When the Body Starts Sounding the Alarm: Understand Stress Mechanism and Self-Protection Based on the Dr. Gabor Mat Concept

When the Body Begins to Sound the Alarm: Understand Stress Mechanisms and Protect Yourself According to the Concept, Dr. Gabor Maté

In an age when we pursue success, we have almost no time to stop breathing. Many times, we accidentally live up to other people's expectations and forget to ask ourselves, "Can we?" The term "Hustle Culture" or overwork culture is becoming a new standard that forces us to prove our worth through doing more than what we are.

But Dr. Gabor Maté, a global psychology and mental health expert, reminds us that when we don't say "no" to protect ourselves, the body becomes responsible for saying that word in the form of illness. Coming back to understanding stress mechanisms is not just a matter of science, it's about coming back to "hear" the sounds that the body has been trying to communicate with us all along.

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1.The Beginning of Defining "Stress": A Thought Legacy from Hans Selye

In the early 20th century at the University of Montreal, Canada, a Hungarian physician named Hans Selye (who was a compatriot of Dr. Maté) pioneered a study that changed our understanding of health forever. He defined the word "stress" in a medical context that Canadians were proud of, pointing out that stress is not just a mental feeling, it is a measurable physical reaction.

Through laboratory experiments, Selye found 3 warning signs that occur when the body faces a constant threat:

* Regressed immune system: The thymus that forms the leukocytes is smaller, making the body more susceptible to pathogens.

* Adrenal glands expand abnormally: "stress glands" require overwork to secrete hormones to cope with the situation.

* Intestinal and gastrointestinal ulcers occur: Tension goes directly to the internal tissue until inflammation occurs.

This basic knowledge allows us to see that the body has a "chemical of survival" system that works in a complex way to protect us in times of crisis.

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2.Survival mechanism: the action of adrenaline and cortisol

Short-term stress is the Essential Response that helps humans survive millennia. Imagine the ancestors who faced tigers in the wild. These hormones are the "friends" who saved us from harm.

Hormones, Short-Term Function and Benefits, Response to the Body

Adrenaline (adrenaline) awakens the nervous system to maximum alertness, increases speed, surges energy, prepares for "fight or flight."

Cortisol (Cortisol) administers energy reserves, increases blood sugar, adjusts metabolism to serve heavy battles.

Synthesis Insight: This mechanism is designed only for "temporary" situations. For wildlife, when it escapes a threat, it shuts down immediately. But for modern humans, our "tiger" is not in the wild, but in a "message box" or "chief expectation," which keeps the body open, fighting or fleeing all the time, until the friends who used to protect us become healthy enemies from within.

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3. When Stress Becomes Chronic Peril: Long-Term Effects on the Body

Dr. Gabor Maté points out that the current medical profession often overlooks the connection between the mind and the body, but the reality is that when stress hormones overwhelm the body for a long time, it "reprograms" systems until they are damaged:

* Vascular and cardiac systems: Stress squeezes continuous hypertension, atherosclerosis, leading to risk of paralysis (Stroke) and heart disease.

* Immune system: Immune may be depressed or malfunction to destroy cells and become autoimmune disease.

* Genes and cellular levels: Stress has the power to "turn on" cancerous genes and "turn off" genes that protect us, including speeding up inflammation throughout the body and accumulating abdominal fat.

Synthesis Insight: In a society that worships hard work, we often ask ourselves, "Am I doing enough?" (Have I done enough?) for success, but we forget to ask, "Am I worth enough?" (Am I enough?) The values that drive us to be good and busy all the time (Driven Values) are the poisons that make us sick without knowing it, because we are exchanging our true self with external acceptance.

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4.The Roots of Stress: Addiction, Acceptance, and Identity Sacrifice

Why do we accept stress until the body breaks down? Answers are often hidden in childhood and adapting to survive. Dr. Maté cites the idea of Thomas Merton, a priest who defined how we often "live in other people's minds" until we forget to have a self in our hearts.

Consider Elvis Presley's classic example of the theme song "Anyway you want me, that's the way I'll be" (To be whatever you want). This is a reflection of giving up one's true self to maintain love and acceptance. Children often change themselves or suppress their own feelings of anger and desire to keep their parents satisfied.

Synthesis Insight: The effort to be everything to make others love is an adaptation mechanism, not a moral failure. Like the story of an indigenous woman who was forced to forget her own mother tongue to survive in boarding school, our childhood "instincts" used to keep us safe, but today, as we grow up, this same mechanism prevents us from sympathizing with ourselves and makes us dare not say "no" despite our physical protests.

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5. When the body says the word "No" (When the Body Says No): An alarm that prohibits neglect.

When the voice inside is pressed for too long, the body steps in to act to "protect" us by making us sick. To force us to take a break. Here are some self-monitoring tools you should try this week:

1. "Where in my life have I not said the word No?" - Explore relationships or jobs that have hidden "forced" feelings. Not saying the word no to save someone else's face is the stress the body has to bear instead.

2. "Am I following other people's expectations, or am I myself?" - Is your value tied to a position or a top like that you forget that you are only worth it because you are you?

3. "What is the body trying to tell?" - Do not neglect heartburn, irritable bowel, or soft whispers from the body. These symptoms are warning signs before it becomes a disease.

4. "Where in my life have I not said the word yes?" - Explore deep dreams or needs that you have not allowed yourself to do because you are busy following other people's needs.

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6. Conclusion: Saving identity and building sympathy for oneself.

At the heart of the remedy is to make "Compassionate Inquiry." We don't have to hate ourselves for ever rejecting anyone, but thank that mechanism that has helped us survive in the past and realize that today we have the right to choose again.

Peter Levine, a master of psychological trauma, once said, "If asked if I've done enough, the answer is yes, but if asked if I'm good enough, I'm not sure yet." The journey to health starts with a connection to the fact that you've already been "human enough" from the beginning, without doing anything to prove it.

Before finishing the day, let's put the expectations of the world down and ask yourself a key question from Dr. Gabor Maté:

"What is true for me now?" (What is true for me?)

# Stressful # Stress # Alarm # sayno # Protect yourself