How we use sight during stress and to relieve it.
Stress impacts your vision in a variety of ways. Continued and on-going stress can lead to dry eyes, eye strain, blurred vision, double vision and eye twitching. But something amazing happens during acute, onset stress… during emergency situations.
During high stress times and danger, our fight or flight responses kick in. Our blood gets pushed to our sensory receptors and the brain. Our senses are heightened so we have a better ability to recognize perceived danger and we can prepare to escape or deal with the stressor head on.
When our vision is heightened, it is because the stress has pushed blood into the eyeballs causing the pupils to dilate to allow more light in, so you can better see potential threats. The rise in our stress hormones, cortisol and adrenaline, place extra pressure on the eyes, heightening your ability to see even more.
Too much of this reaction is not good… so how can we, in turn, use our vision to calm ourselves down? How do we use our vision to destress from our regular day to day so that our bodies are not affected negatively from a chronic rise in cortisol and adrenaline?
Below, I’ve listed a few ways you can use your vision to relax from daily stress, anxiety and fear.
1. Look for things that are a specific color. Count how many things you can see of that color, still not calmed? Move on to another color and count that. You should soon have your mind off of the stressor and your heart rate should start to slow and your stress reactions start to subside.
2. Fires. Looking at camp fires or turning on the fireplace in your home is a great way to soothe yourself visually and calm down. Watching a fire has been scientifically proven to quickly lower our blood pressure, put us in a trance like state and open our minds to deep intellectual conversation. It also lowers our blood pressure, promoting relaxation and pro-social experiences. It is extremely effective in reducing anxiety.
3. Fractals, or never-ending patterns have an incredible calming effect. Studies show that looking at patterns increase alpha brain waves, as well as blood flow, to areas of the brain that regulate emotions. “Magic Eye” images are a great way to integrate fractals with concentration, deeply relieving anxiety and stress.
4. Certain colors have a soothing effect in calming your mind and body down.
-Blue is a very calming color proven to slow heart rate, lower blood pressure and reduce anxiety. Look up to the sky to get the quickest fix of calming blue.
-Green is a great color for relaxation because it connects our minds to nature. Green is one of the most comforting colors to attract harmonious feelings and diffuse anxiety.
-White. An absence of color is proven to give you clarity of thought, allowing you to think through your emotions and promote relaxation. It is also void of distraction if you find yourself in an all white room, allowing you to concentrate on self-comfort with breathing techniques, thought management and meditation.
5. Look at nature, or pictures of nature. If you can’t get outside to be in a natural environment, look at visually calming pictures of the natural world. The National Geographic website has stunning pictures from all around the world that are sure to calm you down.
Now that you have a few ideas on how to use our vision to calm down, try a new technique the next time you feel the day to day pressures of life building up.