Written by Alternative Balance member: Marissa Doyle, Founder of Sweat Savor Soul
Everyone experiences stress. No one is immune to it. Sometimes it can help you focus and get tasks accomplished. But when stress is frequent and intense, your body feels the strain. Learning to effectively manage stress is crucial to living well. Valuing your mental health and protecting your peace takes effort. I’m sharing all of my personal recommendations. And we’re not striving for perfection here. Just a path towards the most joyful and tranquil you.
How Stress Affects You
Stress(1) affects your entire body, mentally as well as physically. If you’ve ever fallen ill after experiencing long-term stress, you know this. Continued stress leads to increased levels of cortisol. That cortisol weakens our immune system, making it easier for you to get sick.
Other symptoms might include:
- Insomnia or difficulty sleeping
- Headaches
- GI upset
- Jaw pain
- Changes in appetite
- Frequent mood swings
- Difficulty concentrating
- Worsening symptoms of a mental illness
- Elevated blood pressure
- Aches and pains
- Panic attacks
- Anxiety or irritability
Why Some People Manage Stress Better Than Others
Certain things that upset you, won’t make a friend raise an eyebrow. What you might not realize though, is we are all vulnerable to stress at different times in life.
When you’re sleep deprived, or experiencing poor physical health, you’ll be more susceptible to how stress affects you. During major life changes such as the death of a loved one, getting married, having a child, starting a new job or moving to a new home, stress can be harder to manage.
How To Manage Stress
You know how stress makes you feel. The question is, what are you suppose to do about it? Stress is unavoidable, and some of us are more prone to stress than others. We often try to manage stress with unhealthy behaviors or avoidance.
To manage stress in healthier ways, you can develop a personal approach to recognizing triggers and experiment with coping strategies.
Manage Stress With Movement
Movement is powerful. It’s an instant energy shifter and gives you the opportunity to release stress throughout the day. Movement increases the release of endorphins, dopamine and serotonin.
I exercise as much for my mental health, as I do for my physical body.
Start your day with light stretching or a short jog, get up from your desk at work every hour and move your body.
Whatever you do, make it fun. Use these moments to be periods of joy, not additional stress.
Practice Acceptance
Acceptance is the acknowledgement of emotions and events as they come. You don’t deny or suppress.
As you learn to make peace with things in the moment, you step out of your way and move toward growth.
Acceptance allows you to admit your mistakes, own your outcomes and unconditionally value all parts of who you are.
Protecting your peace also includes recognizing triggers. When you’re aware of your triggers, you can work towards avoiding them if possible, or coping with triggers when they come up.
Disconnect
We’re all guilty of mindlessly scrolling on the interwebs.
Set aside time in your day to leave electronic devices behind.
Go outside. We experience an instant mood boost when we’re outdoors. If you happen to live or work near a body of water, spend time there. Water can calm your energy and reduce stress on your body.
The art of relaxation is harder than it looks. I challenge you to try it today. Allow your body and mind to relax, unwind, settle into itself and release anxiety. Begin the process of protecting your peace.
Engage in Mindfulness
Mindfulness is our ability to set an intention and shift our awareness to the present. To be nonjudgmental about our experience. Mindfulness has been shown to help reduce stress, decrease anxiety and improve emotion regulation.
This might sound very woo-woo to you, but becoming a more mindful person can start while you read this.
- Put on soothing music.
- Savor your bites of food.
- Take a long bath or shower and actually feel the water.
- Do that disconnect thing and put your phone away at the dinner table, or while playing a game with the family.
My favorite way to improve mindfulness is through single-tasking. Single-tasking is doing one activity at a time with as few distractions as possible.
I’m currently practicing single-tasking by silencing my phone while creating content, and focusing on a single task for 25 minutes, then taking a 5 minute break (aka Pomodoro Sprints).
Reach Out For Help
Asking for help with your mental health can be hard, but you’re not alone. I’m not a mental health professional, but I’ve had experience reaching out for professional help.
Talking to mental health professionals, family members and friends, have brought me to this stage in life.
It only took me 40+ years to embrace reaching out for help. Don’t wait that long.
You might not like asking for help. Maybe you feel like a burden, or you’re terrified of what someone will think. The truth is, people who care about you, want to help you. And if you don’t want to speak to family or friends, talk to licensed clinicians.
Before you reach out, think about the outcome you want.
- Do you simply want to be listened to?
- Would you like more practical or emotional support?
Just talking about your problems, your stressors, your triggers, etc is incredibly freeing.
Final Thoughts
Managing your stress is a lifelong journey. My advice to you is this: remember that having a bad day is a universal human experience. Try to keep things in perspective. Treat yourself with kindness and support, as if you were your own best friend. Take a few minutes each day to appreciate yourself and how far you’ve come.
(1) https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/articles/11874-stress
Marissa is a women’s health nurse and holistic wellness coach with over 18 years of experience. She is the founder of Sweat Savor Soul. Marissa works to support fellow nurses and other female helping professionals with overwhelm, exhaustion and burnout. Her unique mix of conventional and functional medicine provides clients with a personalized mind-body-soul program to help them craft a sustainable wellness lifestyle.
@marmard83 and Marissa Doyle on Facebook
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