2023-12-17-Relax - Decoding the Source of Stress, How Should You Coexist Harmoniously with It? - Minority

Relax | Decoding the Source of Stress: How Should You Coexist Harmoniously with It? - Minority#

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Relax | Decoding the Source of Stress: How Should You Coexist Harmoniously with It?

Editor’s Note: This article is a finalist in the "Relax" essay contest. The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author, and Minority has made slight adjustments to the title and formatting.

To learn how to participate in this essay contest and win prizes, you can click here to view the event rules.

In modern society, we often feel overwhelmed by stress, with worries about the future and fears about social interactions. These feelings, whether external or internal, are collectively referred to as stress. Stress cannot be quantified, but it can be measured to some extent using smartwatches or fitness bands. This is because, although stress is intangible, it triggers various responses in our bodies, some of which are beneficial while others are harmful, but we can find ways to alleviate it.

How Do We Face Stress?#

Simply put, humans have only two strategies for dealing with stress—"Fight or Flight." In primitive societies, the stress faced by people came from predators like tigers and lions. To avoid being eaten, one had to use all their muscles to run for their life or fight the beast. Thus, the renowned American physiologist Professor Walter Bradford termed this survival response as "Fight or Flight"1.

Zhu Weimo & Academician Zhu Weimo. (2021, August 23). Stress: "Holding it in" is not as good as "sweating it out!" WeChat Public Platform.

The physiological response of "Fight or Flight" has both fast and slow mechanisms.

Under the fast mechanism, upon receiving a signal from the brain, the adrenal glands quickly release adrenaline and noradrenaline, notifying all body organs and cells to enter a state of readiness. Heart rate increases, rapidly pumping blood throughout the body; breathing becomes rapid, continuously delivering fresh air to the lungs; pupils dilate, alertly observing the surroundings; skin and sweat glands also join the fight, increasing perspiration. The logistical medical unit—the immune system—is also on standby, ready to rescue the injured.

The fast response comes quickly and goes quickly. Just like the cheetah, the fastest animal on the plains, but with poor endurance, it cannot sprint for long. In modern society, the fast response mechanism only accounts for a small part of our lives, such as when a cat suddenly jumps out from behind while walking at night, prompting an immediate dodge.

Now, the stress we face is more often dealt with by the slow response mechanism. If stress persists for several minutes, our bodies begin to activate the slow response mechanism. A new round of emergency response is initiated within the body, with the hypothalamus releasing corticotropin-releasing factor, which then hands off to adrenal cortex hormones, ultimately resulting in the release of stress hormones (like cortisol) from the adrenal cortex to be distributed throughout various cells and organs.

Our understanding of the slow response mechanism is relatively recent, spanning from primitive society, agricultural society, and the first industrial revolution, until 1956 when Hungarian endocrinologist Hans Selye published "Stress of Life" (Respond of body to any demand for change), introducing the concept of "the body's response to change," which gradually brought chronic stress into public awareness.

What Are the Dangers of Stress?#

Short-term stress is not necessarily a bad thing; appropriate stress can help stimulate our nerves, enhance focus, and improve performance compared to usual levels. The body's quick response to stress allows us to escape danger and survive. However, excessive or prolonged stress can have the opposite effect, causing a series of harms to our bodies.

The harms of stress are numerous, but they can be summarized into four main aspects: physiological, emotional, cognitive, and behavioral.

Physiologically, excessive stress can lead to various bodily diseases, including serious conditions like hypertension, coronary heart disease, and peptic ulcers; it can also affect the skin, leading to acne, alopecia areata, etc.
Emotionally, high levels of chronic stress may lead to feelings of depression, irritability, and in severe cases, anxiety and depression.
Cognitively, excessive stress can result in decreased memory, lack of concentration, and slowed thinking.
Behaviorally, prolonged high stress can make us more withdrawn and less likely to seek help from others. Under emotional control, impulsive behaviors such as self-harm and suicide may also occur.

How to Monitor Stress#

When stress is too high, the body sends out distress signals through discomfort, with the skin acting as a "barometer" of stress. Scientists can use scales to relatively objectively quantify the level of stress. With advancements in science and technology, we can use HRV to more objectively evaluate changes in stress.

The Body Speaks When Stress is High#

Pain as an "Alarm"#

Pain can be categorized into two types: acute pain, such as when we cut our hand or fall; and chronic pain, such as unexplained pain in the torso. Chronic pain is more indicative of our body's stress levels. Why can pain reflect the body's stress?

