Resilience - a state of mind and body

In previous blogs I explained my thoughts on the relationship between resilience and stress, i.e. you can become stressed whether you are resilient or not but you cannot be resilient without experiencing some degree of stress to become more resilience relative to that particular type of stress.

Having said that we all have a basic level of resilience which allows us to initially cope with our first encounter of a particular type of stress and to still keep functioning. Much like our basal metabolic rate (BMR) or resting metabolic rate (RMR) which is our basic level of energy use or calories burnt when at rest allowing vital organs to keep functioning i.e. heart, lungs, kidneys, muscles, nervous system etc.

So we will all have a basal resilience rate (BRR) or resting resilience rate (RRR) which as with the BMR/RMR we can increase through the state of our mind and body.

Our mind and body states can be further split into four elements Mental, Emotional, Behavioural and Physical. If we look after our mental and physical states then we will increase or resting resilience rate so through healthy eating, getting a good nights sleep, keeping the body hydrated, having self-confidence, being emotionally aware, having the support of friends, family and colleagues we can increase our RRR. I have developed a Resilience Model which includes some of the main factors which will influence our RRR.

Equally, if we eat junk food, drink alcohol and smoke excessively, are dehydrated, low self-esteem, trouble sleeping, don't exercise, irritable and emotionally un-balanced then our RRR will be very low.

If we experience a particularly stressful event then we are much more able to deal with this if we have a high RRR and after, much more able to cope with repeated exposure to that type of stress event thus building up a resistance to that type of stress.

So we now know what factors will influence our ability to become more resilient and next time we will find out 'How do we become more resilient'.

Resilience and Stress: Two sides of the same coin

In this third instalment we are going to explore the relationship between resilience and stress.

The World Health Organisation defines health as 'Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social wellbeing, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity'. 

I would drawn similarities to resilience and stress. The absence of stress does not mean we are resilient, within reason I would argue the opposite, we need to experience stress in order to become resilient.

Of course if we simply avoid stressful situations altogether we don't need to be resilient, however I suspect even the Dalai Lama gets stressed sometimes, probably at the increasing frequency that people are getting stressed. So in todays society avoiding stress is not that realistic for most of us, it's how we react and manage it that is in our control.

Now, we can improve our resilience through our general physical and mental health and wellbeing. Although, in order to become resilient against something we need to first experience it, and then experience it again, and again before we learn how to react and manage that situation. Being physically and mentally fit simply increases our ability to do this, time and time again.

Let me give you an example, how do we build up a resistance or resilience to a cold or flu, we get a flu jab i.e. inject ourselves with the flu virus in a small and controlled dose so our body and mind can adjust and develop a higher tolerance to this virus and we repeatedly do this year after year. Having a strong immune system will vastly improve our ability to fight off this virus so being in good health really helps.

So I have concluded that we can become stressed whether we are resilient or not, but we cannot become resilient without experiencing some degree of stress, pressure or resistance, therefore resilience and stress are truly two side of the same coin.

Resilience is relative

So we have established that resilience is our ability to return back to our original state after a period of stress without being permanently affected i.e. our ability to bounce back.

I believe that after repeated exposure to a controlled dose of stress we can build up a tolerance and therefore inoculate ourselves against stress. However, stress comes in many shapes, sizes and stains.

So building up a tolerance for a particular type of stress will not necessarily inoculate us against all forms of stress, just the one's that we are exposed to more often.

So let me use a body building analogy to explain. Body builders lift weights, load the muscles, release the weight and repeat, then there is a period of rest and recovery. What this process does is micro tear the muscles which are then repaired bigger and stronger thus increasing their resilience to this type of stress on the body and muscles.

Now I lift weights but I am unlikely to win Mr Universe, why?

The difference is the physical and mental focus and conditioning of those body builders, thus with the right training of the mind and body we can develop resilience to the stresses we experience.

I know many Executives that I consider to be very resilient and I know many athletes that are resilient but put them in each others environments and they are likely to get distorted because they have not developed the necessary type of resilience.

So resilience is relative to the stress we experience.

So just to conclude my body building analogy, I guess that a body builder who works in a corporate or 'political' environment would be extremely resilient - which might explain the catch phrase of a person that comes to mind and I will leave you with these words 'I'll be back' or should it be 'I'll bounce back'.

Next time - Stress and Resilience: two sides of the same coin

What is Resilience?

Resilience is a word we are hearing more and more in the work place these days, so what is Resilience?

Well as with most things resilience means different things to different people and there are hundreds of interpretations out there.

So I have decided to start my series of blogs on Resilience with the Scientific definition of resilience:

'Resilience is the ability of a material to absorb energy when deformed elastically and release that energy upon unloading. Therefore, resilience can be defined as the maximum energy that can be absorbed without creating a permanent distortion'

Sounds pretty scientific to me, so what does it mean to you and me? well this is my interpretation:

Resilience is our ability to deal with stress when put under pressure but more importantly have the ability to release that stress 'de-stress' back to a point of balance without it having a permanent affect. In other words its our ability to bounce back time after time.

In future blogs we will explore the relativity of resilience, its relationship with stress, resilience a state of mind and body, what comes first the chicken (resilience) or the egg (stress), and how do we become more resilient?

Until next time....be well