How stress affects your body and my top tips to change it.
We are familiar with the mind-body connection, how we can get an upset tummy after worrying, or a headache after a stressful day, but being aware of the nuances of stress and how it can affect your physiology is key to being able to maintain a sense of wellness in mind and body.
Most of you will be aware of the fight or flight response, or more precisely, our instinctive responses which also include freeze, numb, vomit, and dissociate, but are you aware of how it affects your body, and how long the effects can last?
We are not designed for prolonged stress. We are designed for the threat to be over in a relatively short time and for us to return to rest and digest.
These two functionalities are called the Sympathetic nervous system (SNS) fight or flight and the Parasympathetic nervous system (PNS) rest and digest.
Imagine a Gazelle on the plains of Africa. It spots movement in the corner of its eye - all systems (SNS) are on high alert and Adrenaline, Noradrenaline, and Cortisol are released as the body is prepares to run away. The Gazelle decides that the movement is a threat as the outline of a Lion appears and the Gazelle takes flight. In reality, this situation lasts moments, the Gazelle either escapes, shakes off the stress hormones and returns to grazing or it ends another way.
We as humans have a similar response, I’m no expert in animal stress response so I’ll stick with human stress responses. Adding to Cortisol, Adrenaline, Noradrenaline is Insulin, Prolactin, Oestrogen and Testosterone.
Now imagine a week in the life of someone who is stressed on a daily basis. Worrying about finances, health, family, insecurity, isolation, loneliness and many other factors that we experience regularly. These hormones are being drip-fed into our systems with little opportunity for rest and digest.
Symptoms of prolonged, low-level stress are:
Interrupted sleep or lack of refreshing sleep.
Difficulty focusing
Brain fog
Digestive issues such as IBS
Aches and pains with no medical cause
Mood swings or irritability
Irrational anger
You feel tired and wired at the same time
You crave sugar or salt - or both
You gain weight around your midsection despite eating a healthy and varied diet
Auto-immune conditions
Irregular or heavy periods
You frequently ask yourself ‘what if’ questions that lead you to imagine the worst
I believe that humans are designed more like a suspension bridge. Built to take a lot of weight, strong enough to withstand the forces of nature and made up of multiple components. Like bridges though, if the traffic of stress were to be prevented from exiting the bridge and increasingly, more traffic of stress were to keep on entering the bridge, it would not be long before the burden became too much and cracks began to show.
Finding ways to allow the stressors of life to leave your mind and body are essential to maintaining a strong and healthy mind and body. Using a combination of tools to help maintain your many components allows you the greatest possibility of being healthy and happy, no matter what life brings you.
My top tips to relieve stress are:
Blowing away your worries
Imagine a balloon – it can be any size or colour. Take a nice deep breath from your belly and start to blow that balloon up. Blow into the balloon any stresses, worries or concerns you currently have. Keep blowing it up until all those negative thoughts are in the balloon. When the balloon is full then let go of it or imagine sticking a needle in it. Then just notice as it floats away or makes a large bang as it takes those worries with it. Add comedy sound effects as it whizzes out of your life.
This technique works on several levels, including getting us to breathe more deeply. This is beneficial because with anxiety our breathing is often more shallow, exasperating feelings by arousing our sympathetic nervous system.
The balloon exercise is also great for visualisation - imagine the incredible feeling as you watch your troubles float away. Give it a go!
Progressive Muscle Relaxation
This is a great way to let go of any stress or tension that you are holding in your body. Find a comfortable place where you can take a moment for yourself. A time when nobody needs anything, nobody wants anything, a time just for you. As you sit comfortably with your spine and seat supported, chest open, eyes closed. Now just be aware of any areas of tension you feel. Start at the top of your head and work your way down through your neck, shoulders, arms, torso, legs and feet. Whenever you notice any areas of tension, imagine a wave of comfort, a wave of calm, washing over that area. Carrying away the tension, the stress.
You can download for free an audio version here.
321 self-hypnosis
This is my absolute favourite. I’ve used it to improve my sleep, both getting to sleep and staying asleep as well as improving my ability to focus on one thing at a time (rather than many that our current lives seem to be encouraging us to do).
Focus on 3 things that you can see in the room if your eyes were open.
Pay attention to 3 sounds that you can hear
Feel 3 feelings that you can feel right now.
Focus on 2 things that you can see in the room if your eyes were open.
Pay attention to 2 sounds that you can hear
Feel 2 feelings that you can feel right now.
Focus on 1 thing that you can see in the room if your eyes were open.
Pay attention to 1 sound that you can hear
Feel 1 feeling that you can feel right now.
Best listened to, you can download it for free here.
The Power of Plants
Since qualifying as a Bach Flower Essence practitioner, I have regularly used the power of plants to help my clients (and myself) deal with the adverse effects of life.
Star of Bethlehem is brilliant after a shock, maybe a redundancy of loss, bringing comfort, solace and balance.
Aspen is great for anxiety, the fear of the unknown. Promoting reassurance, calmness and trust.
Impatiens is probably the most used and as its name suggests, great at balancing the impatience in us and providing greater patience and tolerance.
Cherry Plum is good for irrational anger-based fear. Bringing about composure and self-control.
Mimulus can be helpful for those who have phobias or a fear of known things and helps create courage, safety and security.
I offer a 30-minute Zoom consultation which gives you your own tailored blend (4 drops under the tongue 4 times a day) or Bach Rescue Remedy is widely available and is a blend of 5 essences to promote calmness and serenity. You can book this here.
Breath
The power of the breath is often overlooked and underused. The fastest way to switch from the Sympathetic Nervous System (fight or flight) to the Parasympathetic Nervous System (rest and digest).
Here are some simple techniques to get you breathing properly again:
Place your hands below your ribcage and breathe into your tummy area. Feel your hands move away from your body as you breathe deeply into your lower lungs, expanding your lower ribcage. This feels like breathing into your belly. Anxiety can cause us to shallow breath and this can be problematic as the body can misinterpret it as a sign to ready the body to run away or stand and fight.
Imagine breathing into your upper chest for a count of 3. Continue to breathe in, expanding your middle chest for a count of 2. Continue breathing in, expanding your lower chest for a count of 1. Then breathe out slowly for a count of 7.
Box breathing, breathe in for 4, hold for 4, breathe out for 4, hold for 4.
Breathe in for 5, and out for 7