April is Stress Awareness Month so I wanted dive into all of the types of stress our bodies can experience as well as the impact it can have on our health. Stress can really hinder our ability to recover from workouts, heal imbalances in the body, stay in a homeostatic state where our hormone signals are optimal, and just feel energetic enough to take on what life throws us!

Some people think of stress as just mental/emotional stress…from work, family dynamics, and ‘adulting’ responsibilities! But it is WAY more than that. Your body doesn’t know how to differentiate stress from emotional reactions, external environmental toxins, and internal stressors (which I’ll dive into below).

What is Homeostasis Anyway?

Homeostasis is just a word to describe the body’s steady state of operation where the body reacts to a stimulus in a way to bring the effected system back into balance. Body temperature is an example of this. When cold, a healthy body will increase blood flow to the skin to reduce heat loss, sometimes through shivering. However, if the stress is too overwhelming for the body, your body will go into an “Alarm Stage” where a fight or flight response kicks in.

General Adaption Syndrome summarizes the 3 stages in which the body attempts to maintain homeostasis.

• Alarm Stage –
  • Body goes into “Fight or Flight”, releasing cortisol and adrenaline to increase energy and prepare you to face the stressor.
  • This is very ancestral and tied to the need to flee from predators or enemies thousands of years ago.
• Resistance Stage –
  • After your body realizes it doesn’t have to fight or run, it starts to bring cortisol, your heart rate and blood pressure down back into homeostasis.
  • You might feel: irritable, frustrated, and have an inability to concentrate
• Exhaustion Stage –
  • After prolonged or chronic stress on the body, your body systems may not be able to find homeostasis any longer.
  • You might feel: fatigue, burnout, depression, anxiety, lack the ability to fight disease

Types of Stress (Much More Than Emotional)

As you can see from this diagram, emotional stress is just one component of overall stress burden. Any, or likely many, of these things are all part of your stress load. I like to think of stress as a bucket with all of these things dripping water into the bucket. When you practice self-care, you create small pin holes in your bucket that relieves the stress. However, when there is imbalance for too long, your bucket just overflows.

Stress is a strange thing. Its often after you come out the other side, that you realize how bad it was! I’ve been there! And when your in it, it feels impossible to identify where to start.

This is Where Working With a Nutritional Therapy Practitioner Can Be Powerful!

Working 1:1 with an NTP can be SO helpful in navigating what is stressing your body and where to start. I work with clients on much more than nutrition strategies. We talk about sleep, lifestyle habits, exercise, environmental exposures (from work or home), hydration, and digestive imbalances that might be impacting their overall stress burden. And hint – its NEVER just one thing!

Stress Management Tools

I want to leave you with some tools to help you manage stress and keep your bucket from overflowing. One method might feel better one day over another, so try switching it up occasionally. And, this is far from an exhaustive list so find what feels good for you. Here are some of my go-to tools I use personally and recommend to clients to help manage stress.

Breath and Movement Techniques:

• Yoga – find a form of yoga that works for what you need. I like a class that utilizes the Ujjayi breath as it is very calming to the nervous system and helps you deepen your practice.
• Shaking Grounding Technique – This is a somatic practice to get you grounded into your body
• 4-7-8 Technique: 3-4 rounds of breath – in through the nose for 4 counts, hold at the top of the breath for 7 counts, and exhale through the mouth (with a ‘whooshing’ sound) for 8 counts.
• Box Breathing: 4 seconds breathe in through nose, 4 second hold at top of breath, 4 seconds breathing out through nose, 4 seconds hold at bottom of breath. Repeat
• Tapping: A way to get into your body and clear pain, stress and anxiety.
• Exercise – find something that brings you joy without overly exerting your body. Dance, hiking in nature, or other forms of gentle movement.

Other Home Tools:

• Reframing – stress may only be bad for you if you believe that to be the case. Try reframing stress as a positive!
• Meditation
• Sauna Use
• Cold Shower/Cold Plunge (not during menstruation)
• Journaling
• Phoning a friend and connecting with loved ones
• Snuggling a pet

I am also a ThetaHealing Practitioner and for those interested, I offer 1:1 healing sessions. ThetaHealing works on the subconscious level to clear energetic blocks that are keeping you stuck. Oftentimes this results in a big stress relief because the body internalizes these old patterns that no longer serve us. If your interested in learning more, book a Discovery Call or ThetaHealing session today!

This is not medical advice and not intended to treat or cure any disease or affliction. Please consult your medical professional before utilizing the techniques and tools listed above.

“It’s not the events of our lives that shape us, but our beliefs as to what those events mean.”
Tony Robbins

I hope you have learned more about stress and some simple tools you can start using today to manage your stress. If you feel like your stress is an from external toxins, I encourage you to start to start by cleaning up your household products. Refer to last weeks blog “Clean and Green” How Natural Cleaning Products Support an Active Lifestyle” for some easy ways to start ditching the toxic cleaning products today.

If you feel like your stress is from an internal imbalance (like gut imbalances), lets chat about the ways I can support you with a bio-individualize protocol to get you back to your old self ASAP! We can deep dive with functional labs like the GI-MAP stool test or start small. I find that even small shifts can often make a big difference.

This week, I’m launching a brand new offering called
Activate Your Wellness!
This session offers SO much for the price. If you want to start moving the needle but your not ready to jump in with the cost of my Intro Session, this offering was made for you! Check out the link to see all that it offers.

Looking for 1:1 support but not sure where to start?
Click HERE to book a free Discovery Call Today!

Doing everything right but still struggling with your digestion?
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