Does RP Think Effort Is A Waste Of Energy?

cjm

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My life has been lived in fantasy. Sexual fantasies and philosophies, I end up accomplishing absolutely nothing, and it was that way even when I could go out freely. The real world is so disappointing, and people were so unwelcoming to me, that I can't say I even want a future.

The ruminating and abstracting are enormously effortful, plus they're paralyzing! What if you could re-direct these efforts? Fantasizing and abstracting reality can turn the brain into a "repeater" - like a dumb network device that just propagates the signal it's given from the router. So you'll clear your schedule, stop making plans, have all this free time, but you still find yourself on the couch ruminating, half-listening to whatever TV show or movie annoys you the least because the mental chatter is so prominent. If your mind wasn't so occupied with intrusive thoughts, what would it be doing? Probably sitting back most of the time, when it wasn't engaged in solving a problem or detecting a pattern, just enjoying unimpeded sensory perception.

It's not that I don't want anything, but why do I have to form long-term goals out of desires that my body has? I'm not my body or my desires. I know that desire is just a black hole, that a person wants more and more if they are given happiness, I don't care to promote that cycle.

Duality, eh? The body and the mind are separate in some sense, i.e., muscles and nerves are different kinds of cells, but they can't exist separately. The poetry of life is a verse best read by the whole class.

I guess I'm trying to say you're overthinking this, which is what I wish someone could have told me from the start. I just don't know how to communicate that yet or if it's even worth or able to be communicated. The things in our lives don't always work, but they kind of always do, somewhere, somehow. It's a matter of adaptation. You overcome the learned helplessness of the mental prison and become irreversibly open to solving the seemingly unsolvable problem of not enjoying yourself. You have to solve that problem first but it might be the only one you have to make an effort at, in the sense that you alluded to initially.
 
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orewashin

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The ruminating and abstracting are enormously effortful, plus they're paralyzing! What if you could re-direct these efforts? Fantasizing and abstracting reality can turn the brain into a "repeater" - like a dumb network device that just propagates the signal it's given from the router. So you'll clear your schedule, stop making plans, have all this free time, but you still find yourself on the couch ruminating, half-listening to whatever TV show or movie annoys you the least because the mental chatter is so prominent. If your mind wasn't so occupied with intrusive thoughts, what would it be doing? Probably sitting back most of the time, when it wasn't engaged in solving a problem or detecting a pattern, just enjoying unimpeded sensory perception.



Duality, eh? The body and the mind are separate in some sense, i.e., muscles and nerves are different kinds of cells, but they can't exist separately. The poetry of life is a verse best read by the whole class.

I guess I'm trying to say you're overthinking this, which is what I wish someone could have told me from the start. I just don't know how to communicate that yet or if it's even worth or able to be communicated. The things in our lives don't always work, but they kind of always do, somewhere, somehow. It's a matter of adaptation. You overcome the learned helplessness of the mental prison and become irreversibly open to solving the seemingly unsolvable problem of not enjoying yourself. You have to solve that problem first but it might be the only one you have to make an effort at, in the sense that you alluded to initially.
So in other words, I learn to enjoy myself, and however my energy expresses itself from that point on isn't of much importance, whether or not I do develop long-term goals.

It's a good point of view for people who think they have to follow society's standard protocol for being happy: Having a career, getting married, having kids. Though, I'm very non-standard. I already know I don't enjoy anything too structured, not that I have much of a choice. Not finishing school and not being good at academics enough to bounce back somewhere, as well as having an issue with CFS and getting tired from physical activity, bars me from a great many things. It's hard not to feel helpless if my options are so limited.

Lately, I've been thinking that it would be cool to wander. It's not like I'm tied down to anything, and I don't want to be tied down. Seeing new places is something I enjoy.
 

cjm

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So in other words, I learn to enjoy myself, and however my energy expresses itself from that point on isn't of much importance, whether or not I do develop long-term goals.

It's a good point of view for people who think they have to follow society's standard protocol for being happy: Having a career, getting married, having kids. Though, I'm very non-standard. I already know I don't enjoy anything too structured, not that I have much of a choice. Not finishing school and not being good at academics enough to bounce back somewhere, as well as having an issue with CFS and getting tired from physical activity, bars me from a great many things. It's hard not to feel helpless if my options are so limited.

Lately, I've been thinking that it would be cool to wander. It's not like I'm tied down to anything, and I don't want to be tied down. Seeing new places is something I enjoy.

