did not run all night long).
In the Burnout Protocol, my mini-course for responders, I have a whole unit dedicated to what goes in your mouth, including eating and drinking to fuel your body.
If you need help with removing or limiting alcohol from your life, I’m running a Sober October 30-Day Alcohol Experiment! More information coming soon!!
Thank you for reading! Let me know if you have any questions!
