Who hasn’t been struggling with stress over the last few weeks?
When your body perceives a stress, whether it be EMOTIONAL, PHYSICAL or CHEMICAL stress — your body goes into what is called the “fight-or-flight response,” as it prepares you for fighting or fleeing.
When the fight or flight response is invoked, your body directs resources AWAY from functions that aren’t crucial in life-threatening situations (such as healing, digestion, sleep, immune system) and re-directs them to large muscles, heart and lungs. If you are not able to counteract these stresses in any way, and they become chronic, it creates continued production of stress hormones (cortisol, adrenaline) and inflammation in the body. This tires out the systems that are being overworked but also reduces how well our other systems are working.
The KEY is to reduce that the fight or flight response so that it is not triggered continuously.
So, what can you do?
An excellent way to slowly reduce the strain your body is dealing with, in a healthy way, is to find an outlet for your stress that puts you in a more relaxed state. This outlet will be completely different for everyone but shouldn’t be considered a chore! For example:
- A hobby you enjoy ?♂️ (maybe something you haven’t had time to do for a while)
- Exercise you enjoy ?♀️
- Reading ?
- Listening to music ?
- Having a bath ?
- Meditation or mindfulness techniques ?♀️
- Connecting or speaking with a friend or family member
These things will help relax you and reduce the level of stress hormones in your body.
This therefore helps reactivate those life essential functions such as digestion, ability to rest and sleep effectively and your immune system!
Try and set some time aside every day for YOURSELF! 20 – 30 minutes a day is all it takes!