The stronger and healthier the body, the stronger and healthier the mind. This is most obviously manifest in the potential for exercise for relieving or even staving off certain psychosomatic disorders caused by the accumulation of maladaptive factors such as stress. And while stress can be mental or physical, given the interrelationship of mind to body, if left unchecked, its symptoms are typically expressed physically.

It was the late Dr. Hans Selye, a pioneer in stress research, who wrote at length about how unchecked mental stress can quickly lead to bodily malfunctions. Selye maintained that things such as heart attacks, migraine headaches, neck pain, alcoholism and obesity can be caused by stress, and that the relief of stress can go a long way toward eradicating these problems. Wilhelm Reich later concluded that other physical problems such as asthma, rheumatism, hypertension, and ulcers were often also the result of chronic mental anxiety. With our present culture witnessing people taking more and more anti-depressants and other “stress medications,” and the concomitant rise in visits to overcrowded doctor’s and psychiatrists’ offices, there can be little doubt that the stress of life is increasing for most people and causing problems for them in their day-to-day existence.

Stress, as defined by Selye, is “the nonspecific response of the body to any demand.” The body’s reaction to this is what Selye called the General Adaptation Syndrome, or GAS, a three-tiered response that begins with an alarm stage, followed by a stage of resistance, and finally a stage of exhaustion. The stress itself can cause internal chemical reactions that include the release of adrenaline, increased heart rate, faster reflex speed, muscle tension, and accelerated thought processes. Selye’s research indicates that our bodies react exactly the same way to stress -- whether it comes in the form of pleasure, success, failure, or depression. Evidently, both “good” and “bad” life situations cause what the body perceives to be stress, and everyone is under some degree of stress, even when asleep.

Stress, then, is the rate of daily wear and tear on our existence. Its effects, however, depend on how we adapt to it and how we’re able to dissipate its accumulation of repressed energy. The General Adaptation Syndrome is always in operation in our bodies, often on an emergency basis, but the physical outlets for its dissipation are not built in. And it’s becoming clear that these dammed up emotions have to be released on a regular basis if we are to stay mentally healthy.

And here is where Nautilus training can reassert its significance and value with some authority. Nautilus training is probably the most productive means of releasing stress; while almost any active exercise can reduce tension levels in the body, Nautilus training appears to be unique in that it can be pinpointed to the precise area where the stress is located -- for example, Nautilus manufactures training machines that focus solely on the muscles of the neck, stomach, shoulders, chest, legs and back. Nautilus exercise can provide immediate relief of tension in these areas, as well as remove the general feeling of lethargy that results from our daily wear-and-tear encounters.