As mentioned earlier, during stress, cortisol is promoted. Cortisol mobilizes glucose in the body, providing fuel to actively respond to current challenges. A moderate amount of cortisol can also regulate inflammation in the body, alleviating pain, which is why hydrocortisone cream can relieve itching, and corticosteroid injections can reduce swelling.

However, if cortisol remains in the bloodstream for an extended period, it can lead to bodily inflammation. The main characteristics of inflammation are redness, swelling, heat, and pain. Existing research has shown that when mental stress and cognitive load are high, the likelihood of migraines increases, and their severity also escalates.

Skin as a "Barometer"#

The skin is not only responsible for beauty but also acts as a "barometer" of stress; when the body is under stress, the skin can deteriorate.

What appears to be a thin layer of skin actually consists of three layers deep and four layers outward. The skin can be roughly divided into the epidermis, dermis, and subcutaneous tissue. The epidermis can further be divided into the stratum corneum, granular layer, spinous layer, and basal layer. The epidermis serves as the skin's gatekeeper, creating a barrier that can resist allergens, pathogens, and chemical agents. If the skin barrier is damaged, invaders can enter, causing skin issues like itching and acne.

Image source: "The Secrets of Skin"

It has been confirmed that various psychological stressors can lead to damage to the skin barrier, including well-known stressors like insomnia, exams, and divorce, as well as less noticed forms of stress, such as mental activity and living environment. Research has found2

Maarouf, M., Maarouf, C. L., Yosipovitch, G., & Shi, V. Y. (2019). The impact of stress on epidermal barrier function: An evidence‐based review. British Journal of Dermatology, 181(6), 1129–1137.

that mental arithmetic tasks can promote sebum secretion in facial skin, and sebum is a breeding ground for acne. When people move to unfamiliar environments or when their current environment is too crowded, it can also lead to impaired skin barrier function, making it more permeable and less able to defend against invaders.

Scales: Traditional but Useful Measurement Methods#

On one hand, we often say, "I'm so anxious" or "I'm getting depressed." On the other hand, we are not sure if we are truly anxious or depressed. For depression, about 2/3 of patients seek treatment due to physical symptoms, indicating that we do not have enough awareness of depression. If we do not have physical issues, we often forget to see a psychologist. Additionally, mental health checks are not typically included in our physical examinations. We express feelings of anxiety and depression but do not adequately guard against anxiety disorders and depression.

We can use scales to assess whether we are simply anxious or depressed, or if we have anxiety disorders and depression. Both anxiety and depression have self-assessment scales that are easy to complete, taking about 5 minutes for testing. Some mini-programs also offer free self-assessment functions, eliminating the hassle of finding and calculating scale scores, such as the health self-test function in the Consultation Inquiry mini-program.

In the WeChat mini-program, search and open the "Consultation Inquiry" mini-program, then search for "Health Self-Test," and select "Depression Screening" and "Anxiety Level Assessment" to complete the tests according to the instructions. The two tests mentioned are simple preliminary screenings; in addition, you can click on "Anxiety Level Test" under "Mental Health" in the tests for a more detailed understanding of your anxiety level. For depression patients, you can click on "Measure Your Depression Level" to learn more about depression characteristics.

iOS 17 also allows for assessments of anxiety and depression risks. The assessment method is similar to the above, conducted through filling out a questionnaire. For detailed content, see: New Features Worth Noting in iOS 17.

Additionally, Apple has also included a simple mental health questionnaire in "Mental Health" to help assess the risk of depression or anxiety disorders.

It is important to note that test results can change with physical conditions and living environments, and self-assessment results cannot replace a doctor's diagnosis. If self-assessment results indicate issues, it is advisable to seek further examination and guidance from a doctor.

How Do Smartwatches Detect Stress?#

Watches can also measure stress; Huawei watches (bands) have stress measurement functions, while Apple watches do not have native stress measurement capabilities. However, third-party software like StressWatch can display stress values using the HRV data from Apple watches. The most interesting feature is the "Mood Diary" on the Kid Genius children's watch.

The Kid Genius children's watch directly converts stress values into corresponding mood indicators, making it easier for parents to understand their children's feelings. Some parents have reported that after scolding their child, the child would retreat to their room, and their mood would shift from happy to sad, which is very insightful.

