Ghattas points out that the human nervous system is divided into two systems: the first is the “alert” system that makes a person constantly alert and cautious, and the other is the “relaxation” system that prevails in moments of feeling safe.
While stress is natural and important to face life’s challenges, its continuation for long periods turns the body into a real battlefield.
Just as countries engaged in long wars spend all their resources on the war effort without paying attention to development, education, and health, the body under chronic stress spends all its energy on alert, which weakens its other vital functions.
Ghattas explains that the effects affect various body systems, starting with the digestive system, which is affected by dry mouth when speaking in front of an audience, passing through the immune system, which depletes its energy in a state of constant alertness, all the way to the reproductive system, where sexual ability in men and the menstrual cycle in women are affected.
Even more dangerous than that – as Ghattas confirms – is the effect of pressure on fetuses in their mothers’ bellies. Although there are enzymes in the mother’s womb that break down the stress hormone (cortisone), continued pressure exceeds the capacity of these enzymes, affecting the fetus’s growth and its future ability to control its emotions.
Human experience and scientific expertise
The influential Nourhan Kandil shared on social media platforms her personal experience with psychological pressure, as she lost her uncle and father in a short period, which made her feel as if “the ground was shaking beneath her,” and she described how she faced the challenge of maintaining her psychological balance while she had to be strong for the sake of her daughters. The three of them and her mother.
Qandil recounts how she found herself in an extremely difficult situation, as with her social responsibilities, she is a university lecturer and must continue her work. She said, “I did not have the luxury of being completely broken,” referring to the dual challenge of dealing with loss and maintaining balance in her professional and personal life.
Nourhan talks about another challenge facing influencers on social media, which is the ideal image that the public expects, noting that excessive positivity may be a trap that prevents a person from working on developing himself.
In turn, Dr. Abdullah Habib – a clinical psychologist – points out that the speed of contemporary life exceeds the human ability to adapt, which turns daily pressures into chronic anxiety, warning of the danger of social networking sites that push people to compare their worst moments with the best moments of others.
Habib gives the example of a policeman who was passionate about his work and meticulous in performing his duties, but under the pressure, his performance turned into merely “finishing the duty” without paying attention to the quality that was previously distinguished by him, stressing that the real comparison is not between a person and others, but rather between his performance before and after the pressure.
The program concludes with an important message that the solution does not lie in trying to control everything, but rather in accepting what we cannot change and having the courage to change what we can, and the wisdom in distinguishing between them, and as Ghattas says, “Realizing powerlessness is the same as strength,” so accepting our limits may be the first step. Towards restoring our psychological and physical balance.