Managing Stress

It's stress awareness month, so lets talk about stress for a moment.....

Stress is inevitable and there is no escaping it. We live with it Every. Single. Day.

So there's two things here...

• The type of stress you're under, whether its your body going into fight or flight due to a lion chasing you, or chronic daily stress(which is pretty much all of us these days if you watch the news or just live above a rock), this second one we're gonna get into.
• How you perceive, approach, and deal with stress.

What Is Stress?

So lets talk about chronic stress as it affects you, me and everyone around us. Before I do, let me explain your adrenals.

Your adrenal glands sit on top of both of your kidneys and are a part of what we call the HPA-Axis. This is your hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal Axis. All are intricately connected endocrine glands. They are responsible for releasing 3 main hormones when your brain signals them that you are in danger:

• Epinephrine (adrenaline) increases heart rate, rushes blood to your muscles and spikes blood sugar converting glycogen to glucose to use for energy;
• Norepinephrine works with epinephrine in response to stress narrowing the blood vessels resulting in an increase in blood pressure; and
• Cortisol responsible for converting fats, proteins and carbs into energy, and also raises blood pressure.

Together they regulate your body's stress response, mood, digestion, immune system, sex drive, energy level and metabolism.

Whoa.

No wonder we become such a mess under stress! When thrown off, this sensitive system cannot perform its job well.

The thing is, when you are constantly at battle with chronic stress, pretty soon your adrenals go, "that's it, I'm out, I quit". And this leads to additional issues, one being feeling exhausted and not sleeping well.

Which brings me to number two....

Looking at how you perceive stress, approach stress and manage it.

As I've said, stress is a part of our lives whether we like it or not. Aside from serious traumatic events, which for sure depending upon what it is, understandably can bring someone to their knees.

But what about the daily grind? How are you looking at it? Approaching it? Are you a victim to the daily stress or do you want to find ways to deal with it head on like a boss? I prefer the latter (although there are days I do fall victim to it and just want to drown myself in a cupcake and an ice cold cocktail;))

Right? You know what I'm talking about.

Here are some ways you can deal with stress like a boss:

1.Change Your Perspective:

Try thinking of your stress/anxiety as excitement. Really feel those feelz and get excited. Keep in mind a lot of our anxiety is produced by our own filtering system we learned at an early age. So your perception of what has occurred, or might occur, can be literally a figment of your imagination. You may be perceiving something that truly isn't an issue (this is what I refer to a the anxiety spin cycle).

Also, gratitude goes a long way in helping get some serious perspective on what we think we need to be worrying about. Have you ever noticed when you go on vacation, and something that was bothering you before you left suddenly when you return seems like an after thought? Or stood on a beach looking at the vast ocean realizing just how powerful it is? Yes, the gift of perspective.

2. Shaking:                                                                   

Yes it may seem totally weird and you may be thinking I'm nuts, but hear me out...

Dr. James Gordon, a world renowned psychiatrist has done extensive work for over 20 years with those suffering from sever trauma: war veterans, victims of rape, and victims of natural disasters to name a few. He has recommended *shaking* to relieve tension and move stuck emotions. It helps sooth and calm an amped up nervous system. Here's what you do:

1. Pick two songs you love about 5 min each with a good beat to get you moving
2. Get into a stable standing position with feet about hip width apart
3. Notice how you feel, do a couple of shoulder roles, relax and close your eyes
4. Begin to shake your body from your feet all the way up to your arms and jaw
5. Get silly! And keep shaking. Breathe and take in the music and move with it.
6. After the first song, take a two minute break and take note of how you are feeling
7. Repeat for song #2

3. Deep Breathing:

Deep breathing has so many benefits for such a simple thing. Fun fact: deep breathing can actually make the body more alkaline. When you take big deep breaths it increases the oxygen levels which in turn cleanses the body on a cellular level. Pretty cool! Try this:

1. Sit or lie down
2. Put one hand on your chest and one on your belly
3. Breathe deep through your nose and really feel your belly rise and chest expand with each breath
4. On the exhale, use your abdominal muscles to push the air out of your lungs until empty
5. With each inhale say "soft" and each exhale say "belly" - this helps soften the belly

4. Earthing:

It's simple. Go outside and get in touch with mother nature. Go barefoot in the grass, or the sand if you have access to the ocean. Garden- its spring time and it's a great time of year to start planting and connecting to mother earth. Do one of these for at least 20- 40 minutes. Connecting to the earth's energy is great for our overall health as it reduces stress, decreases inflammation, and improves your immune system. How many times have you, or heard someone else describe being connected to the actual ground, the dirt, as therapeutic? Because it is!

5. Set Boundaries:

This is one of my favorites because so many people need this reminder. If you tend to be a people pleaser or just simply love to say yes to everything, try saying no. Take care to not overextend yourself and make promises you cannot keep that causes you undo stress. You MUST give yourself permission to take care of you first, because if you don't, the truth is, your no good for anyone else. So if giving your best to others is important to you, then take care of you, and set some clear boundaries for what you want to do. And remember this, I love this: saying yes to one thing means you're saying noto something else. Mmmm hmmm.

6. Get in Touch With Procrastination:

Oh yes, yes, yes. One of my other faves. Believe it or not, procrastination has nothing to do with just how you do things. What it actually is: avoiding emotions you don't want to feel.

I know this one all too well. I'll use myself as an example.

When it comes to creating your own business, when its just you, EVERYTHING about it is ALL on you. It can be overwhelming to say the least. Thus, I have found myself doing some pretty serious procrastinating when it comes to some aspects of running it. Mainly, putting myself out there to be vulnerable to it not being good enough. So what do I do, put off some of the things that gotta get done, because I'm putting off that anxiety of how people will respond to what I have to give. When I heard this concept from one of my fave people Mel Robbins, it hit me like a brick in my face. Boom.

Yes indeed, ding ding.

So the best thing to do when you've got a task to do that feels like a major undertaking, just do one small thing each day that moves you toward it. You'll be amazed at how it helps. You'll start to feel an increasing sense of control over your anxiety while also making progress on whatever it is you need to get done.

Of course in addition to all of these you need to be giving your body really good whole foods when under stress. It's a must, no compromising here. And yes exercise. I don't care what it is, just move for at least 30 minutes- you will feel a tremendous difference.

Let me know if you try any one of these and let me know how it went, I'd love to hear from you!

For more on how stress impacts hormones go here.

Until next time,

xoxo,

Shannon