It’s no secret that stress is plaguing the health of our society. Maybe you don’t necessarily feel stressed…but for you it may take the form of fear, worry, anxiety, or depression. Those are all forms of stress.
Children struggle in school. Moods impact families. Financial stress impacts our work and home life. The list goes on…
People are getting sicker at younger and younger ages.
They’re going on medications, missing school/work and in more pain. That pain can be physical or emotional, or both.
Often, people feel like the illness or disease “came out of nowhere” or perhaps they blame it on “aging”.
In most cases, there are warning signs before the heart attack, panic attack or other diagnosis…but those warning signs are often ignored. We’ve all done it…you just think, “I will deal with that later.” Or, “Let me get through this season and then I will start taking better care of myself.”
Consistently high stress levels are at the root of most illness, disease and symptoms. But stress often feels pervasive. It’s everywhere. Pressure at work. Conflict at home. Care giving for aging parents or new babies. Health concerns. What gives?
I’m a big proponent of getting counseling/therapy when you need it, spending time in nature and doing lots of self-care. But let’s face it…sometimes, you can’t drop what you’re doing and take a walk in the woods or get a massage every day. I am with you!
Wouldn’t it be amazing if we could restore our health with a simple hack that can be done at little to no cost, in very little time from wherever you are when you need it.
What’s self-regulation?
Although there are lots of things that can help, this article will discuss the importance of having self-regulation skills.
Simply put, self-regulation refers to the ability to calm and settle your own nervous system as you navigate various situations and emotions.
True self-regulation doesn’t involve numbing with substances such as nicotine or alcohol or ignoring symptoms. Over-riding the body’s natural responses is different than self-regulating and most often leads to more stress in the long run.1
Although there are other options, the most common means of self-regulation include meditation or breathing exercises. Both can be used to settle down during times of high stress or better yet, they can also be used to prevent feeling overly stressed to begin with.1
Meditation has so many benefits. One of which is that it improves the immune system.2 You might be wondering why this matters in a conversation about stress and calming the nervous system. I am so glad you asked. When you are under stress, your immune system is compromised. High stress automatically translates to being more likely that you will get sick. You’ve likely noticed this before. Perhaps if you consider the last time you were sick, you may notice it was after a period of high stress (lots of travel, final exams, training for a competition, etc).
Deep breathing is great because the way you breathe sends a message to your brain about how you are doing. Long, slow, deep breathing indicates that you are calm, safe and able to heal, repair, digest food etc. Short, shallow breathing, the way we often breath when stress is high tells the brain you’re in danger and therefore it’s NOT a time to lose weight, heal your gut or learn new information. It’s been found to reduce stress and even lower blood pressure.3
It’s time to settle your system!
- Choose a self-regulation technique that resonates with you. For the sake of this article, we will focus on breathing exercises or meditation. Both are great. One is not better or worse so just pick the one you’d like to start with. Of course you can always change later.
- Choose a place to practice where you can be quiet and without interruptions. Don’t overthink this. You could excuse yourself to the restroom, you could sit in your car in a parking lot, you could go to a quiet park or library…or just pause at your desk or kitchen table…wherever. The only rule is that if you’re meditating you want it to be safe to close your eyes (so not while driving).
- Determine the amount of time you’d like to work with. If you’re new to this, don’t be daunting. This could be 1 minute…up to 90 minutes or more. Doing short periods of time is not a cop out! It can be perfect for when you’re just starting out or for times when you feel you need to calm down but can’t take an hour to do it. You can always take 1 minute!
- Do the practice! For both deep breathing as well as meditation, there are countless experts and methods. If you want to dive deep, feel free. But for the sake of getting started, we are going to keep it simple!
- Meditation– One of my favorite ways to meditate is to pick a positive emotion that you love to feel. This could include gratitude, love, peace etc. Set your timer for the time you have determined, get into a comfortable position (ideally seated but you can do it laying down as long as you won’t fall asleep or even standing up if you’re not going too long), close your eyes and allow that emotion to wash over you. For example, if you’re working with PEACE…what does that look like? What does it feel like? Do you recall a time you felt maximum peace? Just dive in deep. If your mind wanders (and it will), don’t judge yourself for it, just bring it back and continue until your timer goes off. Ideally, use a timer with a pleasant alarm so you’re not jolted out of your meditation.
- Deep breathing– As with meditation, set your timer for the time you’ve determined, get into a comfortable position, close your eyes if you’d like and relax your body. Then, take a deep breath in for a count of 5 seconds, hold it for a count of 5 seconds and then exhale for a count of 5 seconds. Repeat. If you want to add to it a bit, you can “breathe in” a positive emotion such as peace and then “exhale out” stress or anxiety.
What to expect:
Everyone is different on this. Most people feel their stress drop a touch within a session (so right away)…but for best results, you’ll want to do this daily as a lifestyle (i.e. long term).
What else can I do?
- Explore more self-care options- This isn’t a luxury if you want optimal health. It’s an absolute requirement.
- Improve your nutrition- Green smoothies, increasing vegetable intake and reducing sugar, processed foods and animal products.
- Stay hydrated– Yes, of course, drink water…but also be aware of the substances that dehydrate you or increase your need for water such as sugar, caffeine and poor-quality salt.
- Level up your sleep– You heal when you sleep. If you can’t sleep well, it’s hard to reset the nervous system.
- Exercise – You don’t have to commit to running marathons to get the benefits of exercise. And you can exercise TOO much. If you’re not exercising, start with basic walking or anything else you love. If you are exercising intensely, it may be time to add some yoga or stretching to your routine.
- Supplement with what your body needs
- Reduce stress– both physical and emotional/mental stress depletes your body of many important nutrients and causes problems with your digestion by unbalancing your microbiome (an issue referred to as dysbiosis).
- If things still aren’t working, get help! Don’t stay stuck. You and your mission in life are worth the time and energy it takes to get unstuck!
Although avoiding and reducing stress is smart, it is a part of life. Things happen that we don’t have control over but the ability to self-regulate is extremely empowering as you don’t have to rely on anyone or anything outside of you to get the reset that you need. That said, if you need help, love yourself and your family enough to get it. We’d love to help! Feel free to call the clinic today to schedule your initial consultation. 269-204-6525
References:
1. Mezuk B, Ratliff S, Concha JB, et al. Stress, self-regulation, and context: Evidence from the health and retirement survey. SSM Popul Health. 2017;3. doi:10.1016/j.ssmph.2017.05.004
2. Zuniga-Hertz JP, Chitteti R, Dispenza J, et al. Meditation-induced bloodborne factors as an adjuvant treatment to COVID-19 disease. Brain Behav Immun Health. 2023;32. doi:10.1016/j.bbih.2023.100675
3. Tavoian D, Craighead DH. Deep breathing exercise at work: Potential applications and impact. Front Physiol. 2023;14. doi:10.3389/fphys.2023.1040091
Nothing said or implied in this post is intended to treat, cure, diagnose or prevent any disease. It does not take the place of a qualified health care practitioner and is intended for educational purposes only.