Stress and Relaxation
I’ll spare you the speech about how stress is a hidden killer. If you are like me, then you want to know more about why, how and most importantly, what you can do about it. You don’t have to become a meditation master or a Yogi to make some positive changes. (Although neither will hurt.)
First, let’s talk about the what and why. Stress can arise from physical, psychological, and social sources, even our own metabolic processes. Our bodies have an elegant system regulating when we need to be alert and when we can relax. This isn’t a one or the other type thing, but our parasympathetic relaxation system is constantly active as is our sympathetic stress system. These systems talk to each other, and get louder or quieter depending on the signals they receive from our senses, thoughts and emotions. Stress isn’t bad in and of itself. In fact, it’s necessary for life, proper reactions to our surroundings and contributes to our sense of well-being. In proper doses, it strengthens our brains, muscles, and cardiovascular systems, but when the stress signals drown out the relaxation signals too often for too long, then breakdown occurs.
The Effects of Stress
The list of adverse health effects from an imbalanced stress response is long (and stressful). It includes the thyroid, sex hormones , gut microbiome, intestinal permeability, neurotransmitter expression, cardiovascular health, joints, autoimmune conditions, cancer, etc. Every known psychiatric diagnosis can be a function of imbalanced stress responses and increases in stress often trigger episodes and exacerbations. Two-thirds of doctors office visits are due to stress-related symptoms. 40% report having a “very or extremely stressful” job and a quarter of U.S. workers report burnout.
The Perception of Stress
Now that we have gotten the unpleasantness out of the way, what’s interesting to me is the way we can modulate this response, often without changing much at all about our situation (which may at times feel unchangeable). It’s often not the event itself that leads to malignant stress, but our perception of the stress itself. Adjusting our perceptions are often easier said than done, but there are ways to practice increasing one’s relaxation response that in turn lessens the stress response.
Stress Reduction
It is very easy to spend money on testing and supplements to try to get to the root causes of illness, while ignoring the low cost stress reduction activities that may more quickly get to the heart of things! As an individual who likes to help people get back to basics, I always like to focus first on sleep, nutrition and physical movement as the primary stress reduction activities, however for many it is tricky to get these things settled on a daily basis.
Relaxation Exercises
Below is a partial list of activities that can help augment the relaxation response. I love the newer technologies and find them helpful, but you don’t need to spend any money to find something for you that works. The key isn’t to find the best method of stress reduction, it’s to find the one that is best for you, and you can find yourself doing consistently! It is worth mentioning that finding it is often the most important step in healing you can do.
Breathing exercises:
- “Rule of 5’s”: Breathe in for 5 seconds, hold for 5 seconds and exhale for 5 seconds. Do this 5 times.
- Belly Breathing: Consciously expand your belly when you breathe rather than your chest. This helps more muscles relax and focuses the mind on your breath.
Practices:
- Mindfulness Meditation
- Transcendental Meditation
- Prayer
- Getting lost in the moment without judgement
- Walking meditation
- Yoga: Yoga Nidra, Kundalini Yoga
