STRIP AWAY ALL THAT NOISE
Pressing the pause button on Stress
As the cycle continues of waking up to new stresses and carrying them to bed, the pile of stresses seems to only accumulate with each passing day like an abandoned landfill. Susceptibility and exposure to stress seems to come from all corners of life including pressures from work, personal affairs, physical challenges, emotional demands, and financial strains.
So how does stress effect your body? When the human body encounters stress, it is natural for your heart rate to increase, alertness to intensify, and to experience a rise in cortisol and adrenaline levels. All these responses were designed to help the body respond to situations where heightened awareness and optimal response times are required. However, if the body is always encountering stressful environments and triggering stress responses the prolonged effects can cause significant damage to the body.
Some of the negative impacts of stress can include a weaker immune system, higher blood pressure, headaches, and an upset stomach. In addition to physical responses, stress may also affect mental and emotional states as well. High levels of stress can lead to more disruptions with sleep, as well as increased chances of depression and anxiety. When stress remains unaddressed, one’s ability to adapt to changes, meet requirements, and function healthy relationally are all hindered. Stress has the power to overwhelm and ultimately consume all aspects of life.
After identifying stress and the endless array of symptoms, it is imperative to adopt patterns to help manage and reduce its effects. When you have been living and coping with stress for extended periods of your life, sometimes vast lifestyle changes and adjustments are required to counter stagnant patterns and harmful habits. Often the first area to assess is the work-life balance aspect. Realistically, your work-life balance will never actually be perfect, however, adjustments and decisions can always be made to help improve. Job-related stresses will naturally exist, but deciding on what the right balance is will need much consideration. At what expense is a job with a higher salary, longer hours, greater challenges worthwhile when considering the impact on one’s health and general livelihood.
Maintaining a healthy and balanced diet is essential in equipping the body to best handle stress. Consistent exercise can help boost endorphin levels in the body, improve mental health, and it also reduces time spent beaming in on the never-ending pile of stresses. One may also incorporate meditation, stretching, breathing techniques in addition to more traditional forms of exercise. Finding ways to relax and rest is necessary to subdue some of the cortisol and adrenaline spikes. As each gear in a clock works in unison to tell time, the body also requires attention to each part of life including diet, exercise, mental state, and rest.
CALM THE WATERS
Identifying and countering anxiety around every corner
It is both normal and expected to experience worry and anxious thoughts when encountering certain situations in life. Some of us are very conscious when worry kicks in, while others may only absorb worry in their subconscious. Regardless of the levels of awareness, worry and anxiety can have significant impacts on our mental and physical well-being.
The causes of anxiety are often due to a combination of factors, often with no guarantee that all of them have even been discovered. Some causes may include prolonged exposure to stressful environments, unresolved feelings of fear and insecurity, traumatic past experiences, and genetic susceptibilities as well. Although we all encounter worry, a clear distinction needs to be made from the common states of worry and anxiousness from specific anxiety disorders which are mental illnesses. It is important to seek the consultation of medical health professionals to ensure proper measures are taken.
While causes are more difficult to pinpoint, symptoms of anxiety are often more easily identified. When anxiety is triggered by past trauma or fears, the fear of reoccurrences may be the root cause of uneasiness or worry built upon anticipation. An unsettled mental state can also hinder many other areas of daily functions from being properly addressed and can lead to avoidance patterns and tendencies. When anxiety strikes, the human body may experience symptoms of increased heart rates, nausea, muscle tension, cold sweats and the inability to rest or even sleep soundly.
