5 Mistakes People Make When Handling Stress

The top 5 mistakes people make when handling stress

Mistake Number 1 - Reaching for comforting foods
Often these are highly processed, sugar filled foods like chips, chocolate and biscuits. These are quick carbs that get our feel good chemicals up, as well as our blood sugar. We feel better quickly, however, as we know, what goes up must come down, and this approach can lead to a roller coaster of stress, emotions and poor outcomes.

What to do instead:

• Be mindful of your food choices, nurture your body with whole, real foods as close to their source as possible, ensuring you have enough protein on board
• Eat at appropriate times of the day. Plan 5+ hours between meals (if your blood sugar allows it), and finish your last meal at least 2 hours before bed
• Take time out to actually eat your food, your digestion will be so much better for it.

 

Mistake Number 2 - Stop or reduce exercise and movement
When things get busy, often exercise and movement goes by the wayside, our body gets stiff and our energy stagnated. Movement can have a significant positive influence on our stress response, get our feel good chemicals flowing and encourage better food choice, improve blood sugar and better sleep. These can all increase our resilience to stress.

What to do instead:

• Get out and move. Movement is where we shift energy, have fun, connect with others and have a laugh. It’s a stress relief in itself. Find something you love doing and get out there and give it a crack
• Exercise to move your energy, lift your mood and get those feel good chemicals flowing
• Play with your kids, like, really actually play. Get present and immerse yourself in what you are doing with them, forgetting your concerns...Take a moment to become a kid again
• Do a yoga class to get you moving again, or even just a few poses from an online video, like this one that I often recommend
• Walk your dog!

 

Mistake Number 3 - Breathing becomes short, fast and shallow
When the fight and flight side of the nervous system becomes more dominant, breathing becomes rapid and shallow. The body is preparing for a threat and it readies itself to stand and fight or run from the danger. We reduce the oxygen that’s delivered to our tissues, affecting the function of muscles and organs including the brain.

What to do instead:

• Slow and lengthen your breath. Work towards breathing out for 8 seconds to encourage your nervous system back into rest, relax and digest mode. This is great done before each meal and before sleep, while you are in bed ready to nod off
• Breathe through your nose, focusing on the feeling of the air flowing through your nose

 

Mistake Number 4 - Drinking alcohol 
Many people use it to wind down, but, the reality is that alcohol is a depressant that disrupts our quality of sleep, affects our blood sugar, dehydrates us, causes inflammation and on and on it goes. Checking out isn't the worst thing to do when handling stress, but there are other ways to get a break from reality and to change your state.

What to do instead:

• Feed your body more water to hydrate your cells
• Enjoy a cup of tea containing calming herbs like camomile, lavender, passionflower and rose
• Have a chat with a friend or a life coach
• Exercise is a great way to change your state and to burn some energy to allow you to wind down easier
• Laugh - watch your favourite stand up comedian, funny movie or play a game with your kids
• Speak to your practitioner or naturopath about effective and safe supplements that are specifically formulated to help to reduce stress and anxiety and wind down at night

 

Mistake Number 5 - Avoiding social connection

Handling your stress yourself can be tough and it can take some people into a downward spiral. Humans have an in-built herd mentality. As most of us have seen before on nature documentaries, when an animal breaks away from the herd they are more vulnerable. Remember, a problem shared is a problem halved.

What to do instead:

• Catch up with a friend, have a laugh and or let them know what's going on and share your struggles
• Have a brainstorming session with a friend or coach to work through the sources of stress and formulate an action plan. This can help to regain control of the situation and reduce the stress response
• Pat and talk to a dog. We know time with animals can reduce our stress response and increase feelings of wellbeing

 

There are many ways to reduce the stress response in your body. So, next time you feel like stress may be getting the better of you, look at your food choices, get out and move, lengthen your breath, put down the booze and go have a laugh with a friend. There are also techniques like progressive muscle relaxation, meditation (check out the Smiling Mind app), yoga and time in green spaces that can help reduce your stress response.

One of the things I love about Osteopathy is that we can affect the nervous system with our hands on treatment, not just lifestyle advice. If you need support with your stress response and the effect it's having on your body, call our friendly team today.