energy
Staying Energetic Through the Inward Pulls of Autumn
By recognizing our patterns ahead of time, we have the ability to prevent falling into those cycles that cause us to feel exhausted.
Heading into the new school year is a good time to set our intentions for how we want to live in the months ahead. Especially here in Alaska , summertime leads us to focus on the outside world. Our energy goes towards producing and gathering food, enjoying the sunshine, and keeping the body active. As the seasons shift towards fall, however, that energy moves inward. As the light fades, our focus shifts towards school, work, and interpersonal relationships. Stresses may increase as work hours augment, schoolwork piles up, and we suddenly have to juggle more activities into a busy schedule.
Each of us has a pattern of how we act and react to stress, and these patterns can cause the body to get out of balance. Stress is of critical importance to our survival. From an evolutionary standpoint, exposure to stressors enforces that we are perpetuating the strongest and most fit members of our community. On a less philosophical level, moderate levels of stress keep us motivated and engaged, and the body is built to perform optimally when there is a balance of stressors and relaxation. However, our cultural standard is focused on rewarding productivity, and often relaxation is viewed as laziness. In this context, that balance can be easily discarded or lost.
We all know what it means to feel out of balance, but what is actually happening physiologically? Depending on your pattern, there are a number of ways that imbalance can manifest itself in the body:
The body’s first reaction in a stressful situation is to produce the hormones that have historically allowed us to survive. This means that when our ancestors ran into the bear, their bodies released hormones (epinephrine and cortisol) that allowed them to run fast, jump high, and see well. Epinephrine, or adrenalin, increases the heart rate, brings blood to our muscles, dilates our pupils, and opens our airways to bring in plenty of oxygen. Cortisol quickly mobilizes our fat stores and turns them into glucose to feed the brain and muscles. These hormones are very important for surviving the run from the bear; however, these are released with any stressor. This means that if we become angry with a coworker, feel pressed for a deadline, are running late for a meeting, or are too tired from lack of sleep, our adrenals will produce epinephrine and cortisol.
