How Stress Symptoms Affect Brain Function

Chaos and fear are closely linked. When we shift into a panic state, we fuel the flames of chaos. I love the analogy of "fear storms," because that is what they are, and eventually they blow over just like a storm, if we don't encourage them to stay.

When our abstract, analytical mind grabs hold of a fearful situation, we can be overwhelmed by problems in all areas. Real or imagined, these thoughts activate all our stress hormones. Think back on a situation where you were waiting for a loved one to arrive, and when he or she failed to show up, you began thinking the worst. Suddenly your whole being became upset, restless and fitful, and the tension lasted until your fears were proved unfounded. Sound familiar? When these fear storms take over we are completely out of the moment.

Our aging process speeds up during stressful, sleepless, and frustrated times in our lives. When the fear storms hit hard, we need to apply damage control when they finally move on. We need to counter the aging process that kicks into gear when we advance ourselves at the cost of another or let the chaos of others rule our lives.

Left and Right-Brain Functions During Stress
When we are in the midst of chaos, our right brain functioning shuts off and we rely solely on our left-brain. Look at the qualities of left-brain and right-brain activity:

LEFT BRAIN

RIGHT BRAIN

Language
Linear
Logical
Digital
Abstract
Concrete
Reason
Analytical
Music-Beat
Sequential
Time-bound

Shapes
Holistic
Intuitive
Spatial
Analogical
Symbolic
Imagination
Gestalt
Music-Melody
Sporadic
Timeless

Some people will be more attracted to right brain versus left-brain characteristics, but we need both. What happens during stress and overload is that the attributes of the right brain become inaccessible, which means we lose our intuitiveness and imagination. The way to bridge back over to our holistic right brain is to find the calm in the midst of the storm.