Stress

A while back, my oldest children came home with a flyer about a seminar-type class that would be held addressing stress. I'm thinking they might have held it especially for me. At least I feel that way sometimes. The speaker spoke of the 3 main regions of the brain: brain stem (instinctive part that takes over during a 'fight or flight' reaction), the limbic (responsible for feelings), and the frontal lobes (the area responsible for reasoning, thinking, impulse control, planning, focus, etc.). This is something I had heard before, but I obviously needed a reminder--that when someone feels stressed or threatened, it is common for the brain stem to be put in charge. If you want to utilize thought and reasoning, the person fighting or flighting (often me) needs to be given a chance to return to the frontal lobes (a good reason for deep breaths) before you can do so. There were relaxation techniques mentioned along with lots of other good information. I must say my favorite irony of the night was when H. came back in to the auditorium after being in the foyer with the other children practicing relaxation techniques and fidgeted, tapped, and drummed--all potential symptoms of stress. I can give him credit for having more fun participating and doing than sitting still and listening to a lecture for parents, but it was funny. On a related note, the instructor had given a guideline of 1 oz. of drinking water for each 3 pounds of body weight, and when asked about a guideline for physical activity, he said that, while individually determined, those who are the most fidget-y probably need the most recesses. I guess that could at times easily be my children. :-)

Here are a few quick picks of those cutie-pies.




A while back, my oldest children came home with a flyer about a seminar-type class that would be held addressing stress. I'm thinking they might have held it especially for me. At least I feel that way sometimes. The speaker spoke of the 3 main regions of the brain: brain stem (instinctive part that takes over during a 'fight or flight' reaction), the limbic (responsible for feelings), and the frontal lobes (the area responsible for reasoning, thinking, impulse control, planning, focus, etc.). This is something I had heard before, but I obviously needed a reminder--that when someone feels stressed or threatened, it is common for the brain stem to be put in charge. If you want to utilize thought and reasoning, the person fighting or flighting needs to be given a chance to return to the frontal lobes before you can do so. There were relaxation techniques mentioned along with lots of other good information. I must say my favorite irony of the night was when H. came back in to the auditorium after being in the foyer with the other children practicing relaxation techniques and fidgeted, tapped, and drummed--all potential symptoms of stress. I can give him credit for having more fun participating and doing than sitting still and listening to a lecture for parents, but it was funny. On a related note, the instructor had given a guideline of 1 oz. of drinking water for each 3 pounds of body weight, and when asked about a guideline for physical activity, he said that, while individually determined, those who are the most fidget-y probably need the most recesses. I guess that could easily be my children. :-)