Posts Tagged ‘stress management’

Break and Breathe: Simple Relaxation Techniques to Reduce Stress FAST

Sunday, January 24th, 2010

Many of us are constantly on the go, stress0multi-tasking our way through our day and finding ourselves feeling stressed out. If you are like so many others, your mind may be racing, your heart rate and breathing may quicken and you may have trouble concentrating and getting your work done. This probably starts making you feel badly about yourself and negative thoughts start swirling in your mind which just causes you to be more stressed. As we’ve mentioned in other blogs, stress doesn’t just affect you mind, it also negatively affects the way your body functions. It causes hormone imbalances, disrupts sleep, digestion, your immune system and has a strong correlation with medical conditions such as heart disease and depression. 

 

The next time you are feeling stressed, I want you to remember the two B’s: “Break and Breathe” and do the following.

 

1. Take a Break:

You are given breaks at work for a reason, so take them. So often we get caught up in the mindset of “I don’t have time” and work through our breaks and lunch which only leaves us burnt out, more stressed and less productive. Instead, take a time out, do some of the breathing exercises below, and you’ll probably be more productive when you get back. It’s best to leave your workspace, but if you can’t you can easily do these at your desk.

2. Breathe:

One of the easiest ways to change how your body is physically reacting to stress is through your breath. By focusing on your breathing, you are forcing your heart rate to slow down which will calm your body and mind. Here are a few breathing exercises to choose from.

     1. Close your eyes and inhale as slowly as you can and silently count “1″. Then exhale slowly and silently count “2″. On your next inhale, silently count “3″ and so on. The goal is to reach the number “20″. By this point you should notice that your breathing will be fuller and deeper, and you will be more relaxed.

     2. Close your eyes and inhale as slowly as you can. Try to prolong your inhale to the silent count of 4 seconds. When you finish inhaling, gently hold you breath for 2 seconds and slowly exhale to the silent count of 8 seconds. Repeat for a minute or longer. If you can’t control your breathing for that long, its ok to shorten the duration of inhale and exhale, just make sure your exhale is twice as long as your inhale.

   3. Close your eyes. As you slowly inhale through your nose, visualize pure white cleansing air entering and filling your entire body. As you exhale, picture the gray negative, stressed air exiting your body through your nose. Continue this process as you inhale and exhaling, replacing your stressed out body with clean, fresh air and energy.

It’s also important to remember that mental/emotional stress isn’t the only way to stress out your body. Eating the wrong kinds of foods, going to bed late, not drinking enough water, having unbalanced hormones, can induce stress on your body and cause a multitude of symptoms including low back and neck pain, PMS, irritable bowel syndrome, frequent illness, migraines, and many others. We provide nutrition and lifestyle coaching in Los Gatos and San Francisco as well as over the phone. Give us a call to learn how to get your body back in balance.

If you try these stress techniques, let us know your experience, we’d love to hear from you.

 

 

Dorothy Lizak

Nutrition & Wellness Specialist

 

References:

photo thank you to: http://www.stressrelatedillness.com/stress-management.html

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Practicing awareness

Sunday, May 24th, 2009

mediation AWARENESS… This is something I’ve personally been working on for awhile. 

The definition of awareness is to be mindful.  How aware /mindful are you of not just the people, places and things around you but how aware are you of you?  How aware are you of what you feel and why, what your thoughts consist of on a daily basis and more importantly where do those thoughts originate from?  On a not so deep level, are you aware of how your food tastes when you sit down to eat it or is it something that you just do because you are hungry, bored or depressed?

When you take time out of your busy schedule to be calm and still (meditation) you are working on mindfulness. By being still and not surrounding yourself with television or work brought home from the office or the internet you are able to bring a sense of peace and quite to your mind, body and heart.  These 3 areas can then heal and rest and give back to you when you need answers or energy.  You begin to display a sense of calmness to the people that surround you on a daily basis and a positive attitude is felt by others that will react accordingly.

Think of it this way, have you ever been around someone who was in a bad mood? You could feel their bad energy and as a result you found your mood changing.  Have you been around a negative person who emitted such negative energy that it drained you, maybe even left you with a headache? These are examples of individuals who are not mindful and aware.

So, how does one become more mindful?  The answer is easy. Practice, practice, practice.   I would like you to try to become more mindful and aware. You will be surprised at how things will start changing for you in a positive way.  Be patient as this does not happen overnight but even 10 minutes a day will have a profound effect on you and others that surround you.  Below are some suggestions that will help you to get star

 *     Breathe- how many times do you consciously breathe throughout your day?  Taking the time to feel the cool air going in through your nose and the warm air coming out?  This       is conscious breathing. Make sure to take time throughout your day to consciously         breathe.  Breathing in the morning will set your tone for the rest of the day. 