Things happen for reasons we aren't initially aware of. I don't believe in an anthropomorphic God that tracks our destiny in ledgers, but I do believe things are purposeful in the sense that life just seems to want to live, and it abides by well-worn pathways of expansion and contraction. You didn't cut it in school because it's not the right place for you (damn shame Credentialism is in such vogue these days, is anyone actually learning anything?). So that's a contraction. But let's say you started expanding into academics. Would that expansion have eventually burnt out at a much more inopportune time, after you had a family and kids? Would you be much worse off then? Would it have prevented healthy, unforced expansion, even the ways you're considering growing now? Your options are limited, perhaps, but are they non-existent? You'd have a hard time convincing anyone you don't have any options at all because they would eventually be crushed by the weight of your own doubt.

So yeah, go see the world, but do it without judgement. I hope I don't sound preachy. I've been on a pregnenolone kick recently and my world is expanding and cohering. No long-term plans right now and I like it that way, though my girlfriend wants kids and I know she'd be a great mother so I've got that on my mind. She talks about this "excess of love" from the parents that children should be continually bathed in. I really resonate with that thought. It drives me, actually! Why don't I have more love than I know what to do with? I'm not owed it but I ******* deserve it. What a bonanza excessive love must be. And so I pursue it.
 
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orewashin

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Things happen for reasons we aren't initially aware of. I don't believe in an anthropomorphic God that tracks our destiny in ledgers, but I do believe things are purposeful in the sense that life just seems to want to live, and it abides by well-worn pathways of expansion and contraction. You didn't cut it in school because it's not the right place for you (damn shame Credentialism is in such vogue these days, is anyone actually learning anything?). So that's a contraction. But let's say you started expanding into academics. Would that expansion have eventually burnt out at a much more inopportune time, after you had a family and kids? Would you be much worse off then? Would it have prevented healthy, unforced expansion, even the ways you're considering growing now? Your options are limited, perhaps, but are they non-existent? You'd have a hard time convincing anyone you don't have any options at all because they would eventually be crushed by the weight of your own doubt.

So yeah, go see the world, but do it without judgement. I hope I don't sound preachy. I've been on a pregnenolone kick recently and my world is expanding and cohering. No long-term plans right now and I like it that way, though my girlfriend wants kids and I know she'd be a great mother so I've got that on my mind. She talks about this "excess of love" from the parents that children should be continually bathed in. I really resonate with that thought. It drives me, actually! Why don't I have more love than I know what to do with? I'm not owed it but I ******* deserve it. What a bonanza excessive love must be. And so I pursue it.
What do you feel from pregnenolone? I can't say I feel much of anything from it, so I haven't been taking mine. It may be placebo, but possibly a reduced reaction to stress, and nothing at all if I don't experience any emotionally impacting events.

I have a fear of the kind of scenario in which I would have a significant other and children. I've never had a longterm relationship with anyone. Maybe it's what they call "fear of intimacy". Maybe I don't actually want a life where I have anything to lose and I would prefer to be free. I'm very much stranded physically, but mentally, at least I can think whatever I want. This fear of intimacy thing could also be not wanting someone around to actually know me on a deeper level. I get very scared of tearing up during movies in the presence of family and bottling up emotions causes me a lot of stress.

It's similar with social media, and people in general, really. I don't want to be bound by the identity of "reflexive" opinions, and try to stay neutral because I don't necessarily agree with what most people would consider my "real" views. I know that nobody is right, and I try to be "more than human" by not expressing my own opinions, or again, my "deep feelings", rather than cold, analytical, nihilistic concepts. It's like admitting to myself, "I'm not special because I have opinions like everyone else, and I'm just as wrong as everyone else is" and "I'm not special because I have feelings like everyone else, and my feelings don't represent reality, but the reflexes of a mere child or animal who lives in a big, vast universe, rather than a god who acknowledges that there's no right or wrong or meaning in the universe".
 

cjm

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What do you feel from pregnenolone? I can't say I feel much of anything from it, so I haven't been taking mine. It may be placebo, but possibly a reduced reaction to stress, and nothing at all if I don't experience any emotionally impacting events.

I have a fear of the kind of scenario in which I would have a significant other and children. I've never had a longterm relationship with anyone. Maybe it's what they call "fear of intimacy". Maybe I don't actually want a life where I have anything to lose and I would prefer to be free. I'm very much stranded physically, but mentally, at least I can think whatever I want. This fear of intimacy thing could also be not wanting someone around to actually know me on a deeper level. I get very scared of tearing up during movies in the presence of family and bottling up emotions causes me a lot of stress.

