5 Strategies to Manage Your Stress

In 2018, the American Psychological Association reported that 34% of Americans say their stress levels had shot up in the last year. Our society celebrates a chaotic and busy lifestyle and frowns upon those who take time off to rest and recoup. A go go go lifestyle usually comes with added stress and living in a state of chronic stress can have a huge impact on our health, wellness, and longevity. Fortunately, there are healthy ways to manage stress. Keep reading to find out what they are and how you can implement them into your life!

When our body feels stressed or endangered our fight or flight response kicks in and our body starts pumping out cortisol, norepinephrine, and adrenaline. This response causes blood pressure and heart rate to rise, as oxygen goes to your large muscle groups. Cortisol alters functions that are considered nonessential in a fight or flight situation. For example, it changes immune system responses and suppresses the digestive system, the reproductive system and growth processes. Cortisol also communicates with the parts of the brain that control motivation and fear. For our ancestors in the Stone Age this response was what helped keep them alive, but today it often is our brain overreacting to a perceived threat to our life.

Being in this state of fight or flight for long periods of time has been shown to have negative implications for our overall health. Usually, once the perceived threat goes away the body returns to its natural state. However, if you have a stressful job that causes you to be in a state of stress everyday, there can be lasting effects on your health. Too much cortisol can wreak havoc on the body and puts you at risk of many health problems, including:

• Anxiety
• Depression
• Digestive problems
• Headaches
• Heart disease
• Sleep problems
• Weight gain
• Memory and concentration impairment
• Affects how you age

That is why it is so important to learn ways of coping with stress. There are many ways to manage stress and I won’t cover them all in this one article. However, I want to give you 5 simple, healthy ways to manage stress that are easy to implement into your everyday life! These 5 strategies can take less than 20 minutes to improve your stress level.

5 Strategies:

Diaphragmatic breathing is a great way to reduce stress because when we use our diaphragm to breathe it stimulates our vagus nerve. The vagus nerve controls our “Fight or Flight” response. By stimulating that nerve when we practice diaphragmatic breathing, we are helping our body to relax and get out of that state of stress. Some surprising benefits of deep breathing, include:

• Happier mood
• Deeper sleep
• Less anxiety
• Healthier heart
• Better air intake

Meditating is not only a great way to relieve stress but it also helps us work on mindfulness. Studies have found meditation can be just as effective as antidepressants for treating anxiety symptoms. Meditation can change your body by:

• Releasing happy chemicals
• Lowering blood pressure: if you practice meditation regularly you can change your overall blood pressure, not just in the moment of meditation. 
• Improving digestion
• Decreasing swelling
• Diminishing pain

When practicing meditation it is ideal to be in a quiet space, but you can still gain benefits by doing this while walking, or evening standing in line at the store. It is recommended to turn off your devices, and be free from distractions while meditating. You can close your eyes or keep them open. Try to settle your attention on your normal, natural breathing. If you become distracted by a thought, notice it and then let it go. Some people enjoy having soft music or nature sounds on in the background while meditating, find what works for you! There are great apps that have guided meditations or peaceful sounds to help you relax, and they can be as short as 5 minutes or as long as 60 minutes. A few of my favorite apps are:

If you’re interested in learning more TIME has a special edition magazine called “Mindfulness” and it is full of great information and ways to practice mindfulness that all have a positive impact on your health, and you can get it on Amazon.

Practice Gratitude
Making a consistent effort to notice and appreciate the positive things in life changes us for the better. When we pay attention to the positives instead of the negatives we start to rewire our brain to see positive things more often. 

Have you ever noticed when you bought a new car, that you start to see that same car everywhere, when you hadn’t noticed it before? We tell our brains what to pay attention to whether consciously or subconsciously, and that goes for positives and negatives in our lives. If we constantly see negative things, those are the things our brain will start to look for automatically. Practicing gratitude by taking 5 minutes a day to write down what you are grateful for the positive things in your life can start to change the things you look for day to day. This gratitude ritual can help you by:

• Making you feel happier
• Boosting your energy levels
• Improve overall health
• Improve your relationships
• Overall make you a nicer person

Stress affects us all in different ways and can have different lasting impacts on our bodies and minds. Stress, especially when it is a constant part of life should not be overlooked or brushed off. I hope these strategies are helpful tools for you when you are feeling stressed.

Happy Training,
Sierra
Tunnel Marathons Personal Trainer

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