Manage Your Stress
There’s
no question the past several months has been stressful; that might even be the
understatement of the year.
While
short-term stress is a key ingredient for growth and success, when it’s
persistent and long-lasting, stress can be an absolute bear, adversely
affecting every possible corner of deep health, negatively impacting your mood,
bodily functions and overall wellness.
According
to recent Harris Poll findings regarding U.S. adults’ perceptions of the
current health crisis, more than two in five (41%) of Americans say they are
most concerned about experiencing
increased anxiety -- even more so than not being able to pay their bills (33%),
reduced job salary/work hours (26%) or losing their job/not being able to get a
new job (22%).
More
than 2 in 3 Americans (68%) say they feel like everything is out of their
control right now, and more than half (56%) say they are balancing more now
than ever before during the current pandemic.
In
short, we are collectively under a lot of stress, and as it relates to our
current landscape, chronic stress can weaken the immune system, making you more
susceptible to getting sick, and when you do, making symptoms worse and longer
lasting.
Simply
put, the more stressed you are, the more likely you are to get sick -- really
sick.
It’s
not all bad news. In fact, there’s some really good news: There are ways to
manage stress. Here are some of our top strategies for managing stressful
thoughts (and promoting a healthy response to stress):
·
Deep,
mindful breathing, such as box breathing; simply taking six deep breaths can be
enough to lower stress hormones and promote feelings of relaxation
·
Daily
prayer
·
Practicing
gratitude
·
Meditation
for 10 - 30 minutes a day (Not sure where to start? Try the app Headspace.)
·
Spending
time outdoors (One of our favorite ways is forest bathing, which is a Japanese
practice that involves taking a leisurely walk outdoors in nature.)
·
Grounding,
or earthling, which entails walking outside barefoot, connected to the Earth’s
surface
·
Exercise,
particularly parasympathetic-dominant activities like yoga
·
Hot
and cold therapy, such as sauna bathing and cold/contrast showers
·
Connecting
with your social support network
·
Singing,
dancing, humming and chanting, which can all activate the vagus nerve and the
body’s “rest and relaxation” response
Those
strategies can go a long way to helping ground you (physically, mentally and
spiritually) while also helping manage stressful thoughts and feelings of anxiousness.
And
let’s face it, those thoughts and feelings are on virtually everyone’s menu
right now, making now, more than ever, a time when we need to implement all the
tips, tricks and stress-relieving tactics we can to help promote better choices
and an overall healthier, more balanced mind, body and spirit.
Remember,
we are in this together.
"More smiling, less worrying. More compassion, less judgment. More blessed less stressed. More love, less hate." - Roy T. Bennett
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