Wellbeing

Under pressure?

Life seems to be busier than ever and the to-do lists aren’t getting shorter.

Do the food shop, the school run, that career-changing pitch and make your best friend’s birthday cake – sound familiar? Life seems to be busier than ever and the to-do lists aren’t getting shorter. It may be a well-documented misconception that we can ‘have it all’ but we’ll give it a good go all the same. With a jam-packed diary and more to remember, it’s no wonder that sometimes things can become a little stressful. But what effect does it have on our health, mind and body? We explore what damage it does and how we can avoid tearing our hair out when the bank puts us on hold for another ten minutes.

FIGHT OR FLIGHT

The medical definition of stress is a bodily reaction to an unexpected situation. It happens when we feel that we can’t cope with the pressure or there’s a threat to our survival. We may be unaware but in times of stress, our body is hardwired to enter its ‘fight or flight’ mode; a burst of hormones that are released to help our body and mind handle the situation as best we can. Firstly, they give priority to all physical functions to provide muscles with more power to escape dangerous scenarios making you run faster and fight harder. Then they increase the heart-rate and blood pressure quickly in order to deliver more oxygen and blood sugar to the most vital muscle groups. If you’ve ever wondered why your deodorant is working overtime when that deadline looms, it’s because your hormones are trying to cool your muscles down to help them stay efficient. At this time, they are diverting blood away from the surface of the skin and back to the core of our bodies to reduce the blood we could lose if we became hurt. As a result, our immune system is activated and ready to fight off any physical harm that is done to us and breathing is accelerated to supply more oxygen for energy conversion. And just in case you need to adopt superhero qualities to deal with the situation, our sight will become more acute and focused while our pain threshold is diminished as the body releases analgesic hormones. Impressive, yes, but this series of events can actually have a detrimental effect on our health and lead to a host of long-term health problems.

CHAIN REACTION

Although we’re none the wiser to the biological changes our body produces when we’re running late or sitting in traffic, we do notice the effects it has on our mental state of mind. “Your adrenal glands sit on top of the kidneys and secrete important hormones that help you buffer stress and adapt to everyday life,” says nutritional therapist Henrietta Norton (wildnutrition.com). “Under stress, healthy adrenals increase their output of cortisol and DHEA to enable you to preserve health. If this becomes chronic, the adrenals can no longer keep up with the demand, and DHEA levels begin to fall, signifying adrenal exhaustion. Complaints of insomnia, fatigue, depression, irritability, and digestive difficulties become increasingly common as a result. As this becomes a more chronic occurrence, the results of high cortisol and adrenaline levels from prolonged stress include:

Diminished immune function
Reduced stomach acid which can lead to poor mineral absorption and the development of food allergies and intolerances
Depletion of cortisol, resulting in low blood sugar
Less restful sleep
Water retention
Loss of cellular potassium, a very important mineral for cardiovascular health and healthy blood pressure.
Lowered insulin sensitivity, with a higher susceptibility to diabetes

“The result of disruption to mineral and blood sugar balance can lead to us craving unhealthy stimulants such as caffeine, alcohol, and fatty foods as a temporary pick me up. Unfortunately these only offer short term relief (if any at all) and exacerbate the ‘stress cycle’. These foods and drinks can inhibit the body’s use of important B vitamins and magnesium too. These nutrients are in greater demand during times of stress therefore without them energy production and healthy immune and nervous system function can be affected.”

STRESS-FREE SOLUTIONS

Although screaming into a pillow or squeezing the life out of that stress ball may be a more tempting solution to stressful situations, there are long-term fixes that can ensure you keep calm and carry on. Henrietta Norton shares her top tips for a calmer consciousness:

Diets of refined sugars, caffeine, and alcohol should be replaced with several small meals containing protein.
Determine allergic foods and avoid them.
Licorice tea can be supportive (although be cautious if you are taking blood pressure medication).
Adequate vitamin C, magnesium and B vitamins are important as they are water soluble and not stored in the body for long. I use Wild Nutrition Food-State B Complex Plus which provides the full spectrum of needed B vitamins with added vitamin C, magnesium, calcium, all in a foodstate form along with the adaptogenic herb Ashwaghanda.
Get adequate sleep by consistently going to bed at the same time (no later than 10pm).
Deal with emotions as needed with laughter, breathing, and/or professional help.
Engage in light exercise.
Get daily outdoor light.

JUST BREATHE

The UK’s leading specialist in drug-free mal-alignment therapy and stress-busting breathing techniques, Caroline Kremer (carolinekremer.com), shares her favourite calming exercise. Try to practise this sequence daily or any time that you feel like you need to calm down. This can be done sitting, standing, walking, even running! It will help the body to come back to a deeper, more relaxing way of breathing in an instant.

Before you start…

Empty the lungs fully.
The idea is for the natural inhalation to commence in the abdomen, with it expanding slightly, and then the action moves up through the ribcage towards the throat.
Focus is on the outward breath–a strong, slow
Leave a minimum 90 second gap between breath patterns to allow the body to settle.

And breathe…

Take a normal breath in through the nose.
Make an ‘S’ sound that’s slow, strong and a consistent exhalation.
When you get to what feels like the bottom of the breath, be encouraged to go on a little longer; this begins to tighten the throat, abdominal muscles and draws upon the pelvis.
Then pause for a couple of seconds.
Give the body permission to let the breath to come in naturally and fully.
Rest, allowing the body to just breathe for itself for a couple of minutes and until the breath has settled.