#(stress mgmt is all abt trying to contextualize it)

[soysaucevictim]

I'm just thinking abt the HPA axis some more again. It's basically the hormonal cascade/sequence that makes you produce more stress hormones like adrenaline and cortisol. (Stands for hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal.)

Chronic stress often worsens when you're just swimming in those hormones, unable to tamp 'em down or direct them somewhere useful/fun.

One reason why exercise is very helpful there is like...

Imagine you're a car, the brake peddle is jank. You're in a hurry and you have no idea where the fuck you're going. That's kinda the runaway feeling of it. All you feel you can do is lead foot the gas pedal (sympathetic nervous system.)

Management skills/tools (like exercise) helps to fix your brake pedal (parasympathetic nervous system) and slow shit down and use just enough gas to get you from point A to B. Finding that steady/appropriate Goldilocks zone is a more efficient way to burn through those hormones and get back to equilibrium (or at least get as close to that as feasible).