Where Is Your Vault of Stress?
Where Is Your Vault of Stress?
Where does your stress go?
For some of us, it seems to have a physical address.
For me, it's often my upper trapezius—the muscles between my neck and shoulders. When life gets busy or stressful, I can feel those muscles tighten. If the stress continues, that tension can eventually become uncomfortable or even painful.
It's almost as if my body has a vault where it stores the stress of the day.
For someone else, it might be the low back.
For another, the neck, jaw, shoulders, or hips.
But here's an interesting distinction: the stressor and the stress response are not the same thing.
The stressful event may be over. The difficult conversation has ended. The demanding patient has left. You've made it home from work.
But your body may still be responding as if it needs to be ready for something.
Your heart rate may still be elevated. Your breathing may be different. Your muscles may still be braced.
The event is over. But has your body gotten the message?
In their book Burnout, Emily and Amelia Nagoski describe this as completing the stress cycle.
One way to help is through movement.
Walk. Exercise. Dance. Stretch. Move your body.
Other things can help too: slow breathing, laughter, crying, meaningful connection, affection, rest, and simply spending time with people who make you feel safe.
Even a long, comforting hug can be a powerful signal of safety and connection.
The goal isn't to pretend that stress doesn't exist.
It's to give your body an opportunity to move from “I'm under threat” toward “I'm safe now.”
The slippery slope.
I've noticed something else as I've gotten older.
My stress response seems to find its way to my vault more quickly.
Perhaps that's because the nervous system is a learning system. The pathways we use repeatedly can become familiar—and familiar pathways are easy to travel.
If my upper trapezius has been my go-to place for tension for years, it doesn't take much for that pattern to show up again.
A little stress becomes a little tension.
A little tension becomes discomfort.
And before I know it, I'm back in the vault.
It's a bit like walking down a path through the woods. The more often you travel it, the easier the path becomes to find.
The good news is that the nervous system can learn in both directions.
We can reinforce the pattern of tension, or we can practice the pattern of recovery.
Movement. Breathing. Relaxation. Connection. Sleep. Exercise. Touch. Awareness.
These aren't just ways to “get rid of pain.”
They can be opportunities to teach the body a different response.
So maybe your upper trapezius isn't literally storing your stress.
But it may be one of the places where your stress response shows up.
And once you know where your vault tends to be, you can start giving yourself different ways to open the door.
Move it.
Breathe it.
Laugh.
Connect.
Rest.
And maybe, sometimes...
Hug it out.
Maybe getting older doesn't mean we have to accept that our stress pathways are permanently etched in stone.
Maybe it means we become more aware of the paths we've been traveling—and more intentional about creating some new ones.
So, where's your vault?
Phil Rolfe, DPT
Owner, BodyLogic Physical Therapy – Weaverville, NC
Special interests include pain neuroscience education, orthopedic rehabilitation, dry needling, balance and fall prevention, and helping active adults remain independent through evidence-informed physical therapy.