From the YT link: In nature, animals experience and deal with stress in a very different way than humans. The story of the lion hunting the antelope is a great example of this. When the lion attacks the antelope, both animals go into a sympathetic state where their senses and stress are heightened. Even if the antelope gets away, both animals downregulate shortly after and become parasympathetic. The main difference between animals and humans is that once the stressful activity is over, humans tend to hang on to the stress and do not downregulate shortly after the stressor is over, leaving them in a sympathetic state for longer than necessary. Parasympathetic State vs. Sympathetic State The Parasympathetic Nervous System controls homeostasis in the body and restores he body to a calm state. This nervous system activates the “rest and digest” response that decreases hear rate and allows the body to repair and relax. The Sympathetic Nervous System controls the body’s response to a perceived threat or stressful situation. This nervous system activates the “fight or flight” response that increases heart rate and prepares the body to speed up and become more alert/tense - functions that are not immediately essential (ie. digestion and immune system) shut down. While this system does provide a purpose by protecting us from dangers and allowing us to be better able to respond to challenges, it’s best not to stay in this state for too long, as doing so takes a toll on the body. With so many demands, it’s hard to let stressors go so easily like animals do. Brian Mackenzie shares some easy tips for managing stress and downregulating at the end of the day. Stress has a very negative impact on our bodies, it’s important to find ways to manage stress on a daily basis so we can live our healthiest lives. Tips for Managing Stress 1. Focus on what you enjoy One of the easiest things you can do is figure out what you enjoy about each activity you do, whether it’s work, working out, or playing. Focus your thoughts on what you enjoy and create a habit out of that. It might take 3 or 4 weeks but sticking to things that make you happy about what you’re doing while involved in a stressful situation will allow you to downregulate and get into that parasympathetic state very quickly. 2. Be in the moment Continuing to think about stressful situations after they are over keeps the body in a very sympathetic state. It’s easy to think about all the tasks that didn’t get finished at work, getting the kids ready for beds, and other daily stressors. As hard as it may be, we need to learn how to shut these thoughts off. If we learn to live in each moment and take it for what it is, managing stress is absolutely achievable. Stress comes in when we are not in the moment. We need to let things go and stop either living in the past or the future, the past is depression, the future is anxiety. If we can stay in the moment, stress is fine, but then you have to know how to let it go and move on to the next activity so the body learns how to regulate itself. 3. Downregulate Brian’s favorite method for downregulating at the end of the day is to set aside the phone and do a simple breathing routine before going to sleep (ratio - 1 inhale: 4 breath hold: 2 exhale). Repeat this pattern for about 5 or 10 minutes and you will really notice your heart rate and body start to down shift and let things go. This technique is something that can easily be use for managing stress in any situation. You can really trick your body into downregulating and dropping everything so your body can go back into a very calm state and do what it’s supposed to do, which is recover.