Fun With Stress 1.5

Different Input Levels

Reading time: 12 minutes

Part 1.4 showed us that insignificant physical and mental input is immediately forgotten. Significant input, by contrast, creates output in the form of thoughts, feelings, visceral reactions and/or actions. Yet how many, and what kind of thoughts, feelings, visceral reactions or actions will happen, depends on two factors: the level of significance, and the quantity of input.

With quantity of input is meant: the amount of input our brain has to process on a daily basis. Our brain needs to process every bit of input that reaches it from outside or inside our body. The amount of stimuli in a city for instance is usually much higher than in a forest, therefore in a city our brain has to process much more information than in a forest. Hence why so many city-folk enjoy being in nature, for there our brain gets some time to relax – and by extension the rest of our body. Moreover, this is also a reason why many places of worship are soberly furnished, for the less stimuli from the outside world our brain has to process, the better the chance of coming to ourselves.[1]

Also here we see a balance movement between much and little stimuli: while living in the city, with our jobs, family, friends and enemies, social obligations, pleasures and problems, plus all the city sights, sounds, smells, tastes and feels, we come into contact with an incredible amount of stimuli our brain needs to process. As we will see in the second part of this study, that can only be kept going for so long before we run out of energy. To balance that out, we need time in low-on-stimuli places.

Now when we’re talking about level of significance, we mean that not every bit of significant input is weighed equally. Some significant input will only create a snicker as output, while other significant input will produce anxious thoughts, palpitations, trembling all over the body, and shouting out in horror as output. This is the difference between seeing someone die while choking on chopsticks in a comedy, and seeing someone being slaughtered with a blunt knife right in front of us. As we’ve seen earlier, the context in which an experience takes place, plays a huge role in the way we perceive it.

Moreover, output has a tendency of becoming itself new input. That happens for instance when our heartrate increases towards palpitation-level every time our buttons are pushed (which is output), but we don’t connect the palpitations to the stress response which sets them off. Therefore the same palpitations then become input with the ability to scare us into believing we have a heart condition; subsequently that belief pushes our buttons again, and in that way an anxiety-loop is being created.

Let’s now investigate the different input levels and predict what kinds of output can be expected with each of them.

Level I: Insignificant input

This has already been discussed in part 1.4; it’s all the input that’s immediately forgotten and doesn’t create any output we’re consciously aware of. The vast majority of input we run into on a daily basis belongs to this level.

Level II: Significant but harmless input (mild stress response)

External physical input

Paul is taking a nice stroll and enjoying the warmth from the sun. Then all of a sudden he sees a billboard of Winston Churchill with a banana hanging out of his mouth. Paul recognizes the individual, either from history books or World War II documentaries. Now, the conscious part of Paul’s mind is always on the lookout for recognizable features and patterns. Therefore a thought can arise along the lines of, “Hey, that’s Winston! Didn’t know the old chap smoked banana’s.” Everybody knows that Churchill was a vigorous cigar smoker, so this picture can evoke a feeling such as merriment. Furthermore it can produce an action in the form of a smile on the face. This output is however relatively mild, for this situation carries little significance for Paul personally.

Internal physical input

Since a few weeks Joan is feeling a mild, nagging pain in-between her shoulder blades. It tends to become worse when she’s sitting behind a computer for a few hours, but subsides again when she moves around a bit. Every now and then it stings while lying in bed, and she had a nasty headache a few days ago, which is a rarity for her. However, she might think, “These inconveniences seem manageable. No need for a doctor.” At this point she’s not worrying and feels to be in control, therefore her thoughts-output are relatively mild. When the pain becomes irritating, that is to say when her conscious attention is drawn towards it, she moves around since that brings relief, so her action-output is effective. Upon relief, she’ll forget about it and go back to business as usual.

Level III: Significant input (average stress response)

External physical input

Paul is taking a nice stroll on a warm, cloudy, autumn day. Then all of a sudden he sees a poster with the image of his 69 year old mother printed on it. Yet he can’t quite read the text above and underneath the image. Of course he recognizes the individual, but her birthday isn’t coming up for another six months. That unusual situation will probably cause him to think, “Is that mom? What’s going on here?” Most likely he’ll change direction towards the poster with a mild cautious feeling.

After a few paces he reads the big text above the image, which says, “Pan Narrans – Do Not Feed”[2] and the smaller text on the bottom reads, “A storytelling experience by Granny Smith. This Friday at the Public Library.” Immediately he remembers his mom’s monthly storytelling afternoon for disabled children. He slows down and laughs a bit sheepishly for forgetting about this passion of hers.