It's similar with social media, and people in general, really. I don't want to be bound by the identity of "reflexive" opinions, and try to stay neutral because I don't necessarily agree with what most people would consider my "real" views. I know that nobody is right, and I try to be "more than human" by not expressing my own opinions, or again, my "deep feelings", rather than cold, analytical, nihilistic concepts. It's like admitting to myself, "I'm not special because I have opinions like everyone else, and I'm just as wrong as everyone else is" and "I'm not special because I have feelings like everyone else, and my feelings don't represent reality, but the reflexes of a mere child or animal who lives in a big, vast universe, rather than a god who acknowledges that there's no right or wrong or meaning in the universe".

Dude, I'm vibing with you. It's noble to set yourself aside when you know you're not harmonizing. It'll never be talked about nobly, you'll never get credit for it, but it's like taking the Hippocratic Oath for regular humans, it is harm reduction.

I bolded the part about you not wanting to tear up because I struggled most of my childhood with crying on a dime, so to speak. It poisoned my relationships with everyone and made me paranoid. I struggled against it so hard that now I can't even cry if I want to. Only when all the noise dies down and I can mourn my path of neglect/destruction. But there's a huge hint here if you've ever read any Reich or Lowen, in that ocular blocks (armoring of muscles around the eyes) are the key to unlocking blocks in the rest of the body. If you're worried about exploding into tears because it can still happen, you're probably still in a gainful place physiologically, even if your alarm signals are bellowing 24/7.

@orewashin
There is a balance between stimulation and inhibition. If you have been stressed for years, any stimulation will lead to adverse effects, and an inhibitory period is a necessary part of any recovery. (read up on GABA) At the same time, stimulation is necessary in the latter part of the recovery.

Re: pregnenolone, this. I confused when to go and when to stop. All I ever wanted in my childhood was to stop. Now that I'm stuck, all I want now is to go. A well-timed, unfettered stop is necessary to get going again. I've taken pregnenolone before in high doses but I was too disorganized to recognize its proper use. Pregnenolone is a start promoter if you let it slow you down, which it will do if the dosage is right. For me, the dosage is an entire bottle of StressNon a day. I don't anticipate having to do this forever, or very long at all. Just enough to say "okay, I'm relaxed." There's an enormous mental hurdle to this therapy, in that you have to let go of the desire to stimulate, and trust that it will come back when it's ready. You can't force this, I think you completely understand this, that you have to be brutally honest with yourself. "Am I ready?" You'll know. The evidence will course through you, bubble out of you, and lift you up effortlessly, as long as your stress is not keeping you down.
 
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orewashin

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Dude, I'm vibing with you. It's noble to set yourself aside when you know you're not harmonizing. It'll never be talked about nobly, you'll never get credit for it, but it's like taking the Hippocratic Oath for regular humans, it is harm reduction.

I bolded the part about you not wanting to tear up because I struggled most of my childhood with crying on a dime, so to speak. It poisoned my relationships with everyone and made me paranoid. I struggled against it so hard that now I can't even cry if I want to. Only when all the noise dies down and I can mourn my path of neglect/destruction. But there's a huge hint here if you've ever read any Reich or Lowen, in that ocular blocks (armoring of muscles around the eyes) are the key to unlocking blocks in the rest of the body. If you're worried about exploding into tears because it can still happen, you're probably still in a gainful place physiologically, even if your alarm signals are bellowing 24/7.



Re: pregnenolone, this. I confused when to go and when to stop. All I ever wanted in my childhood was to stop. Now that I'm stuck, all I want now is to go. A well-timed, unfettered stop is necessary to get going again. I've taken pregnenolone before in high doses but I was too disorganized to recognize its proper use. Pregnenolone is a start promoter if you let it slow you down, which it will do if the dosage is right. For me, the dosage is an entire bottle of StressNon a day. I don't anticipate having to do this forever, or very long at all. Just enough to say "okay, I'm relaxed." There's an enormous mental hurdle to this therapy, in that you have to let go of the desire to stimulate, and trust that it will come back when it's ready. You can't force this, I think you completely understand this, that you have to be brutally honest with yourself. "Am I ready?" You'll know. The evidence will course through you, bubble out of you, and lift you up effortlessly, as long as your stress is not keeping you down.
Crying can be a sign of good energy production, whereas being stagnant means that nothing is happening and you're not making much progress. If you didn't experience negative emotions, then you wouldn't have the will to break through bad circumstances. In that way, being in an apathetic state is much worse than being in a distressed state when you're floating in the middle of the ocean.

