Resilience is the ability to effectively and quickly recover from difficulties, failures, illness, and injuries.\u00a0 From a neurophysiological perspective, resilience is the ability to recover rapidly from s<\/u>ympathetic n<\/u>ervous s<\/u>ystem (SNS) over-activations with adequate p<\/u>aras<\/u>ympathetic n<\/u>ervous s<\/u>ystem (PSNS) activations. Since working in law enforcement guaranties moderate SNS over-activations on a frequent basis and intense SNS over-activations on occasion, enhanced nervous system resilience is a long-term survival booster.<\/span><\/p>\n Four strategies for enhancing resilience are Strategy 1 \u2013 Limit your exposure to unnecessary negative environmental over-stimulation. Avoid rush hour traffic if you can. Reduce your overall \u201cscreen time.\u201d lay off your phone in the car as much as possible. Bid away from aversive squad situations if feasible. Avoid financial debt and manage the 1,440 minutes you get each day to reduce time related pressure. When your memory or imagination is provoking over-stimulation, leave the \u201ctheater of your mind\u201d by deliberately refocusing on the external environment.<\/span><\/p>\n Strategy 2 \u2013 Take control of your interpretations of your experiences. Avoid blaming other people for your negative emotions. Feel angry or anxious ABOUT what somebody did or said instead of BECAUSE of it. This helps you take yourself out of the victim role or the martyr role and helps you reduce feelings of helplessness and resentment.<\/span><\/p>\n Strategy 3 \u2013 Learn to notice when you become slightly over-activated.Take corrective action immediately instead of waiting until it\u2019s obvious that you\u2019re hyper-activated. Breathe through your diaphragm and deliberately let go of muscle tension.<\/span><\/p>\n Strategy 4 \u2013 Maintain excellent aerobic conditioning and supplement it with strength and flexibility training. Staying in good physical condition metabolizes excess epinephrine and cortisol and increases the amount of SNS over-stimulation you can tolerate.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Site Administrator:\u00a0 Gary S. Aumiller, Ph.D. ABPP<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n Please share this article from down below.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n Please join the email list on the top of the sidebar and you can get these sent to your email.\u00a0 Also follow me on Twitter (https:\/\/twitter.com\/ThinBlueMind<\/a>) for other articles and ideas, and YouTube at\u00a0https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCfjNw0510ipr3bX587IvAHg<\/a> .<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n Save<\/span><\/p>\n Save<\/span><\/p>\n Save<\/span><\/p>\n<\/body>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Police Psychology | Building Resilience \u00a0by Doug Gentz, Ph.D. Psychological Services Resilience is the ability to effectively and quickly recover from difficulties, failures, illness, and injuries.\u00a0 From a neurophysiological perspective, resilience is the ability to recover rapidly from sympathetic nervous system (SNS) over-activations with adequate parasympathetic nervous system (PSNS) activations. Since working in law enforcement […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17168882],"tags":[17168797,17168831,17168974],"class_list":["post-5170","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-resilience","tag-police-psychology","tag-police-stress","tag-resilience"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":961,"url":"http:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/?p=961","url_meta":{"origin":5170,"position":0},"title":"Police Psychology| The Opposite of Chronic \u201cStress?\u201d","author":"Gary Aumiller","date":"January 12, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"What\u2019s the Seventh Grade Science Term for the Opposite of Chronic \u201cStress?\u201d (Hint: Two words, a total of nine syllables)\u00a0 by Doug Gentz , Ph.D- Psychological Services Along with intentions to abstain from junk food and resist general slothfulness, most of us try to avoid \u201cstress.\u201d Maybe as long as\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Police Stress"","block_context":{"text":"Police Stress","link":"http:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/?cat=17168885"},"img":{"alt_text":"Police Psychology","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/policepsychologyblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/Gentz-stress1-300x220.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":6005,"url":"http:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/?p=6005","url_meta":{"origin":5170,"position":1},"title":"Police Psychology: Good Stress: Bad Stress","author":"Gary Aumiller","date":"May 25, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Police Psychology:\u00a0 Good Stress: Bad Stress by Gary S. Aumiller Ph.D., ABPP \u00a0","rel":"","context":"In "Mastering Resilience"","block_context":{"text":"Mastering Resilience","link":"http:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/?cat=17168882"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3530,"url":"http:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/?p=3530","url_meta":{"origin":5170,"position":2},"title":"Police Psychology | Flight Lesson: Video Post","author":"Gary Aumiller","date":"July 22, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"I am trying something new this Friday with a video post.\u00a0 Let me know what you think. \u00a0","rel":"","context":"In "Mastering Resilience"","block_context":{"text":"Mastering Resilience","link":"http:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/?cat=17168882"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4137,"url":"http:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/?p=4137","url_meta":{"origin":5170,"position":3},"title":"Police Psychology: 5 Principles: Animated Post","author":"Gary Aumiller","date":"September 26, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Police Psychology: 5 Principles:\u00a0 Animated Post by Gary S. Aumiller, Ph.D.\u00a0 ABPP, Sara Gaertner, Skylar Aumiller \u00a0 5 Principles to A Simpler Life as a Cop in animation. \u00a0","rel":"","context":"In "Mastering Resilience"","block_context":{"text":"Mastering Resilience","link":"http:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/?cat=17168882"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1036,"url":"http:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/?p=1036","url_meta":{"origin":5170,"position":4},"title":"Police Psychology | The Mental Game in Law Enforcement","author":"Gary Aumiller","date":"February 1, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Police Psychology | The Mental Game in Law Enforcement \u201c90 percent of the game is half mental\u201d (attributed to Yogi Berra) by Doug Gentz, Ph.D. - Psychological Services After you\u2019ve acquired the knowledge and skills required for any performance, further improvement depends on your ability to manage your nervous system\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Mastering Effort"","block_context":{"text":"Mastering Effort","link":"http:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/?cat=17168880"},"img":{"alt_text":"performance 1 Police pscyhology","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/policepsychologyblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/performance-1-300x16.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4635,"url":"http:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/?p=4635","url_meta":{"origin":5170,"position":5},"title":"Police Psychology: Intrinsic Heart Rate – A Landmark for the Ability to Engage in Rational Thought","author":"Gary Aumiller","date":"November 3, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Police Psychology: Intrinsic Heart Rate - A Landmark for the Ability to Engage in Rational Thought by Doug Gentz, Ph.D. - Psychological Services Your intrinsic (inherent) heart rate is how fast your heart would beat when you are calm and at rest if it wasn\u2019t slowed down to your (observed)\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Police Stress"","block_context":{"text":"Police Stress","link":"http:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/?cat=17168885"},"img":{"alt_text":"intrinsic-heart-rate","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/policepsychologyblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Intrinsic-heart-rate-264x300.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p60sbO-1lo","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5170","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5170"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5170\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5314,"href":"http:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5170\/revisions\/5314"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5170"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5170"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5170"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/policepsychologyblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/chart-of-emotion-300x152.jpg?resize=462%2C234\")
1) minimize your exposure to unnecessary negative environmental over-stimulation, 2) take more responsibility for how you interpret your experiences, 3) notice and manage dysfunctional SNS over-activations with PSNS activations as soon as feasible, 4) stay in good cardiovascular condition with a regular aerobic exercise program supplemented with regular strength and flexibility training. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n