Many times, anxiety is not addressed or recognized until it reaches the heights of where it may be classified as a disorder. Healthcare professionals often prescribe specific medications and often recommend specialized forms of therapy to identify, cope, and respond to anxiety attacks. No matter the prevalence of anxiety in one’s life, it is always beneficial to help equip the body and mind to better manage triggers and symptoms of anxiety. Finding the ability to remain calm and relaxed during stressful situations is essential. Anxiety spirals out of control when worry is on full-throttle. Meditation, prayer, acceptance, and focusing on the joyous patterns in life’s endless weave of emotions can help bring grounding and peace. Learning to breathe and rest is a skill that takes time and conscious effort to develop. Attending to one’s diet is also vital in preparing the body for various circumstances and to be functioning at its peak capacity. Aerobic exercises, alongside diets can help balance biological functionality including stable hormone levels all to help counter anxiety.
ELEVATING ABOVE THE CIRCUMSTANCE
The practice of meditation
We often seek and adopt new lifestyles only when circumstances get worse or life feels as if it is spiraling out of control. Too many of our daily habits and patterns are only challenged when something seems to go wrong. So many stresses and anxieties flood our lives and that’s usually the time when people look for change.
Meditation should not be treated as a practice limited to challenging times but adopted as a part of life to reach heights of clarity, acceptance, and peace. The little time we invest in meditation is easily recaptured as we are able to operate more efficiently as meditation helps declutter and organize thoughts in our head.
An integral part of meditation is discovering how to be still. Silencing the wandering thoughts, pressures of life, and constant busy state of the racing mind is crucial in reaching clarity. As a foundation, one needs to learn how to focus on the dynamics of their breath to reach unity within the mind and body. Through practice, once you are able to focus on one thing, it lays out a landing pad for other floating thoughts to settle one-by-one too.
As mindfulness is reached, the next phase of processing and filtering becomes present and available. One can learn to accept circumstances that they have control of, and build habits of letting go of issues that they are not in control of. Clarity and acceptance ushers in the ability for one to dwell in peace.
Through a healthy mind, harmony flows through the union to the other parts of the body as well. As we focus on taking care of our physical bodies through exercise and diet, to reach wholeness we must also pay close attention to the lifestyle we live and the health of our mental well-being.
Try spending a few minutes per day when you wake up, go to bed, and throughout the day, to pause everything, own your thoughts and emotions, and just breathe.
DREAMING WITHIN THE DREAM
Unwrapping the gift of sleep
Most of us have experienced the long nights of tossing and turning endlessly trying to fall asleep. The long nights may be attributed to extreme environmental factors, biological conditions, heightened emotions, the worries of the next day, and the added stress of not falling asleep. And then there is the dismal experience of counting down the few remaining wee hours left in the night.
Have you ever known those people where no matter the circumstance or situation they fall asleep within minutes? Not just light sleep either, but deep, sound, loud snoring, mouth opened, the drooling kind of sleep. It’s okay to be jealous of these kinds of people, after all it is a special gift and talent.
For those of us not born with such a talent, we must find ways to hone our skills in finding better sleep and rest. The body operates the most efficiently around a consistent and complete sleep-wake cycle. For starters, adjusting to a more rigid routine each day significantly helps the body learn when to wake up and when to wind down. Try to find patterns and work around schedules so you are going to bed and waking up at relatively the same time each day.
The activities we perform or foods we consume before bed are also areas we should pay close attention to. Limiting intense exercises, heavy meals, caffeinated drinks, reducing alcohol before unwinding down are all positive steps in ensuring better sleep. Specific supplements may also be considered to help monitor and regulate hormonal balance best optimized for sleep. Stressful thoughts and emotions should also be addressed whenever possible. Meditation, prayer, acceptance of the situations can all help alleviate the restless thoughts that may hinder sound sleep. It is important to be mindful of our attachment to electronics as well, as they provide an endless array of stimulation and also the blue lights emitted from these devices can alter the body’s natural sleep-wake cycle. Some have even adopted the practice of having electronic-free zone sleeping quarters where distractions are not as readily available as an arm-reach.
Learning to rest and finding healthy lifestyle choices to sleep well is essential and beneficial to every aspect of life. Having the appropriate amount of time to shut off and the quality of deep sleep provides the strength and energy to propel you into a busy day of work and productivity. For now, goodnight and good morning, hopefully not too soon.