- What is stress?
Well according to the dictionary- it is pressure or tension exerted on a material object.
I prefer this definition that I found though, a state of mental or emotional strain or tension resulting from adverse or very demanding circumstances.
By combining these definitions we understand that it can be physical or mental pressure.
We often think stress is bad, but we need to understand what it is.
Let’s start with physical pressure.
This is all around us, for example, if I push against an object, I am exerting stress on it.
When it comes to our bodies, stress usually shows up in the form of pain.
Physical pain is a signal that our bodies are under stress.
The pain isn’t stress though, the pain is telling you that your body is experiencing stress
I want to make that clear because when we experience pain, we often try to attack it or think the pain is the problem, but nope! Pain is a sign that there is an issue in your body.
Now, let’s talk about emotional stress.
Earlier, I said that it is a state of mental or emotional strain or tension resulting from adverse or very demanding circumstances.
We then often confuse stress with the responses to stress.
According to The Cleveland Clinic Worry, fear, anger, sadness and other emotions are also all normal emotional responses.
Stress is caused by the pressure, worry, fear, anger, sadness and other emotions are how we respond to it.
It is important to note this distinction.
We often say, we are stressed over a situation, but are we?
Or are we responding emotionally due to stress?
If you have not listened to my episode with Dr. Chris Lee yet, go back and listen to it.
One thing he said that still resonates with me is thoughts are the language of the mind and emotions are the language of the body.
That is a quote from Dr. Joe Dispenza, this guy is banging and is on a totally different level. They both are.
My point of everything here is that stress is a normal part of life.
The question we have to ask ourselves is how we will respond to it.
I am being very simplistic here and I am not trying to diagnose anyone, but will give you day to day tools to deal with stress that may come up.
Now that we now what it is, let’s discuss the things that may cause stress:
- How we being our day
Most of us are exposed to multiple stressors before we begin our day:
- The loud noise of the alarm that jumpus us out of sleep
- Rushing to shower
- If you have kids, you have to get them ready
- Where is my coffee or let me grab something quick
- If you are in rush hour traffic
- When you get to work, you have to hurry up and get starte
- ETC!
Do you know what this does to your body?
When we talk about stress, such a high start is causing it and making our day more stressful than it has to be.
It is true that cortisol is supposed to be higher in the mornings, but not so high that it spikes your blood pressure and ruins your health.
Here are some tips to start your morning better. It starts with the night before:
- Set yourself a bedtime
- Block out all bluelight once the sun goes down (buy a pair of blue light blocking glasses and get some blue light blocking bulbs. I put my bulbs in my bathroom cause that is the only light I have on after 7pm)
- If you have to watch T.V, try not to watch anything too excitable and keep the volume low.
- Take a nice relaxing bath or shower.
- Journal and reflect on your day.
- Do not do any work in your bedroom (bed room is designed for 2 things, I will let your imagination answer that)
- Set your alarm to a softer tone or light. If that won’t wake you up, then you are going to sleep too late
- Set your AC to 68 to 70 degrees ( We fall asleep faster in colder temperatures)
A caveat here is ditch the energy drinks and coffee within 8 hours of your bedtime.
If you are caffeine sensitive like I am, then maybe even earlier.
Caffeine has a half life of at least 6 hours.
It will take time, but once your circadian rhythm resets, you will fall asleep faster and wake up feeling amazing.
Generally, it is fine to take melatonin when you travel outside of your timezone or from time to time to reset your circadian rhythm.
I sometimes take it on Sunday nights to reset my sleeping pattern since I stay up later on the weekends.
Please! Start with these habits!
If you don’t get quality sleep, nothing else matters.
You will feel better throughout your day and have more energy.
During the day here are some habits to reduce stress:
- Get at least 30 minutes of sunlight in the morning (This resets your circadian rhythm and tells your body that it is morning time. Most of us don’t get morning sun, but expose ourselves to false bluelight at night. We wonder why our sleep quality is so bad)
- Try to get up every hour and move around for a couple minutes during the day. (this helps your body generate energy naturally. Maybe you can ditch the 5Hour Energy)
- Do cardio or high intensity workout in the morning or earlier in the day (too late will leave your cortisol levels too high, too late in the evening.)
- Stay hydrated. Hydration helps your body operate at its utmost best.
There are many habits to discuss, but this episode would go on forever.
Here is a start. Look where you fall short and make adjustments.
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