Tailor your lifestyle to handle stress
Experiment with different techniques to find what works for you
Stress is a normal part of life and we need a certain amount of it to feel energized, excited and joyful. It’s when we’re struck with high levels of uncontrollable stress that the body breaks down.
The stress response sets off an alarm activating a cascade of physiological reactions, triggering a primitive survival mechanism known as the “fight or flight’ response.
When the brain detects stress, it initiates a series of chemical reactions culminating in the adrenal gland releasing the stress hormones cortisol, noradrenaline and adrenalin, activating the sympathetic nervous system.
Stress hormones cause heart rate, breathing and blood pressure to rise, amplifying sight, hearing and other senses. The digestive and reproductive systems slow down. Muscles contract and hold tension until they’re used to run or fight, something that’s commonly felt in the neck, jaw and back, causing headaches, low back pain and other symptoms.
Long-term stress creates an imbalance in normal hormone levels and will begin to break down the systems in your body. Unresolved stress can affect the immune system leading to illness, high blood pressure, cardiac irregularities, diabetes and weight gain.
Think of it in the same way as physical training. If you push your workouts hard every day, the body doesn’t have the opportunity to repair, leading to overuse injuries, adrenal fatigue and decreased performance.
When you exercise, you stimulate the sympathetic nervous system to give you strength and energy for working out, training the body to effectively regulate stress. Biologically, exercise seems to give the body a chance to practise dealing with stress and improves the body’s communication centres to deal with it.
Finding the appropriate amount of exercise and managing exercise intensity with recovery is critical for long-term health and stress management. Moderate to hard exercise improves cardiovascular health, enhances immunity and builds resiliency to stress. Continuous intense exercise without the appropriate amount of recovery will lead to overtraining and chronic levels of stress hormones.
When this happens, exercise exacerbates rather than protects against the health risk of stress. It’s important when you complete an intense workout that you take the time to recover the body by physically cooling down, stretching, refuelling appropriately, practising deep breathing and rest.
Stress management isn’t a one-size-fits-all. Experiment with these different techniques and see what works best for you:
Exercise at a moderate to high intensity a minimum of five days per week Practise deep breathing Meditate Strive for eight hours of sleep Do more yoga Eat a healthy, balanced diet Avoid caffeine, sugar, alcohol and drugs Stay hydrated Relax or get a massage Make time for fun activities Helen Vanderburg is the co-owner of Heavens Elevated Fitness Yoga and Spin Studio, a fitness expert and celebrity trainer. Find her online at helenvanderburg.com. Facebook.com/helen.vanderburg. Instagram: @helenvanderburg