Think Like a Seal!

Brain Science: We all experience stress in our lives. Health concerns, relationship concerns. monthly bills, job concerns and yes, even power outages all contribute to levels of stress. Stress ebbs and flows in the life of all of us. Sometimes life is good and sometimes not so good. Sometime it is just out of our control. Most assuredly we can't ruminate (remember that term from a previous blog?) over what has happened in the past... but we do. What we can do is manage stress. In a recent article out of the Harvard Medical Review they studied stress as related to the brain. The review sited an excellent group of people who demonstrate that they can manage stress... Navy Seals. Brain scans show that Seals display hyper activation in the prefrontal brain region. The specific area is called the insula. The insula is located deep in the brain. It sits between the actual doing (which is the spinal cord) and the "processing" which is the brain itself. As you may recall, processing in the brain is the actual transfer of information between the hippocampus (center) and the cortex (outer layer ) where the storage of information exists. Through the hippocampus and outer brain, cortex, information is sent back and forth so that complete thoughts occur. You will note the insula sits before all else in the brain so it can if it wants effectively short circuit the brain. The insula is positioned so the body can immediately react (not have to think) if it needs to. We discussed in previous blogs theses the components of the central nervous system. The brain is one component. The other two are in the spinal column. The sympathetic nervous system is a second component. It prepares the body for the “fight or flight” response during any potential danger. On the other hand, the third system is the parasympathetic nervous system. It inhibits the body from overreacting to the sympathetic system. It restores the ability of the body to function and restores the body to a calm and composed state. The two systems balance each other out. The control of these systems comes from the insula of the brain. Whether we react immediately and how we react comes from the insula. We have, as a result, found that the insula is a big factor even on our immune system. As it turns out it is also most significant in managing stress. What we know is that the insula works overtime in Seals to cause this group to behave in a way that helps them manage effectively stress. Seals manage to handle high degrees of stress and still function effectively. Faced with life threatening situations, they can rapidly change the focus of their attention (the opposite of rumination) and address the issue at hand efficiently and flexibly. The important point here is that Seals learn this! Their responses are learned and not something that naturally occurs. Remember our blog on the plasticity of the brain. Seals actually rewire their brain.

This has significant importance for all of us. This means we can all learn to rewire our brains to manage stress. We can cause our insula to work over time weighing, for example, our brains sympathetic and parasympathetic systems against each other to come up with a better individual reaction to the fight or flight syndrome.We can rewire our brain to use our insula like a Seal!!!!

Brain Facts:

• The ability to manage high degrees of stress is called antifragility.

• Antifragility persons realize that stress is just the price we pay for being alive.

• Cultivating antifragility helps us use our strengths to overcome challenges and become stronger.

• William James a 19th century philosopher observed that the healthy-minded semed to turn challenges and potential failures into grist for opportunities and successes.

• Today we call James "healthy minded","antifragile".

• Antifragile people have built resilience over time.

• To James healthy mindedness people where people who were positive, healthier and happier.

• The more constant use of the insula part of the brain builds what we call resilience. You can build resilience, (characterized as antifragility) and therefore your insula by building your skills in the following ways:

- Calm, innovative, nondogmatic thinking

- ability to act decisively

- Tenacity

- interpersonal connectedness

- Honesty

- self-control

- optimism and a positive perspective on life.

So What:

The point here is we can learn to be antifragile. The more accurate word, than learn, is we can "cultivate" a antifragil personality as we live our life. As we have said life has its ups and downs. There is no avoiding it. No matter how we were born initially, we can change it. We all need to acknowledge that we need challenges to develop our antifragility. Some of us have more than others. How we react registers in our brain and as we know creates a particular path. Having experiences gives us the opportunity to set up up new reactions in our brain and subsequent new pathways. Thinking of the seven above before we react helps us to do that. That is the difficult challenge as a lot of what comes out of the insula is almost automatic. In that case, as a suggestion, develop a critique in your mind of whatever happen and think through a reaction that would more fit with the seven points listed above. The theory being that you are setting up a pathway in your brain different than the one you used. Hopefully, the next time around, your insula just might choose a different path, one that might make you more antifragile.

Seals learn through experiences and training in life or death situations. It works for them!

We can look into this whole area of stress a lot more if you want. Just let me know.