WHAT IS STRESS?
Stress normally motivates and sharpens your focus in situations where immediate action is required. The intensity or urgency of the situation faced determines the intensity of the stress response. For example, when you are faced with danger your body switches on the stress response (also called the fight-or-flight response) to give you a burst of energy to help you deal with the situation and/or get out of danger.
STRESS IS A NATURAL HEALTHY RESPONSE
The stress, or fight-or-flight, response is triggered by a surge of adrenaline. Adrenaline is a chemical released by your adrenal glands that makes your heart beat faster and your breathing speed up; adrenaline fills you with energy, and ensures your circulation is directed towards your muscles, heart and brain so that you can deal with the source of the stress. This initial stress reaction is very fast, and can indeed save your life in times of emergency.
A CALL TO ACTION! THE FIGHT-OR-FLIGHT RESPONSE
After the stressful event passes, your body naturally takes time to recover. With proper recovery time your body restores its energy again. While the stress was happening and all your energy was directed to your muscles, circulation and brain, other parts of your body were neglected, especially your digestive system and reproductive organs. These parts now regain their normal supply of blood and nutrients and restore normal function. This whole “stress response” process is generally short lived to remove us from immediate threat or danger. If a state of threat or danger continues, these delicate balances can become easily exhausted, and cause disturbances to your energy and overall health.
RECOVERY
If the stress continues, your body then switches to a different mechanism to deal with long-term or chronic stress. Your body releases cortisol – a different chemical that allows you to stay in an active, attentive state for long periods of time to deal with the chronic stress at hand. This stress response, however, can be quite damaging to the body if it continues for years and years – which is why chronic stress can have a negative impact on your health
MAINTENANCE – COPING WITH CHRONIC STRESS
As stress strongly affects every system in your body, long term or poorly managed stress can have serious health consequences. Stress especially affects the heart and cardiovascular system, weakens digestion, depletes energy levels, upsets blood sugar regulation and hormonal balances, and may disturb sleep and mental health. Therefore, we need to manage stress and our response to stressful situations to ensure balance and health.
MANY LIFE EVENTS MAY LEAD TO STRESS
We all know of the kind of major events that are truly stressful and difficult, such as the loss of a loved one, break down of relationships, major accidents or moving house. Stress can also come from all areas of life, including work, family or home life, social life or financial issues. Sometimes stress is low-grade and continuous, wearing a person down slowly, whereas other times it is the big obvious events that you might expect or easily recognise, affecting a person suddenly. It is also important to recognise that exciting and positive events, such as having a holiday, weddings or the birth of a grandchild, can also be stressful.
HOW DO YOU COPE WITH STRESS?
So why does stress affect people in different ways?
Everyone has a different level of stress that they can cope with: if you have positive coping mechanisms you can cope with more, if you have poor coping mechanisms you will cope with less. The following are some of the poor and positive mechanisms that people commonly use for coping with stress. Take a minute to consider whether you use any of the following to cope with stress:
Poor coping mechanisms
o Smoking
o Drinking alcohol
o Relying on caffeine (either coffee of soft drinks)
o Eating sugary foods
o Rushed eating, eating on the run, not stopping
work to eat
o Skipping meals or overeating
o Reducing social interactions or relaxation time
o Emotional or angry outbursts
o Procrastination, ignoring or avoiding the problem
Positive coping mechanisms
o Good time management
o Taking time to relax and play
o Controlled breathing
o Meditation
o Exercise
o Time with family and friends
o Eating sensibly
o Getting enough sleep
o Allowing time to rejuvenate after stress has passed
o Taking time to talk about the stress
It is important for you to let your Naturopath know which mechanisms you use to cope with stress. They may be able to make recommendations or provide you with supplements that allow you to rely less on poor coping mechanisms and develop more positive coping skills. The way that stress affects you will depend on many factors, including your personality style, your coping mechanisms, your general state of health and your current level of sensitivity to stress. You may also notice that the way stress affects you changes depending on the how long you have been stressed or how severe the stress is. For example, at first you may feel very irritable and anxious, but over time you may then feel more depressed or exhausted.
SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS OF STRESS
Management of your stress will vary depending on how long you have been stressed for, how severe the stress is and how the stress has, or is, affecting you physically and emotionally
Life will go on, and we cannot predict what stressful events lie ahead of us. There simply will be times when we may feel overwhelmed by situations. One of the key things to implement in managing your stress long term is to allow yourself to recover after stressful events.
In daily life it is important to keep a positive perspective wherever possible, as stress really takes a hold when we feel out of control. Learn to conserve your energy, recognise your limits and prioritise where you will spend your energy day to day. For many, that means learning when to say “No” and when to take time out to recover and rejuvenate.
Also, remember that stress can help to motivate and sharpen your focus to achieve greater things. Tackling your stress head-on can be very empowering, such asfacing a fear or confronting issues that may be holding you back. This may even involve taking charge of your finances, joining the gym, changing your home or work environment, or learning a new skill such as public speaking. Any of these may seem daunting, but may represent a positive turning point in regaining control of your life. Recognise that it takes internal energy and resources for positive action for your growth and development. This may seem “stressful” but ultimately will help you to be more in control and be better able to cope with stress in the future.
Ideas to Help Manage Stress
Stress management can be improved by developing in the following areas”
o Identify and change stressful lifestyle factors
Your lifestyle can be a major determinant of your stress levels. Time management and relationship issues are two areas of concern.
- Set your priorities: decide what is important (you can only accomplish so much in one day)
- Organise your day: plan a day for yourself base on set priorities
- Delegate authority: Where possible delegate work to other people (you can’t do everything yourself)
- Tackle tough jobs first: do the hardest jobs first while your energy levels are high
- Avoid putting things off: this puts you under more stress and forces you to do work under pressure
- Don’t be a perfectionist: do your best in the amount of time you have
o Exercise
o Diet
To be able to cope with stress effectively, we must support our body in maintaining optimum wellbeing in order to do so. Here are some dietary guidelines beneficial to increase optimal wellbeing.
- Eliminate or restrict caffeine and alcohol intake
- Eliminate refined and processed foods where possible and replace with whole unrefined foods.
- Eat a wide variety of foods including fresh fruit and vegetable, legumes, lean meat, eggs, nuts and seeds
- Eat regular, planned meals in a relaxed environment
o Deep breathing
o Progressive relaxation
Nutritional and herbal supplements to help with the effects of stress
As well as these strategies, I may recommend natural supplements to help you manage stress better and recover from the stress in your life. Supplements may enable you to cope more effectively with stress, whilst you are addressing the underlying causes.
Life will go on, and we cannot predict what stressful events lay ahead of us. There simply will be times when we may feel overwhelmed by situations. Tackling your stress head-on can be very empowering, such as facing a fear or confronting issues that may be holding you back.
By taking the time to read this blog and by talking to your Me, you have already taken a big step forward in helping to reduce the effect stress has on your health. With my help, you can implement the dietary, lifestyle and supplemental solutions mentioned in this book to take a positive step forward in managing your stress.
No comments:
Post a Comment