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We all know people who appear to sail through life without a care in the world, no matter what’s thrown at them. Similarly, we have all witnessed the complete and utter breakdown of friends or colleagues when their worlds collapse around their feet. Is this laid-back approach a natural inclination or a learned response? Are the cool headed just lucky or do they possess some kind of innate superpower?
Everyone suffers set-backs in life. Often it feels like problems arrive in clusters, compounding our stresses further. One thing is for certain, no one leads a ‘charmed life’. No matter what is happening in our lives to cause distress, we can all work on behavioural and psychological processes known to enhance our resilience to stress factors.
Stress is a necessary part of life. In evolutionary terms, it was the difference between life and death. Our biology adapted to form two pathways for dealing with stressful situations. The brain gathers together all the sensory data it receives and sends it to a region called the amygdala. Here the current threat is compared to memories of similar events. Armed with a template of how to react from your past, the amygdala either ignores the situation or triggers an emergency response.
This alarm activation stimulates glands to release two different chemicals into the bloodstream…