What's actually happening to my body in stressful situations?
You're a military service member on a routine presence patrol and you hear shots ring out.
Or you're a police officer on your regular beat when you see an armed robbery occurring.
Or you're sitting at the firehouse and you hear the alarm sound.
Or you're an ER worker and you hear a call coming in noting a mass casualty.
What are you feeling right now?
After me just saying these situations,
You may start to feel your fight or flight response kicking in.
Your sympathetic nervous system is taking over,
Preparing to defend you from a dangerous situation.
You start to breathe faster.
Your heart rate skyrockets.
You get a massive dose of glucose and adrenaline.
You start sweating and your pupils dilate.
You can't see as well as you normally do.
Your mouth feels very dry and maybe your stomach begins to ache.
You are not thinking clearly.
Tell me,
Is this any way to go into that situation I initially described?
Of course not.
Now what can you do about that?
The sympathetic nervous system that caused these reactions will continue to cause them until the perceived threat is removed.
Or the sympathetic nervous system is overridden.
And this is done by tapping into the parasympathetic nervous system.
Stopping even for one second and noting that you're in fight or flight response,
You can take back control.
Take a quick breath in,
Hold it,
And then slowly breathe out.
By doing this you're tapping into the vagus nerve,
Which is the control center for the parasympathetic nervous system.
It's one of the largest nerves in the body and also one of the most powerful.
As you stimulate the vagus nerve and the parasympathetic nervous system,
You can slow your heart rate,
Your blood pressure returns to normal,
Your pupils shrink,
And you're able to see more clearly.
Your sweating decreases and you're able to think more level-headed thoughts.
This is how you prepare yourself for extreme stress.
Now,
How do you do that?
Just like everything else you've ever learned to do,
You learn about it,
You learn how to do it,
You practice it,
And you perfect it.
I know what you're thinking,
If any of these situations happen there's no way I'm going to stop and take a deep breath.
Well,
My goal here is to make that automatic.
It will become second nature,
It will become ingrained so that it can be done so quickly you won't even really notice it,
And that can save your life or the lives of others.
This exercise takes no longer than one minute.
Learn to do it over and over and over in your day until you no longer need guidance on how to do it.
We'll do it here and also offer it separately so you can access that when needed.
Start with your breath.
Take a quick,
Deep breath in,
Hold it for one second,
And then slowly breathe out.
Then hold for one second.
The breath out should take at least twice as long as the breath in.
This is you tapping into that vagus nerve.
Continue doing this.
A quick,
Full breath in,
Hold,
Slowly breathe out.
Hold.
Quick breath in,
Hold,
Slow breath out.
Hold.
While you're doing this,
Note how your heart is reacting.
It will be slowing down.
I want you to actually take note of this.
Now keep doing your breathing drill,
But we're going to work to control your pupils.
Quickly look to see and identify three objects you need.
Make this a habit.
Whenever you're doing this,
Always start with the breathing and then notice the objects you need.
Lastly,
While you're still doing your breathing drill,
We're going to work to counter the dry mouth you may get in a stressful situation.
And that's done simply by thinking about your favorite food.
That'll simulate an involuntary salivation and that will help with a dry mouth.
Once you've done with that,
You're done.
Do that over and over until it's part of your muscle memory.
Figuratively and quite literally.
Whether you're a warrior on the battlefield,
A warrior on the beat,
A warrior fighting fires,
Or a warrior in the emergency room.
Wherever your war is.
If you work to make this your new stress response,
You will be a more prepared and better warrior.
Bless you all for the work you do.
