Dr. Tara Narula

It has so much more meaning.

It has so much more direction for where I can go.

I'm not stuck in that vision of being a victim of my disease process.

Yeah.

Well, two things.

I mean, when we turn off the stress response, it means that we are using our parasympathetic, for example, nervous system.

So the one where we lower our blood pressure.

Oh.

but also you're not then activating the stress response.

So there is a clear pathway when we activate a stress response, you know, our amygdala, this very basic structure in the brain that senses threat and fear is kind of the signal that sends a signal to the hypothalamus in our brain, these deep structures that then send signal to the pituitary and the adrenal glands and that whole cascade where you're essentially then releasing cortisol, the stress hormone from your adrenal glands, epinephrine, you know, adrenaline, norepinephrine,

That's all turned on when you're under stress.

But if you counteract that, and that's where things like therapy and meditation and mindfulness can come in, or your thought process, you're not allowing that pathway to turn on.

You're turning it off, number one.

Number two, when you're not living in a state of stress, you're actually making lifestyle choices, which we haven't talked about, that help you live a healthier life.

So you are exercising.

You are eating healthier.

You are getting more sleep.

You're not missing your medical appointments.

You're not maybe using substances.

So it all kind of goes together.