In this case, the image showed a loved one in a context that was at first unclear to Paul. Therefore merely the image created output he’s consciously aware of in the form of mild worrying thoughts, a mild anxious feeling and changing his direction towards the poster. As soon as the context became clear, and he understood to have worried about nothing, mild anxiety might be replaced by thoughts of self-mockery about how silly he was. This leads to slowing down the pace and producing an apologetic smile.

Internal physical input

The pain between Joan’s shoulders has been nagging her for four months now. Even moving around doesn’t seem to bring relief anymore. Headaches have been unusually rampant the last six weeks and she can’t remember the last time she had a good night’s sleep. She doesn’t know however what is causing these ‘minor’ health problems, and might think, “Life seems okay, relationship seems okay, work seems okay. Sure, our two year old has been suffering from flu like symptoms on and off for half a year now, but the doctor says that’s normal.” However she’s starting to lose concentration at work and make silly mistakes. That bugs her because she’s somewhat of a perfectionist. So she makes a doctor’s appointment.

Here we see that the input causes output she’s consciously aware of by means of worrisome thoughts, feelings of anxiety, visceral reactions in the form of headaches and not enough sleep, and a change in behaviour: she’s actually clearing time in her – often busy – schedule to go see a doctor.

Level IV: Significant and potentially harmful input (strong stress response)

External physical input

Paul enjoys a relaxed stroll on a blossomy spring afternoon. Then he spots a poster with the image of his 83 year old mother printed on it. However he can’t read the text above and underneath the image. Of course he recognizes the individual, but her birthday isn’t coming up for another six months. He’ll probably think, “Is that mom? What’s going on here?” Most likely he’ll change direction towards the poster with a cautious feeling.

After a few paces he can read the big text above the image, which spells, “MISSING.” Now he runs towards the poster and his facial expression is a mixture of worry and anxiety. Then he can read the bottom text: “Granny Smith went for a walk last Monday afternoon but did not return to The Beetlejuice Elderly Home. She has not been seen or heard from since and can come across a little confused. If you know anything of her whereabouts, please contact us immediately at 1 800 999 8888 or get in touch with the local police.”

By this time Paul’s heart is beating in his throat. His breathing might be close to hyperventilation and he’s all tensed up – shoulders pulled up high, hands clenched like fists – he’s full on high alert mode.

In this case he walks into an unexpected and unwanted situation. Unexpected because he had no idea his mom went missing. Unwanted because, well, she’s missing, and at this moment he can’t seem to do anything about it. So as soon as the context becomes clear, his thoughts might look something like this: “Nooooo crap crap crap, why didn’t she return? Where is she? Where can she be? At the old house? No that’s impossible, been torn down years ago. Then where? Crap…uhm…think! Think! Okay relax, breathe first. Breathe. Now think. It’s been three days. Holy cow, three days already! Why did nobody call me?...” etcetera.

Output here is obvious: his worrisome thoughts will be accompanied with feelings such as anxiety, anger or shock, and the visceral reactions are manifested in the rapid heartbeat, hyperventilation and tensing up of his body. Moreover in his behaviour he’ll probably mutter some thoughts out loud coupled with some expletives. Together with his body language, most people will be able to see him being worried sick about something. This is because the input is not only significant, but potentially harmful – in this case for a loved one. His anxiety buttons are pushed hard and he’ll experience a stress response severe enough to focus all his energy and attention exclusively at this situation – and forget about all other situations in the process. When that happens, the input can be called a stressor.

Internal physical input

Joan’s two year old balances on the edge of life and death on intensive care. Her spouse has four simultaneous affairs behind her back and yesterday she got fired. Her headache turned into a chronic migraine. On top of her back and shoulder problems, a nagging pain has developed deep in her lower abdomen. No matter how she lies, sits, stands or walks, it’s always there lingering in the same, nagging way. However, the doctor said her kid is in good hands and she should do better to relax a little bit. Yet all she repetitively thinks is, “May I die now? Please? Can someone open the floor beneath me to fall into the abyss? Will this shitstorm ever end? And what the [bleep] is going on in my stomach?”

She’ll throw herself into the medical circuit out of a responsibility to care for her child. Moreover, whether she’ll be fighting or fawning with her spouse – either way is going to push her buttons. Being afraid of not having an income, she’ll frantically try to find a new job, but now every rejection to an application will heavily push buttons, because in her perception everything now depends upon it.

