Well, adrenalin actually. It’s a natural hormone that stimulates and regulates a number of life preserving functions in our bodies, most of which we never even think about. Blushing is a result of this reaction built into the Body Human, designed to save us from harm.
Adrenalin is released into the blood stream when the brain senses a serious threat. It speeds up breathing, and increases our heart rate to enable us to fight or flee faster. It dilates our pupils to help us take in as much visual information as possible. It slows down digestive processes to divert energy to our muscles. And it dilates the blood vessels in order to get more oxygen and blood flow to your muscles as quickly as possible. Hence the panicked blush. A bright red face in the primal world signals dominance, a tough guy. But humans think of it as a weakness. Your body is saying I’m a threat, but your mind is saying you’re only a threat to your own social life. Otherwise you wouldn’t be blushing.
Even though blushing is a physiological occurrence, it’s the emotions that trigger a fight or flight responses. As much as we would like people to trust their feelings, often it’s a negatively conditioned response that makes us blush. It starts with the words that go something like this:
I have just tripped, spat when I talked, said cripple to the guy in the wheelchair, said fat so loud the large lady across the room thought I was talking about her. We all have horror stories that send shivers of shame and recrimination down our spines.
But what if you feel that way all the time, or automatically under certain circumstances. There are several medical reasons for anxiety you may want to discuss with your health professional if your symptoms persist for hours at a time, or occur more often than once a month. Frequent debilitating episodes of anxiety can be easily and relatively quickly treated with a combination of cognitive and behavioral therapies, often requiring no medication.
Reddening of the skin pigment can be covered with a soft Bare Minerals make up that goes on so sheer it’s virtually unnoticeable. A dear friend of mine swears by it, and it is supposed to be good for the skin. She works with the public. Wearing the make up has had a wonderful impact on her self confidence and improved her business.
If non-anxiety related blushing is really destroying your life, and therapy or medication is not working, surgery, endoscopic thoracic sympathecotomy, may be the absolute last resort. The nerves in the chest that send the signal to blush are severed. There really are no side effects other than an incidence of increased sweating in other parts of the body.
Best case scenario is that we learn to handle our differences with grace and a sense of humor. Being uptight about getting caught red-faced is only going to intensify the current reaction, while making you more self conscious about the next.
Do what I do when people ask me why I’m so red all of the sudden. I shrug and say, “Beats me.”
Steph Bryans;
I would like to provide you with tools to implement in your life to help you overcome the challenges you face in dealing with the problem of blushing. I have produced a report, which you can download for FREE and is a result of extensive research which I made in my quest to understand, deal with and overcome my own problem of facial blushing, which I now wish to pass on in the hope it will help fellow sufferers.
For Free report visit: www.facialblushingsecretsfree.com
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