Are you living for the weekends only to find that you’re too tired to enjoy them?
Stress is like a bad credit card debt, ignore it and eventually your mind and body will become bankrupt making life seem hard and less enjoyable.
Sounds a little dramatic I know, however let’s remember what stress actually is.
Prior to becoming part of our day-to-day conversations, the term “stress” was used by engineers to explain forces that can put strain on a structure. They acknowledged that too much stress would eventually damage or collapse the structure.
Peeps that structure is your body!
Before I go ahead and tell you how bad excess stress is for your body and mind, I first want to clarify that stress is not the enemy. Instead it is part of the normal survival response (fight, flight or freeze) and is needed to keep us safe from danger.
Yes we are built to handle a certain amount of stress; in fact stress in small amounts can be helpful when high levels of focus and concentration are needed.
However the problem lies when we are constantly in stress mode, the very fact that the body thinks it is in survival and needs to prepare for battle is depleting in nature thus leading to fatigue and leaving us more susceptible to health issues, i.e. maxing the credit card!!
You cannot be stressed and relaxed at the same time, so it’s one or the other.
Relaxation is key to good body health and vitality, emotional balance and a more enjoyable life.
When we feel relaxed our bodies change gear from negative and depleting to positive and rejuvenating.
Our digestion works better which helps increase our energy levels and keeping weight off, immunity gets stronger which helps keep colds and tummy bugs away, blood pressure is decreases helping us to feel calm and our sugar levels balance reducing the need to snack on naughty foods.
Clearly the preferred state is to be relaxed rather than stressed, this article will teach you how to reduce stress and gain relaxation.
There is one tricky and fascinating piece of the puzzle you must know in order to get on top of your stress levels.
Now you know that stress is part of the normal survival response, and really we have very limited danger in our daily lives (in comparison to cave man days where the threat of running into a bear was real) so why do we all feel so stressed?
The answer is the body cannot tell the difference between real danger (bear) and perceived danger (thoughts we think), so the outcome is the same.
We all have stressful thoughts and they vary depending on our personal life experience. The most common ones I’ve come across are; I am not enough? Am I on the right path? Can I earn enough to live the life I want, is my boyfriend cheating on me? I feel stuck in a rut and so on.
Can you see why it is critical to work through negative or stressful thoughts in order to help your body not feel the effects of stress?
7 ways to reduce stress
Shrink the stress bucket
Make a list of all the things that cause you to stress. From the list, identify the things you have no control over like a mortgage and cross them off the list. There is no point wasting energy on things that are not within your power.
Turn on the relaxation response
Commit to a weekly relaxation practice. You could try yoga, tai chi, dancing, Pilates, laughing at a funny movie with a girlfriend or meditation class.
More sleep!
Make sure you are in bed by 10pm at least 3-4 nights a week. Your body rejuvenates and cleanses itself from 10pm to 2am so you don’t want to miss the start of this cycle.
Say NO (and yes to you)
Reduce the commitments in your life by being aware of your limits. Don’t take on things that are not 100% essential or that don’t feel quite right.
Breathe
Breathe properly and purposefully. Breathing in represents you receiving new life and opportunities in to your experience, breathing out represents releasing things you no longer need or want in your life. If you feel super stressed concentrate more on the out-breath this tricks the nervous system into the relaxation response.
Avoid coffee or stimulants
Coffee increases the adrenaline (stress response) the very hormone you are looking to decrease. Ladies if you are addicted to chocolate like I am, try a good quality chocolate of 70% cocoa or above and limit yourself to two squares a day.
Aromatherapy
The sense of smell bypasses the cognitive brain (the part that does the worrying). Burn some aromatherapy oils to help you relax such as lavender or rose.
Last but not least, remember we are on this earth to learn, create, expand and grow. Life is supposed to flow and feel good to you and we are supposed to master the art of work – life balance.
If you need some help getting balanced you may book yourself an appointment and we can work through things together.