*     Eat your meals quietly and slowly- enjoy the taste of your food.

*      Take a quite walk- walk either in your neighborhood or out on a hiking trail. Get out into nature and get connected to the earth.  There is calmness to the energy that is emitted in the mornings and evenings get outside and begin to feel it.  Do not take your ipod or cell phone with you.  This is your time to connect to you.

*     Yoga, Tai Chi & Qi Gong- any one of these energy building exercises will be good for you.  These exercises are about you feeling and connecting with your own body.  Experiment with all 3 and see which one you resonate with.

*      Journal- journaling is a great way to express yourself and get your thoughts down on paper that you can come back to and read at a later date. I would suggest doing journaling in addition to one of the items listed above. Please remember reading books and watching television are not ways to become more aware.  Becoming aware is acquired by you connecting with yourself.  When you read a book you pull in your imagination and this takes the focus off of you.

I hope you find these tasks to be enjoyable and enlightening. I would like to leave you with this quote that was given to me by a client of mine: “Between the stimulus and the response lies a space and within that space, lies our freedom”. 

Health & Happiness from Replenishing Soul.

~Lori

 

 

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The power of stress: stress information and techniques

Saturday, February 28th, 2009

You have two systems in your body that help you respond to stress.  These are the sympathetic nervous system (SNS) - also known as the “flight or fight” system and the parasympathetic nervous system (PNS) - also known as the “rest and digest” system.  It is your body’s goal to remain healthy by keeping these two systems in balance. However, stress in all of its forms can cause an over activation of the SNS which can eventually lead to illness and disease.

  

Effects of Stress on Your Body

Regardless of whether you are under mental, emotional or physical stress your body perceives all three of these the same.  This means that whether you are getting attacked by a tiger or stressed about being late for work, your body does not know the difference!

When your body feels stress, the SNS system will kick in to protect you from the stressor and will release a set of hormones, adrenaline and cortisol (made by the adrenal glands).  These hormones increase your heart rate and breathing rate and decrease digestion, reproduction, physical growth and the immune system. When the SNS gets turned on repeatedly or in some cases remains on it can lead to weight gain, difficulty sleeping, frequent colds, hormone imbalances, inability to handle stress and chronic illness. Periods of short term stress triggers the immune system to prepare for injury or infection. Long term stress causes deterioration of the immune system which leads to chronic illness.

 It takes your body approximately 40-60 minutes to return cortisol to its baseline once the actual or perceived threat is finished. Once cortisol returns to its baseline the intestines will resume digesting food, the sex organs kick back into gear and the immune system is ready to fight infections and illness.  Therefore, if you are always stressed, cortisol never has the chance to come back to baseline and your body will continue to breakdown. This is why stress management is so important!

What many people also don’t know is that not only do the sex organs and digestion become affected with stress but so does the brain.  Current research is showing that prolonged stress with increased cortisol affects the hippocampus, the part of the brain responsible for forming new memories. If you are having difficulty remembering new information, stress could be the reason why. 

So how can you begin to manage your stress?

 

Quick Tips for Managing Stress

1. Sleep- Sleep is so important in helping your     body repair.  Between 10pm-2am, physical repair of your body takes place and between 2am-6am cognitive repair takes place.  It is helpful to be in bed no later than 10:30pm.

 2.  Avoid bedtime snacks that are high in sugar or consist of grains.  This raises glucose levels and inhibits sleep.  Typically a snack higher in fat and protein is good before bed.

 3.  No TV or computers before bed.  These stimulate the brain and make it harder to fall asleep.

 4.  Sleep in complete darkness.  When light hits the eyes or is felt by the skin the circadian cycle gets interrupted and affects melatonin and serotonin. These two important hormones are needed for sleep and bodily repair.

 5.  Eat balanced and frequent meals throughout the day.  When you skip meals it affects your blood sugar levels and this action stresses the adrenal glands, putting your body in a stressed state that you might not even be aware of.  

 6.  Make time for yourself and do something that makes you happy and is relaxing.

 7.  Listen to calm, soothing music during relaxation time.

 8.  Begin doing exercises that stimulate the PNS.  Exercises such as yoga, tai chi, qi gong or meditation will help the PNS slow down and help the body heal.

 9.  Make a list of all of your stressors and begin eliminating one by one.  For example, maybe you commit to too many things and can begin saying no and setting boundaries for yourself.

 10.  Keep a journal so that you can track stressors that you might not even know you have.

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