Stress is often an overused expression, but for good reason. The body’s reaction to perceived stressors can be life changing. For people who don’t have a powerful system to handle those answers, stress can rule behaviour. It sets up a scenario where one chooses the path of least resistance as a means of coping.
Good to know
Many folks lead unhealthy lives, even though they consciously know and understand the options that would be more beneficial and wholesome. Much of the irony is because of using a poorly managed stress reaction. When under pressure, and confronted with the increased anxiety it attracts, people won’t decide to do things that they deem unpleasant, uncomfortable or hard. Familiar behaviors are easier to fall back on than attempting to implement a new way of doing things. Healthy living options become, just another “thing” to do, on an all ready overfull list.
Sadly, this type of poor stress management, fuels the obesity epidemic. The hectic pace where people decide to live, together with poor to no anxiety management methods, can bring on a”just keeping my head above the water,” mentality. When barely staying afloat emotionally, who would like to weigh themselves down with new challenging tasks? The answer is no one. Even clever, otherwise perceptive, folks can fall victim to this insidious issue.
Stress
What a individual perceives as stressful and how they respond to this,”stress” is quite individual. There’s a genetic, ecological, and character component that produces ones stress response. This may be changed by implementing behavioral techniques intended to assist you recognize and neutralize your common stress triggers. Today, feeling overloaded, stressed and disconnected are common side effects of rapid living, but they don’t have to be.
The response found at many physician visits is that the dreaded,”Perhaps you’re under too much stress.” To which most will say,”That’s impossible, I’m doing just fine.” The thing is that while someone might be managing physically, they might be faltering psychologically. This sort of”system overload” manifests itself in physical symptoms. It’s the body’s way of saying, slow down and take better care of me! However, few listen. Instead, they seek medicine to permit them to keep moving at breakneck speed, while being able to ignore their body’s pleas for slowing down.
Not addressing the root cause of the symptoms is simply placing a Band Aid on a gaping wound. It won’t ever heal until you address what’s causing the emotional overload in the first location. Typically, it’s the lack of ability to correctly predict and deal with the stress response. Stress starts with a thought or event that produces an emotional reaction. This triggers a physiological response that starts the fight or flight reaction. Understanding this process may cause predictability, and predictability is in the center of learning to lower your emotional reaction to stressors.
Be aware
Developing awareness during anxious moments and times that you grow irritated, angry, or impatient is vital. Observing what happens, without passing judgment, can help shift your perspective. Immediately recognizing and acknowledging the source of your upset (the cause ) activates the believing part of the mind (the prefrontal cortex), which to this point has just been responding (a hindbrain function).
This simple step permits you to consider the situation from a renewed perspective. You may then insert mindfulness techniques as you slow your breathing. When you intentionally slow your breathing, and be aware of your body, your heart rate will obviously start to return to normal also. Start by doing a fast body check, an easy sense exercise, starting at your feet, and working your way around the shoulders and neck. Bring awareness into every area; feel your feet in your shoes, relax and bend. Then move up to your calves, etc.
Relax your shoulders and release the tension on your neck as you take a full deep breath, in through your nose and out through your mouth. This sort of exercise will disrupt the stress cycle which has begun within the body. It’s a sort of psychological and physical conditioning intended to help establish a more balanced response to similar conditions.
Final note
When stable, you’re far more likely to perform the healthful behaviors you know will be good for you. Recognizing, acknowledging, and altering behavior on a regular basis, can rewire your psychological pathways developing a new default pattern. It can help you cultivate more peace of mind and will make living the healthy lifestyle you’re thinking about, not just more accessible, but also more sustainable.