6 Tips to Reducing Stress
Imagine that out on a walk one day you round a corner and come face-to-face with a lion. Immediately, your brain signals life-threatening danger to your body. Your Sympathetic (Stress) Nervous System (SNS) kicks into action. The adrenal glands are activated and cortisol and
insulin are produced. Blood moves to the muscles that need it, your breath becomes shallow and rapid and your body burns glucose to give you the fire-like energy to run away or to stand and fight. Once the danger passes, your heart rate slows, your breathing deepens and blood flows back to your internal organs. The Parasympathetic (Peace) Nervous System (PNS) overrides the SNS and calm is restored. Our human system has worked effectively to keep us safe and its main goal of survival has been met.
This system used to work well for us, however, as evolved as we may have become in the last 150,000 years, our internal systems have not caught up. The problem is that we don’t actually know the difference between situations that threaten life (the lion) and ones that don’t (losing our keys), yet our internal reaction is exactly the same. Almost as soon as we open our eyes each day, the assault on our bodies and
our senses begins. Stress factors are everywhere – busy lives, busy traffic, busy brains, shopping, organising, social media, lack of sleep, standards to live up to, job expectations and feeding the kids. Add to this daily stress bigger problems, such as climate change, pandemics, poverty, social ostracisation and, for some, living in a state of constant fear.
Our SNS is in real danger of being consistently activated and, in this state, we feel unsafe at our core. Most of us are not in life-threatening situations, yet we are suffering from the impacts of stress as never before. Over time, SNS dominance is hugely damaging. The results of its elevated activation are wide-ranging and varied. We find ourselves
suffering from deep fatigue, inability to lose weight, serious health complaints, unstable emotions, anxiety and more. Fortunately, there are ways to calm our poor nervous systems and communicate to our bodies that we are safe. You may well have heard a few of these techniques before, my hope here is to gently remind and encourage you to actually try them out. Your body will LOVE you for it and you may find your life flowing a little more easily.
1. If you feel stress rising, try taking a deep breath and tell yourself that you are okay, that you are safe. If your mouth is dry, drink some water. Our mouths dry out in times of stress and moisture communicates to the body that we are safe. You could also try counting backward from 5 to 1. This will help calm your brain and slow your breathing down.
2. Get out of your head and into your body. Your body talks to you if you are able to hear it. What is it trying to tell you? Find and release stored tension. Notice and accept your emotions, be curious about them and why they are there. Show your body that it is safe. Tell it that it is okay, it is loved and that you are enough. Be gentle with yourself. Your brain believes what you tell it, it hears what you tell your body. Feeling safe is what will allow your magnificent machine to work at its optimal best.
3. Connect to your body often. The way to do this is with soothing breath, which activates the PNS. Gently and slowly breathe into your stomach as if inflating and deflating a small balloon. Make your out-breath a couple of counts longer than your in-breath. Do it throughout the day and whenever you feel a sense of overwhelm.
4. Be present. Living in the past or the future causes us all amounts of unnecessary stress. Notice your mindset and your thoughts – get curious. Are your thoughts mostly positive or negative? Are you spending your time worrying about something that may not happen or reliving past events that you cannot change? Try employing all your senses to truly experience the moment you are in, right here, right now.
5. For truly restorative sleep, we want our PNS to be dominant. Before sleep, in your Power Down Hour (see Issue 50), try gentle breathing exercises, meditation, a calming tea (try lemon balm, chamomile or passionflower) and soothing, off- screen activities. Develop a gratitude practice – it really does change your mindset! Remember, what you focus on grows!
6. What we eat matters and good, clean whole foods support our body systems rather than inflame them. Never before in our history have
we consumed so much sugar, so many added chemicals, flavourings, colourings, sweeteners and preservatives. Fresh, plant-based foods and as high-quality meat as can be afforded will ensure you take in the range of antioxidants and vital vitamins and minerals that your system needs to function optimally. Drink more water, especially if you consume caffeine. Caffeine is the master of SNS activation.