Three Steps Closer To A Less-Stressed YOU
September 3rd, 2010
Three Steps Closer to a Less-Stressed YOU
‘Life is stressful’ seems to be a common theme. We read about work-place stress, the stress of parenting, the stress of aging, the stress of being unemployed, the stress of student-life, the stress of being single, and the stress of relationships. According to popular culture, stress is unavoidable, and according to medical doctors stress is making us sick. The following is a quick look at how to shift this paradigm and why it’s important.
There is only one trigger for stress – fear. Stress is a primal neurobiological response to a real threat to your life (i.e. a wild dog, predatory individual, or on-coming vehicle). We fear for our lives and our bodies react. In modern, daily life we often react to perceived threats. We fear someone’s judgment, falling short of other’s expectations, or loosing a part of our selves –i.e. our identities as parent, partner, or senior VP. When feeling stressed, start with the knowledge that you are not in real, immediate danger.
Action Steps:
1) Take Three Deep Breaths: Deep breathing engages the Parasympathetic Nervous System (PNS) – this is the system that counteracts the stress response and brings the body back to a state of active balance. When our bodies react to a ‘stressor’ or ‘trigger’ the following happens: your heart pumps faster, your digestion and reproductive systems slow down, fats and sugars are dumped into your blood stream for quick energy, and your immune, vascular, ocular and mental systems are (overly) stimulated. This happens to keep you alive in the short term and is only meant to last a few minutes while you fight off or run from danger. When we engage this reaction multiple times daily or weekly, overwhelm, fatigue, anxiety, depression, digestive disorders, heart disease, auto-immune diseases, and cancers have the opportunity to develop.
Build the habit of taking 3 deep breaths, five times a day, everyday. When you feel stress-out, return to your breath and engage the PNS. Learn to actively relax within, during, and after a stressful experience.
2) Knowing is Not Doing: How often do you find yourself saying ‘I know I should relax’, or ‘I know I should take better care of myself’? The stress response prepares your body to take action. When you feel stress, your body is sending you a message – things must change. This action and change need not be huge and life-altering. By doing nothing you are reinforcing a message that you are powerless in your life. Disempowerment fuels stress. By ‘knowing’ and ‘doing’ you reduce the experience of stress symptoms – i.e. headaches, fatigue, upset stomach, anxiety, and mild depression.
3) You are what you ‘eat’: Consume things that serve you well. These ‘things’ may be healthy food, engaging relationships, challenging practices, physical exercise, peaceful living situations, or well-paid, supportive work. We are all the sum of our experiences and choices. Choose to consume wisely.
Jennifer Edwards MFA, RYT is a writer, artist, and social entrepreneur based in New York City. She teaches stress reduction through institutions including the American Heart Association and New York University – visit www.jened.com to learn more.
