How are you feeling? Are you stressed? Does life feel stressful? Have we always been this stressed?
Stress is the adverse reaction we have to excessive pressure or demands. When feeling under pressure, our bodies have a physical response, producing adrenaline and cortisol to give us the energy to deal with the pressure. We are designed to get away from the pressure, escape the threat or complete the demand, and come back to a state of being unstressed fairly quickly. This system is not designed for long-term pressure or ongoing demands.
When you call up the sensation of being stressed, you might think of headaches, tiredness, muscle tension or nausea, or perhaps becoming more irritable, restless or withdrawn. Stress might affect your appetite, your exercising patterns or desire for social interactions. These are all things which happen in the moment as we live it. However, the long-term effects of being under pressure, or being in a stressed state, can lead to serious long-term health issues, such as mental health conditions, cardiovascular problems, digestive problems, problems with the immune system, and drug and alcohol misuse.
Exploring stress is a core module of Soundcastle's mental health first aid training. Every time I explore this with a group, the wider trends in increasing mental illness suddenly seem very close to home. We explore stress using the model of a pressure bucket – we all have one, and all the demands of our lives go into one bucket. However hard we try and however keen we are to compartmentalise, the fact that your washing machine broke this morning, you have reports to write, and there's tension with your colleague, are all adding pressure to the same system. Our caring responsibilities and financial pressures start to fill the bucket, and it might only take an unexpected change of timetable or losing your keys to make the bucket spill over.
So, what can we do about it? To start, let's come back to our bodies and remind ourselves that these also have a built-in stress relief system. Thank goodness for the pituitary gland, which produces oxytocin, the wonderful hormone that can reverse the effects of stress. We can think of this system like a tap on the bucket, relieving the pressure.
Working with groups of all ages and in many different roles across the arts, I notice that stress-relieving activities are slightly different each time – a useful reminder that there is no one-size-fits-all solution for mental health support. Typically, these activities include walking, gardening, reading or spending time with pets, family or friends.
Another key observation is that pressures and stress-relieving activities can be interchangeable. Some people find running the perfect wind-down, while others put the pressure to exercise firmly inside their bucket. Caring responsibilities is another example that can sit both sides of the line. It reminds us that, in the age of social media, our lives are nuanced and diverse, and we cannot make assumptions about other people's experiences. When faced with a distressed colleague, manager, friend or family member, it is imperative that we listen with curiosity and without judgement. This may be easier said than done, but it's something we can practise, and the ability to hone a skill is something musicians have in abundance!
Music, as you probably know, is also an excellent tool for releasing oxytocin. But when this tool becomes your work-life, your source of money, the skill that is under pressure to perform, does it still feel like a wellbeing activity? In our discussions with employers, employees and freelancers across the industry, it's clear we all feel like we should be feeling better. This is why relying only on our pituitary glands is not enough. We need to tackle the root causes of the pressures, which is a much bigger conversation and one that will be time-consuming, messy and unique to each workplace and person within it. This is a collective and vital endeavour for which we must all take personal responsibility.