I never read anything from Reich or Lowen while I was in school, hell, I don't think they even taught us who they were! Do you read books, like from them?

When I was a kid, I was pretty sensitive. I cried because of misunderstandings instead of clearing them up. At one point, I wanted to grow up so I didn't go to recess. I wasn't the only one, a kid broke his video games because he wanted to be like an adult. I'm bored of games, which sucks. They follow a similar structure and recycle ideas to save money a lot, plus the big companies bribe reviewers by taking them to a nice dinner, which makes new stuff that's good less successful. Video games are a toy, and it's time to move on to bigger toys, like life and the big, wide world.

Stressnon is designed for topical use, are you sure that's alright? I would also think that something like Niacinamide and Taurine are more effective for "slowing down". The former works on Benzo, and the latter on GABA receptors, I think.
 

cjm

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I own a couple Reich books, Character Analysis is the pre-eminent work, I've rented a few Lowen books on archive.org, and I have books by successors of theirs, Michel (Bent Out of Shape) and Johnson (Character Styles). The discipline of "body psychotherapy" speaks to me so I use it as a framework for organizing my intentions. Your mileage may vary, you just said some things that made me think that you might realize positive expansion incorporating some of their insights to your practice.

StressNon is designated for topical use, yes, but it's less cost-effective, not to mention less effective, period, than absorbing as much as your intestines can handle. I didn't feel like I made any progress until I took it straight down the hatch. Now, I use niacinamide and taurine and a plethora of other "Peaty" supplements, though not nearly as much as before, and not with the same intention that I have now with preg. I agree they would help, especially in my case now that I feel I am finally unstuck. Not sure which is the cart or the horse: the clarity of vision leading me to preg or the preg leading to the clarity. Probably definitely works both ways? All I know for sure is that it has been exactly the right tool for the job.

Peat weighs in on a major mechanism of pregnenolone's positive effects, something that concerns an organ I have never given a crap about, my skin:

"Many people have noticed that pregnenolone has a "face-lifting" action. This effect seems to be produced by improved circulation to the skin, and by an actual contraction of some muscle-like cells in the skin. A similar effect can improve joint mobility in arthritis, tissue elasticity in the lungs, and even eyesight. Many studies have shown it to be protective of "fibrous tissues" in general, and in this connection it was proven to prevent the tumors that can be caused by estrogen." Progesterone Pregnenolone & DHEA - Three Youth-Associated Hormones

Not saying this is the only mechanism or even the most important one, but if that's the connection he's making, that improved circulation via improved *skin muscle* functioning can improve eyesight, or say asthma or arthritis (oops, forgot about cancer), it's something I never ever thought about and now gives my thoughts and experimentation an entirely new, untouched avenue for exploration. Skin muscles!! Skin is a just an organ bag, methought!! Puts my male pattern baldness in a stark new light.
 

LUH 3417

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I own a couple Reich books, Character Analysis is the pre-eminent work, I've rented a few Lowen books on archive.org, and I have books by successors of theirs, Michel (Bent Out of Shape) and Johnson (Character Styles). The discipline of "body psychotherapy" speaks to me so I use it as a framework for organizing my intentions. Your mileage may vary, you just said some things that made me think that you might realize positive expansion incorporating some of their insights to your practice.

StressNon is designated for topical use, yes, but it's less cost-effective, not to mention less effective, period, than absorbing as much as your intestines can handle. I didn't feel like I made any progress until I took it straight down the hatch. Now, I use niacinamide and taurine and a plethora of other "Peaty" supplements, though not nearly as much as before, and not with the same intention that I have now with preg. I agree they would help, especially in my case now that I feel I am finally unstuck. Not sure which is the cart or the horse: the clarity of vision leading me to preg or the preg leading to the clarity. Probably definitely works both ways? All I know for sure is that it has been exactly the right tool for the job.

