Healthy Way to Cope with Stress

It's Important to Learn Healthy Ways to Cope with your Life Stressors

Many bad effects on our health including reducing our ability to fight infection due to lowered immunity. We need to Rest and Digest and turn off the Fight or Flight response.

Rest and Digest

Learn to Turn OFF

Today's technologies make a lot of things much easier for us, but they can also pester us 24-7 IF we allow them to. Mealtimes should be about unwinding and spending time with those we love, not constantly checking our Social Media. 

Family Meal Time

Don’t let texts and emails disturb you day and night; set a time each evening if you must check your work emails, stick to a time limit and then turn off again by taking 10 slow, deep breaths. 

Identify your Stressors (both at work and at home)

Recognise the things that add stress to your day and remember to schedule time for YOU like:

• take a nice walk after lunch if you're stuck inside most days (avoid answering your phone during your break times)
• read a book for 30 minutes after lunch if your job requires you to be on the phone or communicating all day,
• if you have younger children to care for, remember to schedule an adult evening every week.

Stay in touch with those you love – this is more important now than ever

Being in touch with people we love is good for our overall health. Our system releases a brain chemical called Dopamine in response to feeling loved, sometimes known as the "cuddle hormone" as it's associated with touching, or being touched by, people we love and feel safe around. Dopamine then triggers the release of Oxytocin and Serotonin which regulate happiness and mood.

Endorphins are like opiates; they calm anxiety, relieve pain and reduce stress. 

Spend Time with Loved Ones

Make Time for your Stress Management: Exercise Every Day

Some people enjoy a morning meditation, others prefer to read a novel before bed. Here are a few ideas for stress relief you can incorporate into your daily routine.

Get Fresh Air Daily: most of us can find a way to walk in our neighbourhood and get at least 30 minutes of fresh air most days. We don’t have to rush to crowded parks on nice days, we can get to know our own neighbourhood by taking a daily walk. Try heading in a new direction each week and explore your neighbour like you did when you were younger.

If you don't get out for a walk one or two days this week because life got in the way or the weather was horrible, the important thing is DON'T BEAT YOURSELF UP! Everyone, even Olympic athletes, miss a day of training now and then - we're all human and most of us juggle the demands of careers and families, parents and children, work and play.

If you missed your 30 minutes of fresh air and exercise today, give yourself a break and just add 5 or 10 minutes of increased activity sometime during the day. Simple things like walking up and down your stairs or doing laps of your living room count - just try to increase your heart rate. 

Desk Warrior Yoga can trigger the release of feel-good brain chemicals like GABA, Serotonin and Dopamine (our feel good hormones).

Chair Yoga

Remember to pay attention to your diet and sleep, both vital components of our general health. |Remember the words of Dr. Bonnie Henry "Be Kind - Be Calm - Be Safe" apply to ourselves too; just do the best you can and don't beat yourself up if you miss a goal. If you can't manage 30 minutes a day, then do what you can today and try to increase by 2% tomorrow. 

Excerpts from:

https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/stress-management/

https://www.psychologytoday.com/ca/blog/taking-it-easy/

Managing Stress During the Pandemic

We’ve all experienced stress to some degree during the pandemic. Whether you’re an essential worker who’s had to work during COVID-19, or you had to stay home for weeks on end as you Shelter in Place, both scenarios add stress to our lives. Stress reduces our immune system’s ability to fight infection, so it’s doubly important to manage our stress during an infectious disease outbreak.

Stress Triggers the Sympathetic Nervous System

 The Sympathetic Nervous System makes up part of our Autonomic Nervous System, also known as the Involuntary Nervous System; it directs the body's involuntary response to dangerous or stressful situations. When we experience a stressor, whether it be a real danger such as a car accident, or one of life’s many stresses like having an important project’s deadline looming, our Sympathetic Nervous System will send a flash flood of hormones to boost the body's alertness and heart rate, sending extra blood to the muscles and vital organs.

Unfortunately, the Sympathetic Nervous System doesn't also destress the body once the danger has passed. Another component of the Autonomic Nervous System, the Parasympathetic Nervous System, works to calm the body down. Blood pressure, breathing rate and hormone flow will return to normal once the body senses the danger has passed as we move from ‘Fight or Flight’ to ‘Rest and Digest’.

Chronic Stress Creates Health Issues

The world we live in today puts constant stress on most of us which causes our bodies to produce Adrenaline and Cortisol.  Adrenaline increases your heart rate, elevates your blood pressure and boosts energy supplies. Cortisol, the primary stress hormone, increases glucose in the bloodstream; it also curbs functions that would be nonessential or detrimental in a fight-or-flight situation. It alters immune system responses and suppresses the digestive system, the reproductive system and growth processes and effects our motivation, mood and fear.

Chronic stress leads to overexposure to Cortisol and other stress hormones that follows can disrupt almost all your body's processes. This puts you at increased risk of many health problems, including:

• Anxiety
• Depression
• Digestive problems
• Headaches
• Heart disease
• Sleep problems
• Weight gain
• Memory and concentration impairment

Next Blog Post: Learn Healthy Ways to Cope with Life Stressors