How
Stress Affects The Nervous System
By
Adrian Whittle 
The nervous system comprises the
brain, the spine and the multitude of nerves throughout
the body. The nervous system runs the body. In this
respect, it is responsible for making sure the organs
within the body do the right things at the right time. It
is also responsible for making the body react to external
stimulus. It schedules, monitors and makes decisions that
keep the body functioning and aware. This is commonly
termed homeostasis. As you can imagine this is an
extremely complex task that we often tend to take for
granted.
If the nervous
system was to fail or become damaged a person could lose
the ability to walk, talk, feel pain and a whole host of
other things. So does stress affect the nervous system,
and if so, does it cause it to malfunction ?
The nervous system
is different from most of the other systems within the
body because it is effectively the monitor of stress for
the body. If the nervous system senses that a situation is
stressful it causes physiological changes within the body
to occur.
Some of these
physiological changes include making the heart beat
faster, releasing adrenaline and cortisol into the
bloodstream, drawing blood away from the stomach and
extremities of the body and dilating the pupils of the
eyes. This is known as the fight or flight response.
All these changes
are necessary for the body in sudden stressful situations
but are extremely damaging to the health when they stop
being an exception and become the norm. This commonly
occurs when the body is experiencing chronic or persistent
stress or if the nervous system tells the body that this
is the case.
This final point is
important because the nervous system also controls how the
body reacts after a stressful situation. This is often
termed the rest and digest response. Amongst other things,
the nervous system reduces the amount of energy hormones
in the bloodstream, reduces the heart rate and redirects
blood to the stomach and extremities. It is a way of
saying everything is ok again, you can start eating again.
If the nervous
system is constantly telling the body to be on a state of
high alert then it can't or won't tell the body to calm
down and relax. Ultimately this is dangerous to the health
of the body. This is why relaxation techniques such as
meditation, yoga and deep breathing are popular methods
for convincing the nervous system that everything is ok
and that the body can start to relax.
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