Peat weighs in on a major mechanism of pregnenolone's positive effects, something that concerns an organ I have never given a crap about, my skin:

"Many people have noticed that pregnenolone has a "face-lifting" action. This effect seems to be produced by improved circulation to the skin, and by an actual contraction of some muscle-like cells in the skin. A similar effect can improve joint mobility in arthritis, tissue elasticity in the lungs, and even eyesight. Many studies have shown it to be protective of "fibrous tissues" in general, and in this connection it was proven to prevent the tumors that can be caused by estrogen." Progesterone Pregnenolone & DHEA - Three Youth-Associated Hormones

Not saying this is the only mechanism or even the most important one, but if that's the connection he's making, that improved circulation via improved *skin muscle* functioning can improve eyesight, or say asthma or arthritis (oops, forgot about cancer), it's something I never ever thought about and now gives my thoughts and experimentation an entirely new, untouched avenue for exploration. Skin muscles!! Skin is a just an organ bag, methought!! Puts my male pattern baldness in a stark new light.
Masochists are always seeking warmth because they cannot bring the energy to the surface level of the skin, so they are cold to touch. Wish Reich and Peat could have done a podcast together inside an orgone somewhere in maine in 1952.
 
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orewashin

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Masochists are always seeking warmth because they cannot bring the energy to the surface level of the skin, so they are cold to touch. Wish Reich and Peat could have done a podcast together inside an orgone somewhere in maine in 1952.
By that logic, fat women are more masochistic than skinny women. I don't know, something about it rings true.

Peat weighs in on a major mechanism of pregnenolone's positive effects, something that concerns an organ I have never given a crap about, my skin:

"Many people have noticed that pregnenolone has a "face-lifting" action. This effect seems to be produced by improved circulation to the skin, and by an actual contraction of some muscle-like cells in the skin. A similar effect can improve joint mobility in arthritis, tissue elasticity in the lungs, and even eyesight. Many studies have shown it to be protective of "fibrous tissues" in general, and in this connection it was proven to prevent the tumors that can be caused by estrogen." Progesterone Pregnenolone & DHEA - Three Youth-Associated Hormones
I think he's talking about the muscles that tighten the skin around the body. Like if someone loses a lot of weight, the skin tightens over the body again over time.
 

LUH 3417

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By that logic, fat women are more masochistic than skinny women. I don't know, something about it rings true.


I think he's talking about the muscles that tighten the skin around the body. Like if someone loses a lot of weight, the skin tightens over the body again over time.
According to reich the masochistic character type is fat, especially women have heavy legs.
 

cjm

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Masochists are always seeking warmth because they cannot bring the energy to the surface level of the skin, so they are cold to touch. Wish Reich and Peat could have done a podcast together inside an orgone somewhere in maine in 1952.

Was Reich an abrasive personality? I can see a potential for a clash there. Then again they might oppose each other the right way. Two pioneers sitting in an orgone bath talking shop, no doubt that would be a gem.

Oh yeah, cold hands, feet, ears, testes, legs, neck... check! Most comfortable in stagnant, hot summer weather... check!

The insidious assumption: "But it's just skin..."

It may be literally bringing me to my knees.
 

cjm

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I think he's talking about the muscles that tighten the skin around the body. Like if someone loses a lot of weight, the skin tightens over the body again over time.

Yeah, true, but the generality about similar skin cells (might shed some light to call them endothelial cells) was what I was so intrigued by. Face-lift, that is all well and good, but more flexibility in joints and an easier time breathing by a similar mechanism? That's awesome.
 
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orewashin

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Yeah, true, but the generality about similar skin cells (might shed some light to call them endothelial cells) was what I was so intrigued by. Face-lift, that is all well and good, but more flexibility in joints and an easier time breathing by a similar mechanism? That's awesome.
Did you notice better flexibility? I wonder if it would benefit the morning stiffness found in people with arthritic conditions.
 

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Did you notice better flexibility? I wonder if it would benefit the morning stiffness found in people with arthritic conditions.
Hell yeah, less stiffness all around. As an example, simple walking (you know, left foot, right foot, left foot, etc.) is a chore because I have to literally think about where I'm going to put each foot next and how the placement of my foot might cause awkward gait in some form or fashion, some muscle group or another getting pinched up. My foot arches are either collapsed or completely fibrotic or both, there's not much permissible real estate to plant them. I've never felt grounded, to use a Reich (or Lowen?) term. There's places in my body I can't "go" but it's not like they're painful. I just avoid and eventually forget about the tense spots until they stop working. I lock my knees out to stand up, I let my head collapse forward because my neck's too weak and/or involved in emergency breathing (i.e., the scalenes) because my diaphragm won't move unless I think about where it should go (down, I have an inverse breathing pattern where I use my chest to lift my rib cage). I feel like an extremely well-adjusted cripple. That's changing now.
 

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So stress causes an adrenalin rush.