So how do these watches measure stress? Let's trace back to see who first used watches to measure stress. Digging deeper, we can look for patents mentioning this technology. The first company to use stress values in watches was neither Huawei nor Apple, but Garmin. More accurately, it was Firstbeat, which provided services for Garmin. Upon checking Firstbeat's patents, we found that they attempted to obtain stress values through heart rate metrics as early as 2003.

Firstbeat Analytics' all-day stress analysis is based on heart rate variability (HRV, which refers to the variation in time intervals between consecutive heartbeats). Heart rate is quickly regulated by the autonomic nervous system, and by analyzing the beat-to-beat changes in heart rate, we can check the functioning of the body's internal nervous system.

When the sympathetic nervous system (fight or flight) dominates the autonomic nervous system, the variation in heart rate intervals decreases, and the timing becomes more uniform; when the parasympathetic nervous system (rest and digest) dominates, the variation in heart rate intervals increases. Therefore, a higher HRV value indicates that the parasympathetic nervous system is dominant, and the body is relatively relaxed.

How to Alleviate Stress?#

Look Inward#

Emotional Vocabulary#

Simply put, emotions are constructed3; human emotions are not just combinations of the four basic emotions of joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness, but are actively constructed. We can construct feelings of happiness and joy, as well as feelings of pleasant surprise or even "blue Monday" to express our mood.

The more vocabulary we have to describe our feelings, the more our bodies can activate different physiological mechanisms in response to emotions, rather than just repeating feelings of unhappiness. A friend who is anxious may often only express negative emotions as unhappiness, without acknowledging feelings of grievance, sadness, disappointment, or feeling unappreciated.

The more nuanced emotional vocabulary we use to describe our feelings, the larger our emotional vocabulary, the easier it is to manage our emotions. Just like a sculptor with many tools can create a richer sculptural world, rather than just having a hammer to roughly carve out a shape.

We have a rich vocabulary to express negative emotions; when we see a colleague promoted, we can express envy instead of anger; when we see our parents neglecting their health, we can express concern instead of anger; when we hear criticism from a leader, we can express grievance instead of anger. Similarly, we also have many words to express positive emotions; when unexpectedly receiving a bouquet of flowers, we can express pleasant surprise instead of happiness; when completing a task, we can express pride instead of happiness; when enjoying the beauty of nature, we can express tranquility instead of happiness. By using different vocabulary, we can awaken different memories and bodily responses in our minds.

So how do we add new vocabulary? Reading novels, watching movies, and listening to music are all good choices. Of course, we can also create some vocabulary ourselves; a simple method is to use colors and scents to enrich our vocabulary. Recently, I added a new term to my emotional vocabulary: "Relaxing Pine." This is not a typo or a pun, but a pleasant feeling of strolling in a park or forest, listening to birds chirping, and walking on soft grass. If on a day when we are stuck in traffic and scolded at work, we can describe our mood as "stinky."

In addition to learning new emotional vocabulary, we can also assign new meanings to commonly used emotional vocabulary. Let's take a look at the romance in Li Juan's heart, who lives in Altay, Xinjiang: "I pulled my skirt through the deep grass, the waist-high seed heads swaying around me, rippling all the way to where the sunset burned. I sighed deeply, then tripped over my skirt... and ran home holding my nose, which was bleeding profusely. Still, I felt it was very romantic." You see, one can enjoy romance; you see, one can be romantic without a BMW or roses.

Additionally, simply recording emotional vocabulary can greatly benefit our emotional experiences. You can note what made you feel proud, happy, or calm today. If you can attach pictures and videos, flipping through your previous emotional vocabulary when feeling down can also provide healing.

Exercise#

Regular moderate to high-intensity physical activity can improve mental health. Exercise also helps alleviate depression; people who love to exercise have half the risk of depression compared to those who do not. The effects of exercise on alleviating depression are similar to those of medication.

How can we exercise more effectively? The American College of Sports Medicine provides the following recommendations. Moderate to high-intensity exercises like jogging are more beneficial to health than low-intensity walking4.

No matter what type of exercise it is—dance aerobics, jogging, or cycling—as long as the intensity is high, the effects are good. Of course, not everyone is suited to start training with moderate-intensity exercise that is not lower than brisk walking. We can start with slow walking, then progress to brisk walking, gradually increasing intensity until we can start fast walking. The American College of Sports Medicine and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend that adults engage in at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic or 75 minutes of high-intensity training each week.

