Fear – Cortisol
Aggression, anxiety and overall feeling stressed-out.
Activates addictions. Suppresses libido. Associated with depression. Can be toxic to brain cells. Breaks down muscles, bones and joints. Weakens the immune system. Increases pain. Clogs arteries. Promotes heart disease and high blood pressure, obesity, diabetes and osteoporosis.
Love – Oxytocin
Feeling calm and connected.
Increased curiosity. Lessens cravings & addictions. Increases sexual receptivity. Positive feelings. Facilitates learning. Heals and restores. Faster wound healing. Diminishes sense of pain. Lowers blood pressure. Protects against heart disease
Entelechy: Mind & Culture. New Paltz, NY
Fear drives us to our most undesirable behaviors. It is not uncommon to become stuck in a cycle of fear or stress. That is supposed to be present in order to fully to protect ourselves. It is a signal to warn you when you are in physical danger. Today for most of us our biggest long-term stressors are emotional and mental, not physical. We face threats in the form of job stress or potential job loss, a bombardment of fear-producing media because there is a concern for the stability of the world that we live in and a concern for the stability of our relationships, etc. In this way, it can serve a very important purpose or not. At times, fear causes more harm than good. Most of all, it can keep us from functioning and enjoying life at our best. Threatening thoughts cause an increase of stress hormones—adrenaline and cortisol. A sudden threat triggers the adrenaline. Adrenaline steps up heart rate, increases respiration, activates muscles, and promotes a state of hyper-alertness. Longer- term stress increases a different stress hormone known as cortisol. Our body has only one, automatic response to prolonged threat (perceived or otherwise) and that is more cortisol. Cortisol functions are quite different than the temporary jolt of adrenaline designed to get us out of danger. Cortisol can be very hard on the body! When cortisol stays at high levels, it causes calcium depletion of bone tissue., muscles and joints. The end result is elevated blood fats and sugar, which are related to many physical disorders. Another side effect is hunger so that we are more inclined to reach for high-calorie foods or too much food.
Soothing or reassuring and even humorous thoughts and feelings cause a very different chain of events leading to a production increase in oxytocin. Apart from its functions of emotional bonding oxytocin protects against the effects of cortisol. Production of oxytocin has the immediate health benefit of lowering stress-related symptoms. Many activities are known to help us to produce more oxytocin. Meditation, yoga, exercise, swimming, massage, caring for a pet, laughter, art, music, joining a support group and hypnosis as well as other activities help us to produce more oxytocin. We can choose hypnotherapy to guide to us to a peaceful and loving state and choose many other stress busting methods and thoughts to brings forth the anti- stress effects of oxytocin. We can introduce these best thoughts activities with intention to direct ourselves to better health by entirely natural methods!
Oxytocin equates with love; we could not fall in love without it. Oxytocin is produced when we connect. Cortisol equates with fear. They trigger opposing emotions as well as the production of these opposing hormones. So, in other words, neurochemicals and behavior are interconnected. This means that with a bit of awareness and persistence we can consciously direct our thoughts and behavior toward the maintenance of a better hormonal balance by focusing on those things that bring us a feeling of connectedness in the world. Feelings of acceptance.
Love tends to generate more love, and fear tends to generate more fear. It’s up to us to choose which one will be our essence.