March can be a stressful month, especially when we consider taxes. Because March is full-on tax season, many people start to contemplate their financial health and relationship strength. This can lead to increased stress and anxiety. It is important to remember that the stress and anxiety monsters are liars. Once stress and anxiety come on board, our perceptions change and we lose clarity. That’s because stress activates the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis (HPA axis). The HPA axis is responsible for releasing adrenaline and cortisol. Adrenaline and cortisol prepare the body to physically react to danger by increasing heart rate, dilating blood vessels, and preparing the muscles to move. The HPA axis is designed to handle short-term stress, such as short incidents of danger or potential harm.

The region of the brain that activates the HPA is called the amygdala. The amygdala is located in the center of the brain and is about the size of kidney bean. It is responsible for detecting danger. While the amygdala is able to differentiate between physical and emotional stress, it is not able to tell whether the danger is short- or long-term. Stressed based in the physical world tends to be short-term. Emotion-based stress tends to be long-term. The amygdala does not make this differentiation. When the HPA is activated for extended periods of time, the system begins to struggle to function properly, which impacts the ability to cope.

One of the things that reduces stress and increases our ability to cope is contact with other human beings. When we have contact with other human beings, we receive thousands of microsignals that everything is ok. Our commute to work is a good example. Whether your drive, walk, ride your bike, or take public transportation, patterns of behavior are created during your commute that indicate the world is a safe place. For me, it is the ability to predict how long my commute will take. My bike ride to work is consistently 10 to 15 minutes. This is because of the social contract with the commuters and other people out and about in the world. We all move in predictable ways. Predictability mixed with novelty informs the brain that we are safe.

Other people behaving in predictable ways with controlled novelty communicates to our brain that the world is a safe place. Stress and anxiety like it when we isolate ourselves because then there are no indicators that the world is a safe place. The human brain likes to maintain activity patterns, and that means if a pattern of amygdala activation occurs due to prolonged stress, we need to do activities that indicate we are safe to teach the brain that there is no need for amygdala activation. This week, let’s break free from stress and meet up with friends or family to watch a movie or grab a cup of tea.