RESILIENCE

Consider a lion chasing an antelope in the wild, with the antelope in flight mode, sympathetic nervous system fully activated and adrenalin pumping. If the lion catches her, her life ends right there. But if she escapes, once out of harm’s way, the antelope’s stress is over almost immediately. The parasympathetic nervous system, which is responsible for “resting and digesting,” will kick in, and she will peacefully relax and return to grazing in the sun. The fight-or-flight state has placed tremendous demands on her physiology, but as soon as it is deactivated she can focus on recovering and regaining her full strength. Within minutes, therefore, her nervous system has calmed down to allow her to regain an optimal state in which she can restore her resources and energy.

The key to her resilience is her ability
 • to quickly return to the restorative rest-and-digest state;

• to remain in that state until an extreme life-threatening situation taxes her again;

• to overcome the next challenge at full strength.