Managing Stress
Have you been suffering from work related stress?
Trying to juggle work life or family life whilst ensuring you have some me-time among it all?
Stress is an innate part of life that every individual faces, whether it's physical stress, emotional stress, or chemical - it's a completely natural stress response.
Despite it being completely natural, we shouldn’t be expected to handle that stress independently and just live with it or continue as normal and live with these stressful feelings.
In fact, I would personally deem finding ways to help you handle and future-proof yourself against life’s stressful situations an essential part of your routine.
Individuals such as yourself may suffer from stress for a variety of different reasons. It may be down to having a lack of awareness, a lack of answers, a lack of clarity, a lack of support, or even a lack of accountability.
Within these, you may feel stuck in a form of chronic stress or even overwhelmed and out of control. These all ultimately have a direct impact on the health of your nervous system.
Stress Relievers
Here's a five step method on exactly how to future-proof your body from stress.
1. Assess your nerve and spinal health for life stress management
Are you aware of how much of an impact your spinal health has on your overall well being?
Many people associate the spine with simply having a bad back that just won't go away.
However, your spinal column and your brain are the powerhouses of your body and control all of the bodily systems, including the hormone release when the body is in a state of stress. This is also known as the fight or flight response.
It’s vital that as individuals, we prioritise the care of our nerve and spinal health, as this will help balance our physical and chemical responses to external triggers.
2. Ensure that you are maintaining a healthy sleep and recovery pattern
This is essential in monitoring and controlling your stress levels. Your body must undergo sufficient rest periods alongside your busy lifestyle in order to function properly.
You may feel your four to five hours sleep a night works for you, however the recommended sleep time for a wide range of ages is between seven to nine hours.
Imagine the change that would make on your health and wellbeing. Sleep calms and restores. It also has positive effects on your body, ultimately improving concentration, regulating moods, and assisting with decision-making. You are better able to cope with stress when you're well rested.
3. Dedicate time to focus on your mental health and resilience
This is crucial to managing stress. Mental health is something that's a challenge for many people. However, it can be easily disregarded, particularly when you are caring for others - your own health can be pushed to the bottom of the pile. Despite this, it is crucial for your own mental health to be a primary focus.
When stress occurs, neurotransmitters and hormones are released into the body, which disturbs the areas of the brain used for regulating emotions and thought processes. Adrenaline is an example of this.
Adrenaline stimulates the fight or flight response, so it’ll have an impact on your ability to solve important decisions in life. Therefore by prioritising your mental health, you are more able to make informed decisions when things don't go to plan.
4. Take note of any changes of behaviour in social situations
Social purpose and connection is a huge factor when coping with stress. Individuals who are suffering from stress tend to portray indicators in social situations, such as becoming withdrawn.
Their physical characteristics may also change with things like their posture or contribution to conversations. It's important to look out for signs of these behaviors when interacting with your loved ones. Particularly if you notice this as a change from their usual responses, as it can be a sign that they're finding things particularly difficult.
5. Maintain a level of fitness and lifestyle routine
When you're under a state of stress, your body's natural response is avoidance and withdrawal.
However, it's vital that we do our best not to fall into that cycle and have simple things in place to keep us motivated. Having a basic level of fitness and ability makes a major difference to our life and mindset.
When our bodies are active, a hormone known as serotonin is released, which counteracts our response to stress. Alongside this it's crucial for our bodies to have sufficient recovery time, particularly after your body has been under a high level of physical demand.
As you can see, these are just a few of the well-researched methods to manage and future-proof stress and now you know how to manage stress better.
I hope that you have found this information helpful and are able to take something away from it to implement into your own life.
If you're interested in finding out more information on how chronic stress affects your body, then take a look at our article written by Dr. Nick on the link below.
Alternatively, we have a free spinal health check coming up, where you'll get a one-to-one appointment with one of our chiropractors.
