RESET YOUR STRESS RESPONSE
Are you feeling wired and tired at night? Or do you wake up in the morning tired all day long but wide awake when you turn out the light?
First, lets understand WHAT is chronic stress? It is the psychological/physiological response induced by a long-term internal or external stressor. Overwhelmed feelings.
What is clear is that this can generalize as feeling tired, overwhelmed, unable to get to the bottom of their to-do lists. This is technically called "allostatic load" (for you nerds out there like me :) Our bodies are beautifully designed to handle short-term threats - the stress response makes us alert, energized, and able to withstand physical injury - but we're not designed to stay in this hypervigilant state all the time. It will wear us out.
We all need some stimulation to be healthy, but we can learn to recognize the signs that our bodies are stuck in fight-or-flight mode. Then we can start to choose from various stress responses that our bodies are designed to deploy that can shift our systems away from chaos and toward rest and recovery (RR).
Signs of Adrenal Overdrive:
1. When you can't turn off the stress response, and you feel wired and tired.
2. When you can't turn on the stress response and you're so exhausted you can't get moving
Adrenaline does a terrific job of raising your heart rate and constricting blood vessels. Soooo important for exercise and completing some tasks. NOT good when trying to sleep. When this process goes too long and isn't modulated, hypertension can develop.
Most people typically dismiss the idea of stress because we believe we have it better than other people. In our achievement-oriented culture we often feel ashamed if we can't handle exorbitant amounts of pressure, because it "appears" everyone else can. We think there must be a problem with us, and we keep quiet about it.
Even before a global pandemic, we were always on. Checking smartphones, triggered by emails, headlines and texts. Maybe distraction with movies or tv.
Our schedules override the normal circadian rhythms that would have us going to sleep when it gets dark and waking up when it's light.
Day in and day out, a range of stimuli are triggering our nervous systems, causing stress that can do real damage to our health. Enter me (your chiropractor and Nervous System expert ;) with a few strategies for mind- body healing.
First and foremost, your nervous system (your brain and spinal cord and all the attachments to organs and the like) is your main operating system in your body. Things don't happen without it. Your chiropractor's job is to remove interference and maximize communication in your nervous system for vitality and balance. Please please make sure you are taking care of this. You only get one body, be good to it.
Second, here are some sustainable stress responses:
Rest and Digest- Part of life involves replenishing ourselves. Try a nap, massage, or simply lie in savasana at the end of yoga. This restoration helps you recover from wear and tear of daily life. Don't forget to hit the pause button. I recommend a nightly routine that helps you downshift (that's right my moto and bike friends).
1. Breath slowly
2. Spend 30 min a day in nature
3. Take a relaxing bath
4. Attend a yoga class
5. Meditate even for 5 min
My last suggestion is to get curious. Studies have shown that curiosity is more addicting than some drugs and alcohol. So when you have a habit of overthinking, try asking yourself these questions.
1. What's really happening here?
2. What else might be going on that I'm not seeing?
3. What's interesting about this situation?
Whatever you do, remember balance. Your body and mind deserve this, and you will thank yourself. The best time is now dear Ones.