Exercise can also suppress appetite and prevent binge eating. Moderate to high-intensity exercise can suppress appetite by inhibiting the secretion of ghrelin, a hormone that increases appetite5.

Thackray, A. E., & Stensel, D. J. (2023). The impact of acute exercise on appetite control: Current insights and future perspectives. Appetite, 186, 106557.

Additionally, it can promote the secretion of appetite-suppressing hormones—glucagon-like peptide and cholecystokinin. Acute exercise only temporarily affects hormone levels, which return to resting values a few hours after exercise.

Many people know that exercise relieves stress, but few actually use it, and even many who have exercise habits often forget. For example, during my first year of graduate school, I maintained a fitness routine and frequently went to the gym to lift weights, building muscle. However, in my second year, facing the pressure of thesis proposals, I began to interrupt my exercise habits. I squeezed out gym time, trying to solve immediate problems through cramming. Little did I know that under stress, thinking becomes limited, and one tends to get stuck on problems, making them harder to solve.

Now, when I feel stressed, I adopt simpler exercises to relieve stress. I open my left hand, make a fist with my right hand, and strike hard. Left hand pounding the right hand, with no worries in my heart. When facing work reports and feeling nervous, I often use this trick to cheer myself up and relieve stress. It doesn't require an hour of training; even 15 push-ups to exhaustion can ease the pressure in my heart.

If you have friends around, you can try playing badminton. On the court, friends will exclaim "Good shot!" because of our beautiful hits; on the court, we focus on the shuttlecock, temporarily setting aside external worries, replenishing the mental energy lost in the chaos of daily tasks. It can be said that exercise is the best form of mindfulness meditation.

If you don't have a fitness background, you might start with brisk walking. Just walking briskly for 2.5 hours a week can reduce the risk of depression by 25%. We can step out after dinner for a CityWalk in the city, feeling the pulse of urban life; on weekends, we can go for a hike, enjoying the sounds of birds and the fragrance of flowers, happily wandering for half a day.

Food#

Eating well gives us the energy to work and helps maintain a good mood. Let's look at an interesting experimental example: Israeli scientists found that if a hearing is held before lunch, judges are more likely to deny a prisoner's parole request. The reason is that they are hungry, in a bad mood, and find "the prisoner unlikable." Although we rarely face famine now, sometimes we may not be able to eat on time. For example, waking up late may cause us to be late for work and skip breakfast; or being too busy with work to eat; or even choosing to diet.

Dieting can indeed be effective, as discussed in a previous article by Minority titled "Is Intermittent Fasting Reliable? Here Might Be All the Answers You Need," so I won't elaborate further. However, when we are on a diet, our tempers can worsen. When we can't eat, we may feel like "eating people." Therefore, when facing immense work pressure, we should avoid relying on dieting.

Eating enough is important, but don't overeat; being 70-80% full is sufficient. Excessive calorie intake can lead to obesity, which can cause inflammation in the body. Especially, we should avoid becoming obese during stressful times; recent research indicates that when under stress, fat tends to accumulate in the abdomen, forming a "beer belly." The dangers of visceral fat are far greater than those of subcutaneous fat to the cardiovascular system.

After eating enough, we should eat well. Consuming high-calorie-dense foods, such as ice cream cones and milk tea, can increase inflammatory responses in the body. Moderate exercise can reduce bodily inflammation; additionally, consuming DHA can help alleviate bodily inflammation. DHA is an important component of the membranes of gray matter neurons in the cerebral cortex, crucial for promoting and regulating development, and also plays a role in resisting brain inflammatory responses. DHA is primarily found in deep-sea fish (like salmon). If consuming deep-sea fish is inconvenient, fish oil can be taken as a supplement.

Not only dopamine brings joy, but serotonin does as well. Serotonin can regulate mood and aid sleep. It can also help us become more patient and delay gratification. So how can we supplement serotonin? By eating foods high in amino acids (especially tryptophan). High-protein foods like meat and nuts, as well as bananas, can increase serotonin levels in the brain.

Look Outward#

Nature#

Humans are children of nature, needing the embrace of their mother; nature can soothe our souls. In the midst of majestic mountains and rivers, those who fly high in the sky can calm their hearts by gazing at the peaks; those engaged in worldly affairs can forget their worries by peering into the valleys.

