During the holiday season, stress levels can reach peak levels leading to an increase in anxiety and sudden onset of panic attacks. Your body’s physical and emotional reactions to stress are determined by your sympathetic nervous system (SNS). The SNS produces the fight or flight reaction in response to stress leading to an increased heart rate, muscle tension, increased blood flow and respiration. If you are constantly being exposed to stressful situations (ie. the holiday season) this may cause your SNS to overreact and be constantly stimulated. This constant stimulation can lead to depleted energy reserves and emotional and physical exhaustion. It’s important that during times of high stress we learn how to manage out stress levels.
Myth: My nervous system is in conflict during anxiety attacks, would it collapse?
Fact: Many people are frightened about what might happen to them as a result of their symptoms, perhaps because of the belief that their nerves might become exhausted and they may collapse. The fight / flight response is produced chiefly through activity in the sympathetic nervous system, which is counteracted and balanced by the parasympathetic nervous system putting it back to normal.
Samantha, Bilingual Health Educator
