Written on July 8, 2024

When explaining stress or hyperventilation, the well-known comparison of the lion standing in front of the hunter is often used.

Once the hunter notices the lion, his body will do everything it can to make him more alert and give him the physical ability to do what is necessary to survive, to either kill the lion or to run away. His heart rate increases and his breathing quickens. In other words, he is hyperventilating and the stressor, the cause, is the lion.

This comparison is used to explain why your body does what it does during stress or hyperventilation. And while this is true in this particular case, it no longer applies in contemporary society.

After the incident with the lion, the hunter will need to rest and de-stress. He returns home and waits until the hyperventilation process subsides. The only reason this is possible is because the stressor is gone. But what happens to a body when the lion does not go away, but continues to chase you and keeps you in constant tension?

Resting is no longer an option and the stress becomes constant. Although your body is built to tolerate short periods of stress between long periods of rest, it is not built to do the opposite.

But this is what most of our contemporary lives consist of. Stress due to work, school, expectations of others and uncertainty about whether enough food can be bought this month. And with a bit of luck, this stress will be interrupted only once a year by a two-week holiday.

Your body no longer has the opportunity to rest. Or better said, you no longer give your body the chance to rest, until your body forces you to rest. And that happens via a hyperventilation attack or a burnout.

The art of surviving contemporary life is to prevent this. To find peace and avoid the stressors or simply remove them from your life. Change jobs, end an unhappy relationship and avoid the people who make you unhappy instead of happy.

Take days off to take care of yourself, in whatever form that takes. Take a walk in the woods, sleep in, take a bath or book a hotel for an evening and be taken care of in a restaurant. Do whatever makes you happy and gives you the ability to de-stress your body.