Here we see a high amount of very significant and potentially harmful input, because on top of her internal physical input, which all of a sudden even harbours the possibility of a malignancy, there’s now added three big external stressors, namely her dying child, cheating spouse and lost source of income. Output manifests itself in depressing and even self-destructing thoughts; being thrown back and forth between feelings of extreme anxiety, anger and grief; obvious visceral reactions in the now lingering abdominal pain on top of the already existing conditions; and various desperate actions from seeking medical care for her child and herself, dealing in various ways with her spouse and trying to find a new job. All these inputs are gigantic stressors and cause severe, and very noticeable, output.

Mental input

When incessant chatter is going on inside our mind it’s obvious we’re in thinking mind mode, and it’s known to focus on current real or imaginary pain, recent grudges, or long term frustrations. Therefore mental input is by default personal and significant. Incessant mental chatter is a result from continuous conflicts between our personal frame of reference – which is our story of how our life and the world should be – and our life and the world as they are. Both Paul’s as well as Joan’s thoughts resulting from level IV: significant and potentially harmful input are examples of mental input, because they create a boatload of output that they are consciously aware of. Moreover, most hours of the day they will be occupied with those situations they deem problematic.

When we experience similar problems or of a somewhat lesser degree than in the above examples (then aptly called: daily hassles), thinking mind activity generally manifests itself when we’re trying to relax or want to go to sleep. It differs from insightful or experiential thinking in the working mind mode in one obvious way: it never deals with the present moment. Our thinking mind is always worrying about the future or comparing and judging (and often blaming) the past. Mentally endlessly checking our to-do lists is a form of worrying about the future. Mentally judging and blaming others or ourselves for a current undesired situation are harsh judgements on past events.

Labeling these thoughts as mental input indicates that they trigger our stress response. The results thereof we consciously feel in the form of palpitations, hyperventilation, physical tension, pains, aches or fatigue for instance. When fatigue becomes exhaustion and we start to isolate from family and friends, that’s a sign we’re leaking energy. When that persists and we stay on high alert mode for too long, our defence mechanisms might start to turn against us due to malfunctioning and not enough fuel to function properly. Metaphorically we expect a car to run the same amount of miles on an almost empty tank as it usually does on a full one. We can only keep that up for so long.

Finally let’s return for a moment to Paul’s missing mom. As soon as he learns she is missing, that knowledge is placed firmly in the frontal lobe of his brain. Pretty much every moment he’s going back and forth between working and thinking mind which now focus solely on this situation: one moment he’s trying to figure out where to find her – working mind – and the next moment he feels guilty he didn’t visit her for over a month – thinking mind. Especially in the moments when he wishes to relax or sleep, he worries again over her whereabouts and probably blames himself, mom, personnel at the elderly home or his siblings for this undesired situation in an endless stream of incessant mental chatter. When he’s mentally alert, inevitably he’ll become physically alert as well, meaning that the continuous pushing of his buttons keeps him in a perpetual stress response. So as soon as he wants to ‘turn off’ to go to sleep, incessant mental chatter unforgiving turns him back ‘on.’ And when he’s turned on, he’s aware and awake – and by contrast not recovering, as we shall see in part 2 of this study.

For there we are going to dive into the happenings in our body after our buttons get pushed. We’re going to find out how our stress response is a highly skilled defence mechanism, and how that can turn against us when it becomes overworked.

For now,
Jolly greetings,
Erik Stout

[1] The concept of ‘coming to ourselves’ can be explained by means of presence or absence of external physical input (or: stimuli from the world outside of our skin). With hardly any external physical input, our unconsciousness gets a chance to communicate without obstruction, and it is there where our deepest being dwells.

[2] Terry Pratchett, Ian Stewart and Jack Cohen, in The Science of Discworld, argue a strong case that humans are not homo sapiens – wise man – but pan Narrans, the storytelling ape. This is because our thinking operates linear, meaning that things only make ‘sense’ when A causes B causes C and so on. Nature however operates multidirectional, meaning that everything happens at once and one event can hardly be distinguished from another. The unconscious part of the mind understands this perfectly well. Yet since we have convinced ourselves that our conscious mind (which harbours our thinking faculty) ought to be far superior to the unconscious mind, when things happen that don’t follow the A causes B causes C model, we tend to feel completely lost.

Picture gallery credits:
Forest picture by Nordseher
City picture by Pexels