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By The CSFA Health, Wellness & Benefits Committee
Memories come in many ways. People who have fond memories of childhood, specifically their relationships with their parents, tend to have better health, less depression and fewer chronic illnesses as older adults.
Riding a bike is a skill that is stored in your long-term memory. This form of memory doesn’t only develop for tasks that we actively practice. Studies have shown that even by simply seeing the same task being performed, it can trigger the formation of muscle memory. Obviously, the longer you practice or repeat an action, the more firmly it can become embedded in your memory.
Traumatic Memories
Our bodies and our emotions can only safely handle a limited amount of stress. Trauma occurs when we experience a situation that exceeds our ability to manage the consequences safely. When we encounter stress, our bodies naturally react in a way that expects us to take action by either fighting or fleeing. This is because stress and fear are designed to agitate us to get up and move. When stress is not associated with an immediate threat, and we do not have to fight or flight, our body stores up this energy. When this stress is pent up in the form of trauma, it can potentially lead to bodily pain.
Impacting Your Health
Untreated past trauma can adversely affect your present and future health. According to an article on past trauma and future health, provided by Harvard Medical School research, the emotional and physical reactions trauma can trigger can make you more prone to severe health conditions. These include heart attack, stroke, obesity, diabetes, and cancer.
These effects are likely due to two factors:
Behavioral changes resulting from trauma – People who suffer from traumatic memories may try to escape them by engaging in risky behaviors such as drinking, smoking, drug use, or even overeating for comfort. These habits, in turn, can lead to health problems.
Physical effects related to trauma – When you experience something anxiety-provoking, such as re-experiencing past trauma, your stress response activates. This produces more adrenaline causing your heart to race and your body to prime itself to react. When you experience these surges of adrenaline more often than someone who has not had the same history, it can cause wear and tear on the body, just as a car engine would experience if it were constantly revving and racing.
Finding Healing
It can be hard to seek help when you are experiencing trauma, as one of the outcomes is avoidance. It is common to avoid thinking about or talking about a traumatic experience as a form of protection because it may remind you of it. Some people may even be unaware of how trauma is affecting them and may not get help because of it.
In some experiences, your body may be tensing up as a form of protection to tell you, “I don’t like this” or “I remember this sound, smell, touch, sight… and it is not good.” One important thing is to respect what your body is telling you. If your body is reacting, it may be a sign that your trauma was not just emotional but that it affected you on a cellular level. Paying attention to what our bodies are saying can help us become more in tune with ourselves. These memories can take a long time to heal, most likely because we are ignoring them when they are trying to call out our attention. Therapy can help process those traumatic memories, release them from the body, and recognize them in the mind. Once it is recognized in the mind, your mind can begin to heal.
Here is the full article: https://lnkd.in/g2YKuZeT