“Your body perceives the world before your mind does.” Stress expert Elke Van Hoof on chronic insecurity, irritability, and social safety.
What if stress isn’t a personal weakness, but an understandable reaction to the world we live in? Stress can certainly be your best friend, but the world in which it arises isn’t always a safe one.
Stress expert Elke Van Hoof discusses how stress is increasingly caused by the harsh realities of our world. Think of online shaming, polarization, aggression in public and digital spaces, and the constant uncertainty surrounding work, the climate, politics, and our livelihoods. When this social threat keeps recurring, the body learns something. A blueprint is formed, as it were. Any form of relaxation feels unsafe, and staying alert becomes the norm.
Research shows that repeated exposure to emotionally charged content overstimulates the brain’s fear center, while the ability to see things in context and regulate emotions diminishes. As a result, you increasingly view the world through a lens of threat and danger. Still, in a harsh world, you can help your stress response system return to a state of calm by consciously building in safety, creating more predictability, and organizing social support.