On weekends, consider taking a stroll in nearby parks, reducing resistance by taking a taxi. If you find taxis too expensive, you can set a travel budget, creating a mental account that makes you more willing to spend and reducing the resistance to action. In nature, there are no annoying sales pitches or honking horns, only the sounds of birds and fragrant flowers, lush greenery, and babbling brooks; chaotic thoughts and relentless rationality take a backseat, allowing you to simply feel the relaxation and comfort of the moment.

We can also gather a few friends to hike, walk, or camp, enjoying the scenery while strengthening our bodies and enhancing relationships, increasing mutual support. If you don't have time to travel, a stroll in the park surrounded by greenery is the best therapy. We can also keep a small green plant at home or beside our workspace to look at when our eyes are tired.

Haizi once wrote a poem: "Leaning against the mountains, watching the sun rise and set, seeing the main peak release sparrows that swirl in the sky, leaving sounds that comfort the uneven mountain paths." I believe nature can also comfort your heart.

Socializing#

Humans are social animals; society meets our material needs for food, clothing, and shelter, as well as our emotional needs for laughter and anger. Baboon troops in the forest increase intimacy by grooming each other, while in modern society, we engage in social grooming through language and gossip.

Grooming requires energy; studies have found that people spend about two hours a day grooming. This two hours does not include communication during work, which tends to be more task-oriented. So how can we effectively allocate our grooming time? Psychologist Huang Guangguo provides us with an answer.

Huang Guangguo categorizes relationships based on the emotional and instrumental aspects into emotional, mixed, and instrumental6. Emotional relationships usually refer to those between individuals and their families; mixed relationships refer to those between individuals and acquaintances like relatives and friends; instrumental relationships are those established with strangers to obtain certain resources. Different grooming strategies should be adopted for different types of relationships: in emotional relationships, the principle of mutual need and contribution is applied; in mixed relationships, the principle of reciprocity is followed; in instrumental relationships, the principle of fairness and honesty is employed.

Many troubles in life stem from misalignments in our relationships and principles: we are overly calculative and nagging with family in emotional relationships; we are overly accommodating with friends in mixed relationships; and we are overly cautious with strangers in instrumental relationships, fearing mistakes that could lead to loss of face. Of course, knowing is easier than doing; this process requires gradual cultivation.

The scientific maverick and Nobel laureate Richard Feynman also cared about the opinions of strangers. Feynman wanted to send Christmas cards to his colleagues, and his wife, Ilene, prepared many exquisite cards with "Merry Christmas" written inside, but signed them "Richard and the Persian Cat." Feynman protested, "How can I send this to Fermi and Bethe? I don't even know them!" Fermi was a big name, having won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1938 and invented the world's first nuclear reactor. "Why do you care what others think?" Ilene said. Feynman had to send the cards.

Similar situations occurred several times, and each time Ilene would say, "Why do you care what others think?" Gradually, Feynman became more at ease with others' opinions. When investigating the cause of the Challenger disaster, Feynman offended many people in his pursuit of the truth. He was unconcerned: "I always forget the silly things I do; I can't even remember what foolish and inappropriate things I said to my colleagues, nor did I expect their reactions to be so strong." Not caring about others' opinions is a secret to happiness for great individuals.

John von Neumann, the "father of computers," also said something similar: you do not have to be responsible for the world you are in. Not caring about others' opinions can loosen the hardened soil of the heart, allowing the seeds of happiness to break through the ground and thrive.

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1Zhu Weimo & Academician Zhu Weimo. (2021, August 23). Stress: "Holding it in" is not as good as "sweating it out!" WeChat Public Platform.
2Maarouf, M., Maarouf, C. L., Yosipovitch, G., & Shi, V. Y. (2019). The impact of stress on epidermal barrier function: An evidence‐based review. British Journal of Dermatology, 181(6), 1129–1137.
3 [American] Lisa Federman Barrett. (2019). Emotions (translated by Zhou Fangfang & Huang Yangming). CITIC Press. https://book.douban.com/subject/30443490/
4Rethorst, C. D. (2019). Exercise for Persons with Depression and/or Anxiety Disorders. ACSM’S Health & Fitness Journal, 23(2), 44–46.
5Thackray, A. E., & Stensel, D. J. (2023). The impact of acute exercise on appetite control: Current insights and future perspectives. Appetite, 186, 106557.
6Huang Guangguo. Human Feelings and Face: The Rights Game of Chinese People. Renmin University of China Press, 2010. https://item.jd.com/10075256347532.html.