Manic Pinballs in Your Brain...

You know that being stressed isn’t your fault, but why is it so hard to calm yourself down? I mean, you know some Yoga moves. You have a meditation app. Breathing techniques aren’t that hard, so why can’t you just relax?

Well, because it’s not that simple. Mind over matter can only get you so far.

Lots of things can stress us out. Our family. Our relationships. Our pets. Our jobs. Our to-do list. Neighbors. Bad drivers. That coworker who always mispronounces your name (it’s been five years!). And this isn’t even the big stuff, what about things like health scares? Legal worries? Pandemics or political division? It can create an overwhelming storm of stress that has us bouncing around from frazzled to fatigued like, well, a manic pinball bouncing around your head.

Biohazard Ahead!

All this stress can create a bit of a neurological, biochemical disaster. Grab your hazmat suit, and let’s take a closer look at the science...

As stress levels go up, so do our excitatory neurotransmitters glutamate, norepinephrine, and epinephrine. These elevated levels drown out our natural calming neurotransmitters (GABA, Serotonin). We do need to have these excitatory neurotransmitters for all sorts of positive brain functions, but too high levels, especially glutamate, starts to create inflammation in the brain. Constantly high levels of glutamate creates a situation known as chronic excitotoxicity. Chronic excitotoxicity overstimulates and kills nerve cells, leading to damage and dysfunction, and may also play a role in numerous neurodegenerative diseases including amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Alzheimer's disease and Huntington's disease. Eeek!

But wait, there’s more. We know that sleep is a critical process for repairing the damage of the day. However, persistent stress will also increase cortisol which reduces our capacity to fall asleep. Lack of sleep is setting the brain up for a wired but tired situation as well as potential long-term damage.

So, you see – it IS all in your head, and it’s critical for long term health to do something about it. Our anxious brains are calling, “Could I get a little help here?”

Calming Chemicals

The reality is, the things that stress you out aren’t all going to disappear, but there are things you can do that will help, and yes, breathing is one of those things (we know, we know, you’ve heard that before!). But, it is by no means the only thing that will help! While you can learn techniques to reduce your reactivity in the longer term, sometimes you need help in the interim to help the brain’s reaction to stress and overwhelm.

Parlor Games' Chaos Calmer Cream, is used by people wanting to bring calm back to a constantly anxious, overworked, over tired brain. Chaos Calmer contains a proprietary blend of GABA, Magnesium and L-theanine in a cream base that provides a unique combination of ingredients to calm the mind and body AND help the brain focus by reducing the pressure of too many excitatory chemical messages.

How? Well, magnesium (a mineral) and L-Theanine (an amino acid) both have their individual brain calming effects AND they help increase the production of GABA in the brain. GABA is the real superstar here. GABA slows down the frequency and intensity of brain messaging by blocking specific signals in your central nervous system (your brain and spinal cord). This means GABA is well known for producing a calming effect.

In addition, when we are tense, that tension shows up in our muscles as aches and soreness. It’s thought that GABA plays a major role in controlling nerve cell hyperactivity associated with anxiety, stress, and fear. The GABA in Chaos Calmer acts on the muscles throughout the body to reduce tension.

Combined, these three superstar ingredients can reduce the ceaseless brain chatter and help bring back a sense of calm and ease. Whether used during the day to calm a tense moment, or used to prepare for sleep, these combined ingredients can help calm the chaos so you can relax and rest.

Chaos Calmer for the win!