The Largest Dis-Stress In Our Lives - The Science Of Why And How To Combat It

We all face different Stresses in life.

Some will appear larger for you, while others will face different Stresses that loom larger for them.

We're not here to debate who's Stress is worse.

What I do want to dive into is how often, the Stresses that end up being the worst are sneaky.

We often don't even realize the Stress that these cause.

It may seem like a minor thing.

However, All Stress Adds.

As the Stress builds up, it quickly becomes Dis-Stress and can lead to Burnout.

What can make this even MORE insidious is that we actually may think some of these things aren't Stressors!

But Science doesn't lie, and it can slowly destroy us.

What is at the top of this list of things that work this way?

Our Cell Phones!

Now, I'm not "Anti-Technology" - I use a phone myself every day.

Honestly, I would be hopelessly lost without my phone as I frequently use Google Maps to get anywhere.

What I AM saying though, is that the VAST majority of the time our phones work against us, and if we aren't careful, it causes a lot of problems!

How Bad Is It Really?

Do our phones bring many benefits?

Absolutely.

I run a decent amount of my business off of my phone these days.

Apps I use to track Stress are often only usable through my phone.

There are benefits, but they can quickly become outmatched by the downsides.

Let's start with this.

There was a recent study that said the average kid in the US between 11 and 17 receives 237 notifications per day.

Now, this is a small group of course, and doesn't take into account all people.

BUT these kids become the next employees - the younger workforce isn't much different.

This is the "norm" for the youth, and trends keep indicating that this will only increase.

So, if we expand this out, this means that with 237 notifications per day, you are getting 6-7 notifications per hour.

That's 10 minutes or less between each notification.

This will cause many problems that I'll get into shortly, but 237 was the LOW end!

At the high end?

5,000 notifications per day!

That is 3-4 notifications, per minute!

All of these numbers also include DURING sleep!

If this is becoming the "norm", what does that mean?

The Consequences

Let's start with a notification going off every 10 minutes.

This right away causes problems with Flow States.

Flow

Flow is where we are our most productive, feel our best, do our best work, are most creative, are most focused, solve problems easier and faster, and so much more.

Flow States feel SO great, that people literally will risk life and limb to obtain it.

From a Psychophysiological perspective, it is the ideal State to be in as often as possible.

Now, you can't be "permanently" in Flow (that would cause a LOT of other problems in your body), but the goal is to be in it Frequently.

In order to get to Flow, you have to go through a cycle - Struggle, Release, Flow, Recover.

If you do not go through all 4 steps, you will suffer.

When it comes to Flow, you also need a LOT of Focus.

Focus drives Flow, and anything that takes away your Focus will become problematic.

For most people, getting into Flow takes more than 10 minutes (it can be done faster, but I'll explain why that could make it worse in this context).

This means that every time we get a notification from our phone, our Focus is drawn away from whatever we are trying to do.

From a physiological perspective, our bodies are attempting to get into Flow, but the distraction leads to Higher Struggle without any Release.

If this happens too often, you become Blocked out of Flow States.

Imagine the feeling of Bliss, and then you are locked in a cage where you are literally "just" barely too far away to reach that Bliss.

This is essentially what will happen, and it will cause huge levels of Dis-Stress.

This will actually become worse if you do manage to get into the Flow State in under 10 minutes!

Why?

Flow States require HIGH energy (Mg-ATP) to enter into them.

MOST of that energy is used right before you are in Flow.

Once you get into Flow, there is less energy needed overall.

But a distraction can pull you out of Flow, making ALL of that energy WASTED!

The distraction from the phone therefore becomes even more frustrating because you "tasted" the Flow State, but now don't have enough energy (or will struggle to get enough energy) to get back into it.

Recovery

However, we have another problem with this when it comes to Recovery.

In order to get into "more" Flow States, we need to Recover.

There are many ways to do this, but the highest place of Recovery is always Sleep.

However, these Notifications are becoming relentless.

They do not stop.

49% of the kids in the study said that the notifications kept them up at night.

If you aren't sleeping, you aren't Recovering.

Less recovery means a higher buildup of Stress.

All Stress Adds.

It will be a short time before you are in states of Dis-Stress and unable to get out of the Struggle phase.

This also doesn't take into account the problems with Blue Lights.

These (which often come from our phones), also make it more difficult to sleep.

The Blue Light mimics sunlight to our bodies.

Our bodies will attempt to "match" biological processes to when Sunlight occurs.

This means that the notifications from phones will mess with our bodies, which will attempt to "Stay Awake" to match this "Fake" sunlight, causing all sorts of Stress in our bodies.

It still gets worse though.

Wasted Energy

So, what happens when we receive a notification?

Well, our bodies release a hit of dopamine.

Dopamine makes us "feel good".

But there is a dark side of dopamine.

If we "feel good", but there is nothing of worth to us in our lives, it can cause a lot of psychological problems.

Dopamine is shallow unless it is matched with other things.

Flow States, on the other hand, have value in and of themselves.

So if you are blocked from Flow, but can get something "like" happiness from Dopamine, well it's a recipe for disaster.

Essentially, many people give up Flow States for the easier but shallow Dopamine hit.

It becomes like a drug, chasing it, getting "something" that will always be shallow, and then chasing it again.

It essentially turns you into a drug addict.

The Dopamine from your phone will always be shallow.

It further can lead to anxiety, depression, and burnout.

Why?

Dopamine requires resources to build in our bodies.

It requires Energy (Mg-ATP).

The more "hits" we get, the more resources are used.

The more we use resources to get a hit of Dopamine, the less resources we have for anything else.

Over time, we run out of resources.

This especially happens because few people are actually getting the nutrients needed from their food in order to "rebuild" their energy resources.

Imagine a factory - it can produce up to let's say 100 units of anything you need.

It just takes the hit of a button.

Then there is someone who pushes you away from the button and hits it 200 times for things you don't need.

That factory will quickly break down because it is trying to produce what it can't fulfill.

That is what your phone notifications are doing to your Energy and Resource supplies.

Can you imagine how frustrating that can be to your body?

Especially if it wasn't 200 times, but rather 5,000 times!

That simply causes more and more Dis-Stress, until you are Burnt Out.

This isn't an extensive list of the consequences, but it does highlight the gigantic problems caused, and how quickly your Phone can become your worst enemy.

Fighting Back

So, how do we fight back?

There's a lot you can do:

• Turn Off Bluelight At Night (Google can show you how)
• Turn Off Notifications (At least for what isn't necessary)
• Only Check Your Phone At Certain Times (Use silent mode)
• Get Rid Of Unnecessary Apps (Less distractions)
• Get A List Of What Steals Attention (Get rid of them)
• Improve Recovery (Especially sleep)
• Get Your Family And Office On Board

One thing we didn't talk about deeply is that Stress isn't a "Solo" game.

All Stress Adds.

This includes Stress from those around us.

Through Neurocardiology, we can actually "pass" our Stress onto others.

This means they can pass it on to us as well!

The more people working to reduce Stress, the better we all become!

It's a group effort to overcome Dis-Stress.

Since 80% of people are in Burnout, the need is even greater to work together.