Stress, or at least chronic stress, has far reaching implications. Too much stress results in the feeling of being overwhelmed physically or mentally. Anger, fear, depression and anxiety are all aspects of excessive stress occurring in your life and, over time, this can have a detrimental effect in the way you view the world and live your life; it can affect every aspect of who we are.
When you live with stress, your body and mind goes into the ‘fight or flight’ response which would have served you well thousands of years ago when you were bait for animals in the wild, but it also helps to ingrain memories about what has happened, so you can pass this information on to others. This still serves you well if you need to save your life, for example, but when this response is switched on too long, it has the opposite effect and a negative impact on health. It can degrade cells within the brain, decrease your recovery from physical exertion, suppress your appetite, repair mechanisms and immunity, and can lead to anxiety, panic attacks and depression.
If your ‘fight or flight’ response is always turned on, this means you are in survival mode – you wouldn’t dream of building an extension in the middle of a hurricane and this is exactly how your mind will see it. Life is changing faster than you can adapt.
In order to restore balance, you need to work with your body instead of against it. If you are already out of energy, with poor hormonal/chemical balance, it is vital to restore order. What can you do?
- If in doubt, speak to someone – a friend or a professional, so you don’t feel alone.
- Participate in moderate to low intensity cardio exercise for 30 minutes, five times a week – you should feel vitalised at the end, not depleted. You need to train and not drain.
- Join an exercise class – exercising in a group can stimulate your mind and body, especially if you find a class fun and rewarding. Try Zumba or, for something a bit more intense, give Animal Flow a go, which is a new concept utilising natural body movements called a flow. This is a fantastic class for overall strength, fitness and bodily awareness.
- Eat whole foods from quality sources at regular times – every cell in your body is made up of what you eat and by eating on a regular basis, you stabilise your blood sugar level. This will improve mental clarity and relieve stress.
- Meditate – try mindfulness meditation and/or Earthing, which is a standing meditation, with your shoes and socks off, on grass. It’s designed to build a connection to nature, which really works. Both allow you to rise above your thought process to gain some sort of clarity. This is progressive, therefore you need to give it time but it is highly rewarding.
- Tai Chi uses slow, controlled movements to cultivate life force and will energise you in a similar way to meditation – you won’t know why, but it is fantastic regardless.
These are just a few, positive things you can do to make changes in the right direction. All of the above will have a positive impact on your health, wellbeing and perception of yourself, helping you to cope with stress, depression and anxiety.
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