There are three types of stress that we experience throughout our lives. Chemical, physical and Emotional. Chemical stresses are things like air pollution, water contaminants, the chemicals in our food, smoking, excessive alcohol intake, medication and toxic chemicals in cleaning products. Physical stress can be caused by serious injury, sitting for long periods, repetitive lifting and bending, a full-time athletic schedule or the physical demands of parenting. Emotional stress can be instigated by work, family, relationships, parenting, feelings of isolation, financial strain and keeping up with the Joneses and general life pressures.
Stress is a really serious thing. Science is discovering that more than 90% of illnesses are stress related. Stress causes an increase in colds and flus, sleeplessness, a higher chance of strokes, heart disease and depression. You see, the thing about stress is that it supresses the immune system. From a historical biological perspective, we enter a state of ‘stress’ when our survival is threatened. At this point, we put all of our energetic resources into escaping the danger and therefore there’s no energy left for functions such as digestion, elimination of toxins and immunity. In our modern world we’re putting ourselves in stressful situations so often that our bodies aren’t given the opportunity to perform the vital function of healing.
There’s no way to escape all the stresses of modern life but there are ways to manage it and support those vital functions so that our bodies and minds stay healthy.
Here’s a list of my 20 top stress and anxiety busters:
1. You might begin by reducing the toxins in your life so that your body doesn’t have to work so hard to illuminate them. This may include eating more whole, less processed foods, reducing alcohol and quitting smoking.
2. You might decide to go to bed earlier. Sleep allows the body to rest and repair. It gives your immunity system a chance to rebuild proteins, which protect the body against stress.
3. You may choose to implement a regular exercise habit as exercise helps to release stress.
4. Perhaps you’ll choose to cease stressful activities, whether it be your job, your friends or extra-curricular activities. If you live in the city you may even be considering a move to the country to get away from the pollution and pressures of city living.
5. Identify the top 5 stressors in your life. Ask yourself what needs they meet in your life and see if you can meet those needs in less stressful ways. For example, you’re part of a netball team but since your recent move it’s a really long way to travel and the commitment is stressing you out. You don’t want to quit because it’s great exercise, you really benefit from the social interaction and you love the competitive side of things. Once you realise what you gain from netball you realise you can exercise anywhere, even though there’s no netball team near you. You might join the P&F at the new school, which will enable you to meet more people in your new community and if you schedule a regular board game night with your family not only can you exercise your competitive streak but you get to spend some quality time with your family too.
6. Meditation is a great way to support your immune system, among other things. It also boosts your memory and concentration, helps you make better decisions and prevents depression. Even starting with just 5 minutes a day will help you and you can build it up from there. There are many different forms of meditation and loads of resources out there including websites, aps and group meetings.
7. Take up a really pleasurable hobby so you have something to look forward to and focus only on that one thing. You may even have the opportunity to meet some like-minded people who make you feel less isolated.
8. Research toxic free cleaning products to use in your home. There are heaps of companies who mail order.
9. Investigate toxic free make-up and beauty products.
10. Make a list of a few alternative therapies you might like to try in order to help you manage the essential stressors in your life. Kinesiology can offer you clarity on what the stressful issues are. Energy healing therapies can clear the flow of energy in your body, enabling you to be able to manage higher levels of stress without it affecting you as much. Hypnotherapy can teach you relaxation techniques at a subconscious level.
11. Visit a chiropractor. Good health depends upon having your spine and nervous system functioning at their best. If your spine is out of alignment, it’s like having a kink in a hose, and messages aren’t communicated quite as well from brain to body. Chiropractic is about improving this flow of information naturally through regular adjustments.
12. Go organic and reduce further the chemical stress on your body.
13. Reduce your caffeine intake as it can cause anxiety as it stimulates the adrenal glands. It can also affect your sleep, which diminishes your ability to manage stress.
14. Spend time with family and friends. Laugh. Love and laughter activate the ‘love hormone’ – oxytocin. Oxytocin lowers cortisol – the stress hormone.
15. Write it down. Journaling helps you to put your stressful situations into perspective and helps you see what’s important to you and what isn’t. It also helps to release some of the stress.
16. Aromatherapy can help some people to feel relaxed. Burning scents such as lavender, rose, bergamot, chamomile, sandalwood, ylang ylang, orange blossom and geranium essential oils can help reduce stress.
17. Create some boundaries and learn to say no. If someone asks you for something and you feel that doing it will stress you out, have the sense to say no.
18. Music can transport you. Take the time to make a ‘stress free’ or ‘relaxation’ playlist. Include tunes from your past that inspire feelings of freedom. Dance to your music and let the stress go.
19. Whenever you think of it, take a deep breath and often let out a huge sigh. This will let the stress go a little at a time.
20. Animals have the amazing ability to allow us to be who we really are without judgement or expectation. Spend time with your beloved pets and see yourself the way they see you.
Things to give thought to this week:
· Am I being honest with myself about the ways in which stress in affecting my life?
· Pick out the top 5 stressors in your life and consider making a move to reduce them.
· What would my life look like if I reduced my stress by just 10%?