Memory defines the way a person experiences the world- their perceptions, structures of their life, and the behaviours they choose consciously or unconsciously.
We experience our world through the nervous system (brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nerves). For example:
Our brain decides what is a stressor- whether it is real or not! To the brain there is no difference between actually being chased by a bear and vividly imagining being chased. The brain’s response to stress, called Fight or Flight, is virtually the same.
Is a challenge to homeostasis/allostasis. It is "A state of bodily or mental tension resulting from factors that tend to alter an existent equilibrium."
- Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary
Factors
Stressors trigger the nervous system to produce hormones to respond to the perceived danger. Specifically, the adrenal glands produce more adrenaline and cortisol, releasing them into the bloodstream. This speeds up heart and breathing rates, and increases blood pressure and metabolism. There is an increase in oxygen demand, glucose demand, and muscle activity. It turns off digestion, shuts off the immune system, and general healing and repair functions stop. These changes help us to react quickly and effectively under pressure.
This is known as the "stress response," or more commonly, as the "fight or flight response." It is a vital response to our survival as it re-establishes the body’s balance and equilibrium.
But if low levels of stress go on too long, it can be just as detrimental to one's health. A nervous system remaining slightly activated continues to pump out extra stress hormones over an extended period, leaving the person feeling exhausted or overwhelmed, accelerating aging, and weakening the body's immune system. Current medical research states that 95% of all diseases/illnesses are caused by stress. The other 5% are considered to be genetic in nature.
Comprehensive Stress Management, by Jerrold S. Greenberg, 1990
Mind chatter is the nonstop, restless flow of incomplete thoughts, anxieties and self-talk which persistently run through our minds. We are in survival mode with our mind always searching for potential threats, hazards, answers and rationalizations. This is our conscious mind in the beta brainwave state. We are always examining both our inner and outer world for probable threats to our security- either real or make believe. This perpetual vigilance of the mind not only distracts us with too much worry but can also initiate a chronic fight or flight response. Often, because of the mind's never-ending chatter and worry, you even start to expect dangers or threats that do not exist.
Everyone has a maximum limit for what they can handle coming at them from the world. When you go beyond that limit, you deal with it with an assortment of coping mechanisms, including anxiety, addiction (food and tobacco do count), depression, shame, overwhelm, anger, sadness, drug use (all drugs, even prescription), plus countless others.
So what happens when this limit is crossed over and over again? Dysfunctional emotions and behaviors build up more and more, layer upon layer, until you reach a breaking point. Often disease, in whatever form, is manifested. As quoted above by Jerrold S. Greenberg, current medical research states that 95% of all diseases/illnesses are caused by stress.
Fear and its patterned behavior (anxiety, depression, addiction, etc.) are not and never were your identity. Fear is a parasitic life form that no longer has any biological business in your body or mind. To better help you understand, think of fear as a fungus that successfully infested your mind years ago and has been hosting off your systems ever since. Fear no more defines your being than a case of athlete's foot defines your body.
However, below the chronic fight or flight response and the mind chatter lays a quiet place, where you can find your inner peace and natural balance. This quiet place lets you go beyond your fears and anxieties into a clearer understanding and wisdom. A quiet mind calms your overactive physiology, creating a sequence of physiologic and biochemical changes that dramatically improves your mental, emotional, and physical health. Network Spinal Analysis is a specialized form of chiropractic care that assists in this process. For more information on Network Spinal Analysis, refer to this website's section: Healing, subsection: Network Spinal Analysis.