From Bear Encounters to Boardrooms: Your Brain's Tools for Stress Relief

Life's unpredictability often mirrors the uncertainty of the wilderness, with unforeseen challenges springing up. For millennia, people lived outdoors and without modern safety and comfort. While modern day experiences are rarely life and death, the primal brain structures we have to respond to these threats are still very present and active.?

Any amount of cortisol (stress hormone) or adrenaline will kick off this fight or flight response, and our brain will still kick into gear. Not too unlike the sudden encounter of a villager (from our not-so-distant ancestry) with a wild bear on a typical Tuesday. Within this thrilling anecdote, we unearth the neurological wonders of the TIPP skills - Temperature, Intense Exercise, Paced Breathing, and Progressive Muscle Relaxation. These survival strategies are embedded in our inherited and biological history, still holding immense relevance to our modern-day battles with stress, rage, fear, anger, anxiety, and panic.

The Cold Catalyst: The Lifesaving Power of Temperature Change

Imagine the villager locking eyes with the formidable bear who’s decided he’s found lunch as he enters the village. This triggers a cascade of neurological responses, with the amygdala instigating a fight-or-flight reaction, leading to an adrenaline surge. As cortisol floods his system, his heart rate soars, readying him for immediate action. Wisely deciding he can’t beat the bear in a fight, he takes off in the opposite direction. The only thought is surviving the imminent. Oxygen rich blood redirecting away from his brain, and into his major muscle groups, he loses a lot of his logical reasoning skills as higher brain functions wane.?

In his frantic escape, he stumbles into an icy river. The sudden temperature drop triggers the mammalian dive reflex, a survival instinct overseen by the parasympathetic nervous system. It encourages the release of acetylcholine, a neurotransmitter that commands the vagus nerve to slow down the heart rate. His racing heart cools, and amidst the chilling chaos, his mind finds an unexpected serenity, plotting an escape from the icy clutches.?

Modern-Day Application: Cold Showers and Ice Packs Against Rage

To combat bouts of rage/panic in our modern world, the Temperature skill can be employed effectively. A cold shower or an ice pack application to the face can induce the dive reflex, bringing about calm and clarity amidst the emotional storm. Starting with a comfortable shower temperature and gradually turning it colder shocks the system into a calmer state, providing you with a sense of tranquility.

Ice packs, particularly when applied to the cheeks and the area around the eyes, can stimulate the dive reflex effectively, providing a natural and immediate rage-management tool. Daily practices of 15–30 minutes can contribute significantly to emotional regulation.

Adding in a 20-30 second breath hold with the cold exposure, signals an intense reflex response as the brain becomes convinced that the body is drowning. Two or three rounds of cold-to-face application with the breath hold will trigger this reflex and restore logic thinking.

If you’ve already experienced panic/rage, the cortisol and adrenaline will still be in your bloodstream. You’ll still feel like garbage for the next 20–60 minutes (the time it takes these chemicals to metabolize), but you’ll regain a sense of calm in your mind and recover more quickly.

Unleashing the Elixir of Endorphins: The Power of Intense Exercise

Emerging from the icy depths, the villager assesses his environment rapidly, seeking an escape route or a hiding place. He's riding an adrenaline wave as he’s running feverishly. The brain perceives the pain, exertion, drop in blood sugar levels as fuel is being burned away, lactic acid is building up - he physically can’t keep this pace up. So, his brain releases endorphins, the body's natural painkillers.?

This 'morphine within' facilitates endurance, ameliorates fear, and bestows a sense of euphoria, allowing clear decision-making amidst imminent danger. He spots a cave, and his intense exercise that triggers the release of endorphins paves the path to safety.

Modern-Day Application: Regular Exercise to Combat Panic

A counterpart of the villager's Intense Exercise to combat panic in modern times could be a routine high-intensity workout. Exercise is a natural catalyst for endorphin release, stimulating a sense of wellbeing, and clearing the mind. With the brain bathed in endorphins, the prefrontal cortex - the executive center - is engaged, enabling rational thought and problem-solving, essential skills during a panic attack. Daily physical activities like a brisk walk, a run, or a HIIT workout for about 20–30 minutes can significantly mitigate panic symptoms.

Using this WHILE FEELING the intense emotions is particularly important. Since logic is inhibited during a fight or flight response, endorphins can counter this response and bring clarity back.

Paced Breathing: The Symphony of Diaphragmatic Breathing

Having found temporary safety in the cavern, the villager must now control his breath to remain undetected. Through paced, diaphragmatic breathing, he activates the parasympathetic nervous system. This deep, slow breathing stimulates the release of acetylcholine, which acts on the vagus nerve to slow the heart rate and lower blood pressure. This physiological calming allows for cognitive clarity and emotional regulation.

Modern-Day Application: Mindful Breathing Against Rage

Paced breathing can serve as an effective tool against rage in the modern world. By focusing on slow, deep inhalations and exhalations, you can invoke your body's relaxation response, prompting emotional equilibrium. Practice this for about 5–10 minutes daily in a quiet space to promote a sense of calm and mental clarity.

You can use this, again, in the moment or at any time (we’re breathing all the time anyway). The key to this is to exhale twice the amount that you inhale. If you inhale for five, exhale for a 10 count. Diaphragmatic breathing means creating a wave with your torso by expanding your stomach completely first while inhaling, and then expanding your chest (in that order). This pulls the diaphragm down and fills the whole lung.

Progressive Muscle Relaxation: The Pathway to Peace

After the bear retreats, the villager is left with residual tension. To dissipate this and restore balance, he applies the Progressive Muscle Relaxation (PMR) technique. This conscious tension and relaxation of muscle groups triggers the parasympathetic nervous system to reduce cortisol levels and encourage relaxation.

This act stimulates the release of Gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), a neurotransmitter that inhibits excitatory responses in the brain, leading to a relaxed state. PMR not only helps in reducing cortisol levels, the body's primary stress hormone, but also strengthens neural pathways associated with relaxation, making it easier for the body to access this state of calm in the future.

Modern-Day Application: Daily PMR Sessions Against Panic

In the modern context, PMR can be an effective antidote to panic. Systematically tensing and relaxing each muscle group, starting from your toes and working your way up to your head, can help release tension. A daily 10-20 minute PMR session can greatly enhance your panic management capabilities. It’s also a great way to facilitate falling asleep at night!

Conclusion: Heritable Survival Strategies for Modern Stress Relief

The encounter with the bear beautifully unravels how instinctual survival strategies align with TIPP skills, forging a path through the chaos of stress, rage, and panic. These skills, deeply ingrained in our neurological systems, are as relevant today as they were to our ancestors. By understanding their neurological underpinnings and practicing them regularly, we can develop effective coping strategies for modern life's challenges.

When in a survival state, we need to enact a survival state to counter the uncomfortable feelings and regain logic thinking ability.?

Check out these resources for a reminder and a guided experience of these tools: