Daily Tip #28: Stress Inoculation: Training Your Nervous System
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VARSHA: What if the secret to handling life's biggest stresses isn't avoiding them, but training your nervous system to get stronger with tiny controlled challenges.
Why is it that some people stay calm in a crisis while others fall apart over a late email or traffic jam? Today I'll show you how to train your brain, so stress actually makes you more resilient instead of burning out.
Here's the problem, when we stay in our comfort zone, our nervous system becomes like an overprotective parent. It starts treating every minor stressor, such as a tough conversation, running late, even a small little change in your routine l ike a major threat.
And when your nervous system isn't trained to handle little stresses, it overreacts to everything. Your brain pumps out cortisol and adrenaline for things that don't deserve it.
That creates chronic inflammation in your brain and it locks you into that anxious on edge state. We've all felt [00:01:00] before.
It's like having your home alarm system go off just when you shut your cabinet door.
It's detecting something, but the response is way out of proportion to the actual threat.
So here's the solution. There's something called stress inoculation. Think of it like a vaccine for your nervous system.
When you start to intentionally expose yourself to small controlled doses of stresses, , you're literally training your brain.
To respond more appropriately in the future. It's like lifting weights for your nervous system.
Every time you do something slightly uncomfortable and you come out fine, your brain learns, Hey, we can handle this. We don't need to panic.
So when you are exposing yourself to minor stresses and your brain is able to handle them, then when the real challenges come up, you are more able to handle it and you may not overreact and you respond with calm strength.
When you voluntarily [00:02:00] take on a mild stress, you activate your prefrontal cortex. This is the CEO of your brain. That part of the brain helps regulate your amygdala and your amygdala is the alarm system that often triggers fight or flight. If you are a normally constantly in reactive phase, then your amygdalas tends to take over.
But if you start exposing yourself to minor controlled stresses and you get used to handling those, then you build this muscle and you tend to use your prefrontal cortex more. And here's the key. It only works because it's voluntary. When you choose to stress, your brain stays in control. That's the big difference. When stress is chosen, like a cold shower, a new workout, or speaking up in a meeting, your prefrontal cortex stays online.
You build confidence and you build resilience. As you're able to handle more and more stressful situations, you're building that [00:03:00] muscle.
Here's your daily habit challenge. You are going to pick one small thing just outside your comfort zone, and it should be uncomfortable but not harmful.
So make sure it's something safe, totally under your control, and brief maybe 30 seconds to five minutes. So some examples are ending your shower with 30 seconds of cold water. Sparking up a conversation with a stranger at the grocery store, trying a food that you've been reluctant to try.
Call someone instead of texting. You know, we used to do that back in the day.
Or try a food that you've never eaten before.
You'll find that you are. Actually more mentally strong and resilient to stress, and that things will not phase you as much when they are unexpected and you'll be able to be more resilient
because all of these little acts of minor discomforts rewires your brain so that you are more resilient to stress.
[00:04:00] And when you stop overreacting to those minor stresses, because you learn to be comfortable with being uncomfortable, your baseline stress hormones will start to go down and then your sleep will get better. And when you sleep well. This improves your mood, improves your weight, improves your immunity, and it reduces brain inflammation.
Please follow or subscribe. Stay tuned for tomorrow for another Daily Habit challenge. Thanks for listening or watching, and have a fantastic day,
