Week 7… Managing Stress
It’s week 7 and so far we have talked about 6 habits to health that I hope you are trying to put into daily practice. Eating real food and striving to follow the 5 ingredient rule, limiting your sugar amounts while enjoying life’s celebrations, coloring your plate with fruits and vegetables, moving and working towards consistent exercise, getting restorative sleep, and hydrating are all daily habits that have tremendous health benefits. And while being perfect at these habits may seem like a tall task, just getting started and striving to incorporate them into your day to day will produce positive results in time.
When it comes to our health, stress management, mindfulness and social connection are all lifestyle strategies that can improve our overall health & wellness for both our mind and body. In this 7th week, I will be focusing on multiple strategies that you can incorporate into your day to manage stress. There are so many ways we can actively reduce our stress and stimulate our brain chemistry. I hope the information I share with you will help you better understand how these strategies can physiologically impact our brain and body, AND motivate you to try and engage in them! Your mental health and ability to manage stress is a critical component to your overall health and wellness.
The American College of Lifestyle Medicine (ACLM) has defined lifestyle medicine as a medical specialty that uses therapeutic lifestyle interventions as a primary modality to treat chronic conditions such as cardiovascular diseases, type 2 diabetes, and obesity. They focus on applying six pillars of lifestyle medicine—nutrition, with a whole-food, plant-predominant eating pattern, physical activity, restorative sleep, stress management, avoidance of risky substances and positive social connections to not only treat and reverse chronic illness but also provide effective prevention for chronic conditions. I personally love and agree with their philosophy of including Stress management and positive social connection as critical components of lifestyle medicine to help improve our overall health and well-being.
Stress & Stress Managment
We know that stress is a part of life and that there is good stress and bad stress. Good stress can be helpful in accomplishing goals, meeting deadlines, being laser focused for an exam or public speaking. Negative or bad stress on the other hand, is the type of stress that can cause short- or long-term anxiety, decrease performance and lead to poor mental and physical health. You may think a headache, stomach ache, sleeping troubles or difficulty focusing is caused by an illness when in actuality it is caused by stress. Stress affects every part of us including our body, our thoughts and feelings, and our behavior. When not dealt with, it can lead to multiple chronic health problems such as heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, obesity and diabetes.
Distress is defined as extreme anxiety, sorrow and pain. It can be caused by multiple factors and it differs for everyone. Recognition of the things that trigger our distress and figuring out a plan to manage it, is critical to our health. Life can be hard and challenging, and stress is an unavoidable part of life. How we manage it is what is important.
Here are some tips I have gathered from various sources including the College of Lifestyle Medicine that can help manage stress and improve your overall health and well-being.
Positive Social Connections- As human beings we need one another. Social connections and relationships play a positive role in our overall health and well being. In fact research shows that the single most important predictor of human happiness and a long life is having strong social connections. Health-related measures like blood pressure and heart rate improve even with short positive social interactions. Volunteering, joining a spiritual group, attending a sporting or community event, taking a class are all ways one can bolster their social connections. This is particularly important as we age.
Be cognizant of Using Social Media to Support Social Connections While communicating with friends on social media can have positive benefits, nothing can take the place of actually being with friends in person. Research finds that those who use social media the most are actually at a higher risk for depression.
Get involved in activities & take time for fun creative hobbies- Carve out time and engage in activities that bring you joy and happiness. Social connection and physical activity help increase the production of endorphins which are the brain’s feel good chemicals. Activity involvement not only improves your state of mind through a physiological response but it also can refocus your mind away from negative stress.
Engage in exercise, dance, meditation or yoga- All of these wonderful activities have their own way of decreasing stress by transporting the body and mind away from stressful thoughts. Endorphin production plays a positive role here as well and when done properly these activities can improve both your physical and mental health. Meditation has been studied in many clinical trials. The overall evidence supports the effectiveness of meditation for various conditions, including: stress, anxiety, pain, depression, insomnia, and high blood pressure (hypertension).
Keep a gratitude journal or write about stressful events- One of the best ways of decreasing stress is to reserve a few minutes each day to write down what you are grateful for and then reflect on the positives as well as the joys in your life. One of the most influential books I have read on this is One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp. In this book, the author turns her life of tragedy and pain into one of radical gratitude through journaling her everyday blessings and giving thanks for the life she already had. It is a moving and inspiring book that will get you to think about how you can implement this practice in your life.
Take care of spiritual needs- Spirituality can reduce stress and prolong life through feelings of connection and having a sense of purpose. Discovering spirituality can help you appreciate the smallest of things, look beyond yourself and acknowledge the role of a higher power. It can also help you find purpose and meaning in life.
Make time to laugh- Did you know that laughter reduces our stress hormones (cortisol, epinephrine, dopamine) and increases the level of health enhancing hormones (endorphins)? It also moves oxygen through your body which can boost energy.
Avoid high amounts of caffeine and alcohol- While laughter decreases stress hormones, alcohol and high amounts of caffeine can lead to negative health effects related to prolonged elevated levels of the stress hormone cortisol. Alcohol is also known to alter brain chemistry leading to short-term relaxation but also long-term stress. The American Heart Association recommends moderate drinking of 1-2 drinks per day for men and 1 for women. They also recommend not drinking if you haven’t started.
Try deep breathing techniques- Deep breathing engages our parasympathetic nervous system which is known as the “rest and digest” part of our nervous system. This can result in lowering heart rate, reducing blood pressure, relaxing muscles in the GI tract. Deep breathing also allows your brain to focus on the present moment.
Get a massage- Massage is effective at reducing the stress hormone cortisol and activating the feel good brain neurotransmitters of dopamine, serotonin, and oxytocin. In fact studies show massage can lower cortisol levels by up to 30%. Massage can also reduce pain signals to the brain.
Engage in Mindfulness - Mindfulness is a type of meditation in which you focus on being intensely aware of what you're sensing and feeling in the moment, without interpretation or judgment. It encompasses two key ingredients: awareness and acceptance. Practicing mindfulness involves breathing methods, guided imagery, and other practices to relax the body and mind and help reduce stress and anxiety. Mindfulness can help bring you into the present moment throughout the day. Examples include a focus on your body as you wake up and become more energized in the morning, brief meditation at your desk during a work break, and/or appreciating the experience of eating a meal. Mindfulness is something you can utilize throughout the day to center and reduce stress and anxiety.
Managing Stress is a critical component of your overall health and wellness. As mentioned in the introduction, life can be hard and challenging, and stress is an unavoidable part of life. It is how we manage it that is important. I encourage you to add some of these strategies into your daily health practices and also have fun with them. Living a healthy lifestyle is a joyful way to live life. My hope is that everyone discovers this joyful path to living.
If you are just catching this blog now, be sure to go back and read the first six weeks of 8 Weeks 8 Habits to Health that highlight other important lifestyle habits focused on fueling the body, exercise and simple tips you can start using now to improve your overall health and well-being. If you are interested in getting individual help to implement these lifestyle habits and others, check out my services. It would be my honor to work with you and help you find your path to better overall health and well-being.
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