What's the meaning of recreational stress, such as music and exciting tv shows? Is it simply a waste of energy? Should music only be used to increase strength of political messages and promote social interaction, whereas tv should only show the truth and no deaths of fictional characters?

While RP says orgasms have a positive effect, are sexual feeling not a waste if they aren't experienced with someone else, in which case they would help foster bonding? Are cravings a source of potential stress and should be eliminated, or are they a form of stress that can push through learned helplessness, and motivate a shy person to approach people for sex?

If I had not practiced false optimism, I would have not met my first woman, and if I had not practiced nofap and driven myself into a frenzy, messaging dozens of women, I would not have met my second. Both of these were due to stress, I didn't meet them out of casual conversation.

Andrew Kim Blog |Page 1, Chan:9079376 |RSSing.com"
"The term “stress” conjures up different meanings for people, even among researchers in the field who study and think about the concept of stress day in and day out. For the purpose of this blog, when I use the term "stress," I am referring to the Selye form of stress: broadly, the activation of the HPA axis by a stimulus (Selye, 1946, 1998).


But what exactly constitutes a stimulus? And for that matter, what are “good” and “bad” stimuli?


A stimulus, or more specifically, a stressor, is anything that puts demands on the body, requiring an acute increase in energy generation, attendant to the rise in the physiological factors of adaptation, for the purpose of preserving conditions of the “internal milieu”, as the French physiologist, Claude Bernard, referred to it as (Bernard, 1957).


Later on, the concept described by Bernard, that all adaptive mechanisms work to preserve the conditions of the “internal milieu”, was coined “homeostasis” by the American physiologist, Walter B. Cannon (Cannon, 1963).


Determining the nature of a stressor – good or bad – depends on two things. For one, the state of the individual, that is his or her stress load, stage of life, immune system status, early life experiences, and nutritional state; these individual factors are in turn influenced by other factors, such as the time of day, season, and light exposure. And two, the stressor itself, namely its intensity and duration.


Nonetheless, if demands placed on the body are not too great, and if we can learn from it, we can conceive a stressor that fits this description to be “good.” Conversely, we can conceive a stressor that places demands on the body that are too great – such that it overwhelms the body’s capacity to safely deal with it – to be “bad.”


Equally important, in the interest of refining its definition, is what stress is not (Selye, 1957).

  • For one, stress is not something we can avoid (This is why statements like “he’s under stress” are meaningless and redundant.)
  • Two, stressors are not unique in the reactions that they elicit in the body, because all stressors, regardless of the source, stimulate the HPA axis, increase energy demands, and affect the same organs.
  • And three, stress is not always “bad”; rather, they can be just as we perceive them (e.g., the stress felt before a date or a passionate kiss, for instance, is productive.)

Stress is the thread that runs through virtually every disease known to civilization. Because, for the most part, infectious diseases and problems in food availability have been conquered, and the myriad of stressors we encounter daily nowadays – including from ionizing radiation, air pollutants, and chemicals in the food supply – an area of research that deserves more attention is the contribution of each of these environmental stressors on impacting the progression of diseases.


But then again, what is disease? And what separates disease from vibrant health?


Foremost, we can conceive disease and health to exist at two ends of the same continuum, with our resiliency to stress informing us of whereabouts we fit on it. Diseases manifest as a consequence of progressively deteriorating adaptive mechanisms, which is due to the damages incurred, from pushing through the stresses encountered in one's lifetime, without the energy reserves or adaptive mechanisms to do so.


These adaptive mechanisms, mediated by hormones, neurotransmitters, and cytokines (and thus, coordinated by the endocrine, nervous, and immune systems) are life saving in the short-term. It’s when they fall out of range, or persist in the blood too long, that degenerative processes get set in motion, as the damages incurred from these derangements are cumulative and decrease the body’s resistance to future stressors. These degenerative processes manifest as diabetes, hypertension, gastrointestinal ulcer, kidney disease, infertility, cardiovascular disease, etc."
...
 
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orewashin

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Good read but still doesn't answer my question about recreational stress.

To put it better: If your stress adaptive mechanisms are already extinguished, wouldn't a stressor seen as harmless such as a movie push one over the edge into the realm of damage? If that's the case, then why watch movies at all, if you could be doing something that's also stressful, but actually productive? Unless the emotional experience creates a type of stress resistance that is useful. However, it could just as much be seen as desensitization, and therefore a bad thing.

Walking barefoot makes your feet harder and adapts you to barefooting, but as a consequence, you feel less on your feet, as an example.
 

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