Stress – how to handle stress in 2017
With a hectic society we live in, stress is becoming a huge concern. It has damaging effects on our bodies in many ways and now more studies coming out are giving us some valuable information as to what this does, so we need to take some steps to reduce stress.
I am now suffering adrenal fatigue due to the levels of stress I have put on my body, and the environmental stress around me.
Adrenal fatigue can have ripple effects such as brain fog, weight gain, kidney failure – which can lead to edema (puffy legs and bloating around your stomach – very uncomfortable), it can lead to depression, frustration and pure exhaustion.
So I understand stress and the many other impacts it can lead to if you do not try to get on top of it.
We all know that since facebook/social media become a part of many of our lives, the stress levels are getting higher and higher each year. We all own smart phones now and this is can be good in some ways but very bad in others. We may connect with others, but we can disconnect with our family by being on our phones all the time. We are always contactable and we are now becoming too involved in others peoples lives and not so much our own.
On top of this external type of stress some of us have had to deal with losing loved ones, broken relationships, work issues, social circle situations – the lists go on. Whatever it may be that stresses you or caused stress, it really is becoming a major concern within our society.
I am working through many ways to help women deal with stress in their lives, so as it helps their overall health and to fix those with hormone issues. Stress in this situation is very bad, the ripple effect of stress to imbalanced hormones is a recipe for disaster, as I mentioned above.
The more external stress we have in our lives the more cortisol we release, which also leads to storing belly fat as opposed to burning body fat. Stress causes inflammation, which has effects on our nervous system, leading to headaches, depression, brain fog, frustration, adrenal fatigue and again imbalanced hormones.
You may have a healthy diet, you may exercise every other day of the week, mixing your activities up such as weight training, running, some other form of cardio, walking or swimming, but if you carry stress all the time, then exercise on top of this, your body reads all of this (exercise included) as stress.
So maybe it’s time to work on your stress levels.
Nutrition wise a good supplement to help deal with stress is magnesium. When you are highly stressed your body will become depleted in magnesium, and being a mum/busy working woman, this is very common to be deficient, so get magnesium into your daily diet. I take a dose in the morning to help me through the day and a dose at night to help with repair and settles you for a good quality sleep.
Camomile at night is wonderful for calming.
Burning oils such as lavender, geranium, cedalwood are great to relax the mind.
Placing a drop of essential oils on your skin takes 90 seconds for your body to react – much quicker than ibuprofen – without the side effects. (Medication is another stress on the body)
Exercise – listen to your body, if you are feeling flat, nourish your body then exercise later in the day or go for a walk, do some stretching/yoga or just RELAX.
External stress – make a list of what triggers your stress: eg:-
Husband always on his smart phone (this is mine)
Children’s needs
Inlaws
Social media
Grocery shopping
Uncontrollable inbox messages
Weight gain
Ridiculous “to do” list that grows by the hour!!
Now start working on one of these on the list, once you have found a solution or are able to alter it a little (to your satisfaction), then move onto the next one.
The most important thing to remember is to pull back as soon as this causes stress. You may need to tackle it a different way, so leave it and think about it, then return to this later.
Talk it out with someone who can help look at it from a different angle.
Another way is to not write a list as such, but to make “buckets”, place things you need to do in the buckets such as :
Monday – anything to do with shopping (kids party presents, groceries, new socks/jocks, banking)
Tuesday – write all emails, replies to invites, paperwork, anything on the computer that needs to be done etc.
Wednesday – School duties or organising upcoming school needs (costumes, meet and greet appointments), after school activities to be organised – anything child/school related.
Thursday – washing, housework
Friday – research on your favourite topic
Etc – list the buckets relevant for you.
I found this style is good because instead of jumping from one task to another, which can be unproductive, this way your focus is more stable, you “get on a roll” and can get more done, plus it’s quality work.
Stress is a terrible thing, it really can make us come undone.
To make your mind and body work a little better and remove stress try a few of these actions:
– cycle or walk to more places, try to do this a couple of times a week. I am within walking distance to my local supermarket so I walk there every other day to grab those little things I always forget, same with the butchers, chemist and fruit shop. This gets my walk in whilst getting jobs done. It’s a perfect way to exercise. Walk with a girlfriend, spending time with girlfriends science has proven this releases oxytocin – your love hormone, which releases endorphins to make you feel so much better.
-stand up for your health. Try to stand more often, working in a gym I am always standing, but now with the health coaching I am on the computer a bit more often, so I stand at kitchen bench to type and research. Park a block further from work and walk in, and same with the children dropped off at school. Stand at kitchen bench to listen to the kids doing readers/homework. Walk around the home whilst on the phone.
– yoga is very good for the mind and body, always being hunched over smartphones/tablets etc causes headaches – yoga opens the body and clears your mind – excellent for stress
-meditate regularly. Now if you are a stressor, you need this more than ever. Just a few minutes a day is so beneficial. (Those that say they haven’t got time to meditate, you need it more than anyone). You need to make this your number one, a way to get used to this is to sit quietly for 10 minutes and even if you read something inspiring in that time, it’s quite time, it’s time to think, time for you.
I feel more people in the world are becoming in tune with this now. We have hit a point where technology is not always helping us, it’s slowly breaking us.
Be mindful and maybe try to disconnect/unplug a bit each day or for a day over the weekend. Seriously you are not missing out on anything in the social media world, you are missing out on your health and your family.
“Susan Greenfield (Neuroscientist) is well known for her controversial views on the damaging impact of technology on the human brain. She has written about the risk of relying on screen dialogues (texting and emailing) to communicate, and wonders whether we will lose the ability to conduct real conversations in real time.”
So my three best tips to help stress:-
- Write a list of stressors – pick an easy one to resolve and start there.
- Make bucket lists and put your “to do” things in the buckets and tackle them on those days only.
- Move a bit more and sit less to help your health a bit more each day.
If you would like help with getting on top of your stress please Contact Me and we can work through it a step at a time. Don’t let stress get on top of you.
If you found this helpful, please share with a friend.
To your health
Kerrie
