April is Stress Awareness Month

Jane Arlow • March 26, 2022

Hey, did you know that this is Stress Awareness Month's 30th Birthday?

Yes, we’ve been hanging out the bunting for stress since 1992. I hope that it appreciates the effort we’re making for it.

If we’re bringing the cake and party hats for stress, what’s it doing for us in return?

In its proper place, stress is an essential response – fight, flight or freeze. It’s what’s kept us, as a species, out of the bellies of polar bears, Sumatran tigers, Nile crocodiles and all the other woman-eating predators.

Luckily for us, the average 21^st century day is a little light on red-toothed predators. Less luckily, our brains and bodies haven’t quite caught up on that.

This means that when there’s a perceived threat, your sympathetic nervous system (SNS) responds by releasing a flood of stress hormones, including adrenaline and cortisol, to ready your body for emergency action – your heart and breathing rates increase, energy is released to your muscles and blood pressure goes up.

This perceived threat doesn’t even have to be a physical threat. An emotional threat sets off the same response.

Which is all OK, if the cycle gets to complete.

Unfortunately, this isn’t what many of us experience. Instead, we find ourselves going from one stress response to the next without closing or finishing any of them. It’s like having too many windows open on your computer’s browser – eventually, instead of the stress being an acute response to one threat, it becomes a chronic response to many, all at the same time. And as we know, chronic stress has many other physiological impacts on our health.

How do you know if you’re suffering from chronic stress?

You might be experiencing multiple symptoms across many systems:

Cognitive responses to chronic stress include: poor judgement; inability to concentrate; brain fog; indecision; starting many tasks but achieving little; self-doubt.

Behavioural responses to chronic stress: over- or under-eating; increase in alcohol and/or tobacco use; angry outbursts; increase/ decrease in exercise.

Emotional responses to chronic stress: depression; anxiety; feeling overwhelmed; frustration; cynicism (hmmm, the natural state of the Gen-X woman, non?).

Physical responses to chronic stress: headache; muscle tension; upset stomach; fatigue; sleeping more/ less; increased resting heart rate; decreased heart rate variability.

If this list has been like a game of bingo and you’re about to shout “HOUSE!”, know that you’re going to be fighting a bunch of other people for the big prize.

How can I improve my responses to stress?

I likened being in a state of chronic stress, to having too many browsers open on your computer.

And while this isn’t a truly accurate analogy, it does help us a little as we think about moving through what’s called the “stress cycle”.

In an acute stress response, a hungry tiger appears; your SNS does its stuff; you have it away on your toes up a tree; and finally, the tiger loses interest and moves off. Now you’re safely ensconced on your leafy branch with a ginger tail disappearing into the distance, the parasympathetic nervous system (the “PNS” or “rest and digest” system) can take over. It releases acetylcholine to slow the heart rate, your breathing slows, your muscles relax and everything starts returning to normal.

This is called completing the stress cycle.

You could think about completing the stress cycle, as closing the open browsers. As long as they’re open, the SNS keeps operating. Once you close them, the PNS can work.

How can I close out my stress cycle?

Firstly, I’m not suggesting that you should be able to live your life like a Zen master. Instead, what we should all be aiming for is to find ways to be able to move through the proper, acute cycle. That is: experience stressor; respond; finish cycle; be ready for the next one.

In an ideal world, we’d all kick it off with a two-week wellness retreat in the Swiss Alps with hot and cold running servants. Failing that, we all need to find our own mini-wellness retreats every day.

Move it

Our bodies are made to move and since stress has a big physical response, it also has a big part to play in closing the cycle. This is where I come in, obvs. Jump about, do some Pilates, Stretch or PiYo. It doesn’t matter what you do, just move! Try your first class with us for free - book in here.

Breathe

Consciously slowing your breathing tells your SNS that everything is OK. There are a bunch of different breath patterns that you can try. I’m a big fab of inhaling for a count of five, holding for a count of two and exhaling for a count of seven.

This both slows your heart rate and improves your heart rate variability (HRV).

When you inhale, your heart rate increases. When you exhale, your heart rate decreases. The HRV is the difference between the two and is a measure of how well your body responds to stress (higher HRV is better than a lower HRV).

Did I mention that focusing on your breath in Pilates or yoga will give you this benefit?

Get out in to nature

Being out in nature lowers resting heart rate, blood pressure and reduces levels of stress hormones. Double points if you do some exercise while you're out there.

Laugh. Or cry

Both laughing and crying help us to release our emotions. Don’t be afraid of either.

Create

Creativity activates the parts of your brain that process emotions and helps to bring focus to the mind. It can have similar effects to meditating in terms of releasing dopamine.

Hug someone

But ask first, please. Not everyone is comfortable with that level of physical proximity, especially after the last two years!

Assuming that your hug-ee is happy to be hugged, you should aim for around 20 seconds for both of you to experience the release of oxytocin which also slows heart rate and makes us feel safe. Stroking a pet also has the same effects. With possibly fewer incursions into personal space territory.

Alternatively, go for a massage. This also has the benefit of making you feel more like you’re on a 5-star Wellness break!

How can I keep an eye on whether I’m closing out my stress cycles properly?

Sometimes, these things can creep up on us. Anyone who knows me, knows that I keep a strong eye on the data out of my Fitbit. If my resting heart rate starts going up; and my HRV looks to be on a downward trajectory, it’s normally an early signal that I’m either over-stretched. Or about to go down with an illness. Or both.

But I’m too busy to stop and do any of this stuff!

In previous times, I might just have powered on through feeling poorly, too. But I’ve come to realise that it takes me longer to recover when I do that. And like you, I have people depending on me. So, I owe it to all of those people, as well as myself, to be restored and there for them sooner rather than later.

So, if you find that this is you too, please know that you have full permission to do whatever you need to do to prioritise your own wellness and to take restorative time for yourself.

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