Background
The Race to Slow the Pace. At a recent conference and wellbeing break United Airlines staff were introduced to life on the West coast of Ireland. The pace tends to be significantly slower here than in the cities but at Your Corporate Wellbeing we like to keep ourselves busy finding ways to share the benefits of a slower pace and provide tools that can be used by anyone in any situation or location. At this wellbeing conference two primary concepts were touched on:
• The Effect of a Calming Breat
• The Buzz with Exercise
The benefits of each of these was explained through the science of the human nervous system, specifically the autonomic nervous system (ANS) which is the part of the nervous system that regulates mood and can be pictured as the information highway of the body.
The Nervous System
The Autonomic Nervous System (ANS) typically exists in one of two possible states. You may have heard of them, ‘rest & digest’ or ‘fight or flight’.
Fight or Flight is often described as a ‘state’ the nervous system gets into when responding to stress. In this state the body is primed for action, ready to fight off an attacker or run for cover. The mind is blinkered in the direction of completion, quickly assessing the best actions that will end this situation as soon as possible. It is also, however the Activation mode and is very functional. In fact, most of us function very well for a very long time in activation mode; organisers, managers, facilitators, we all bruise through the daily deadlines by harnessing the drive and energy generated while in the activated state.
Rest and Digest on the other hand is described as a ‘state’ the nervous system finds itself in when there are no threats, when all is good and there is time to switch off.But it’s not a complete off-switch, in this state the body takes time to repair and rejuvenate and the mind expands. In this state problems are solved, creative thinking is enhanced and tasks are completed in relation to outcomes and best practice.
