Illogical Physiology

The way the human body responds to stress is illogical. At least when you put it in the context of writing a thesis, it is illogical. When you put it in the context of an immediate danger like being chased by a grizzly bear, it is actually perfectly logical. But I am not being chased by a grizzly bear, I am trying to write a thesis.

Stress causes the body to do all sorts of strange things like dramatically increase the production of adrenaline to facilitate either escaping from the stressor or defeating it (flight or fight response). Adrenaline is pretty incredible stuff and can make the average human body faster and stronger than most elite athletes, but only for a short amount of time. Its like a NOS injection system for the body. When the stressor is acute (like being chased by a grizzly bear) the physiological stress reaction is short-lived and harmless (although usually results in shock when its wearing off) and saves lives.

But when the stressor is chronic and prolonged (such as writing a thesis) the whole system goes wonky. Prolonged stress can result in a plethora of different physiological responses which in turn produce quite a number of different physical and mental symptoms. The most common of which are probably having problems sleeping, headaches, and stomach aches. And that's where things start to get illogical. You have a deadline to meet and your body's solution to the problem is to deprive you of the sleep you need in order to think clearly enough to meet that deadline, and also throws in a headache and stomach just to distract you that little bit more. So the more stressed you get, the less work you can manage to get done, and the less progress you make, the more stressed you get. How does that make sense?

I have only had one good nights sleep in the last week and its starting to get very, very annoying.