You have tension headaches, ache everywhere, you’re bingeing on junk food and your self-esteem is in the gutter. Congratulations, you’re in the perfect storm of stress. There are 3 types of stress that have an interactive effect that amplifies it all and it’s really important to unpack each element.
While there is no way to eliminate stress, we can create effective strategies to help us manage stress so we can enjoy life more.
The stress response is hard-wired into our bodies. When we experience stress it is an opportunity to become more aware of what is really going on, and to create healthier responses. When we can understand the role stress plays in attempting to protect us from potential harm, we can take the stigma out of stress and understand that is the body responding as it is designed to.
The stress response is biofeedback, and we can use that information to make changes in our lives that can help us create better outcomes.
The first step is understanding the types of stress. They are structural, environmental, and depleting emotions. Let’s look at each one in detail.
The first is structural stress, which is the physical stress on our bodies. This can come from a variety of sources, such as lack of activity, posture, injuries and repetitive use. Maybe you are sitting on a wallet in your back pocket or carrying a heavy shoulder bag, these are all things that we do to ourselves that create structural stress.
Structural stress can lead to reduced range of motion, pain, and even dysfunction. For example many of us spend a great deal of time looking down at screens – phones, tablets, computers and even books. The result is an unhealthy posture where the head is forward and the neck is out of position.
Each degree that our head is forward adds weight and pressure to the body. Even a small amount of ‘head forward’ position can result in significant force added to the skeletal muscles. I once worked with a client that had 11 degrees of head forward position that created over 30 pounds of excess pressure on the neck and upper back. The misalignment of head forward position creates neck, shoulder and back pain and can also result in headaches.
Being aware of structural stress and taking action to correct it can reduce pain and dysfunction and increase range of motion and better health.
Take a moment right now and observe your posture. Notice any areas where you feel pressure or tension in your muscles. What can you do right now to improve it so that you feel more comfortable and structurally aligned?
The second type of stress is environmental stress. This type of stress is everywhere and it’s in everything we consume.
Chemicals like herbicides and pesticides can be found in the food and water we consume daily.
Even personal care products, cosmetics, air fresheners, and household cleaners contain chemicals that are not healthy for us. And we consume them whether we are eating, drinking, inhaling or applying them to our skin and hair.
Our bodies are not meant to process chemicals. The liver and kidneys become stressed trying to process preservatives, artificial flavorings, colorings, stabilizers, thickeners, artificial sweeteners and so forth. Once the body has reached a certain point, contaminants are simply stored within our fat cells because the body cannot eliminate them.
Eating highly processed junk food and not being careful about the purity and quality of the things going into our bodies overloads our body’s ability to process. This becomes a major stressor on our bodies.
A positive first step is to read labels carefully. If the ingredient list contains lots of four and five syllable words, chances are you are consuming a lot of chemicals. Look for alternative products with fewer ingredients, or even try organic foods.
The third and most important type of stress is depleting emotions and thoughts.
We all have stories we tell ourselves. Many of these come from early developmental experiences and have become core beliefs – they are so ingrained that we don’t even question them. They are activated when we encounter a situation and they amplify the stress.
The voice of the inner critic was designed to help keep us safe, but it actually keeps us feeling inadequate and stressed out.
We need to break the cycle and change negative core beliefs into renewing thoughts.
The first step is to slow down and recognize that we are reacting not to the situation but to the negative monolog coming from the inner critic. We are reacting to depleting thoughts and emotions that are triggered by negative core beliefs. Once we begin the process of observing our depleting thoughts and emotions and where they come from, we can flip the script and replace them with constructive and renewing thoughts and feelings that support us, decrease our stress, and enhance our joy.
These three types of stress:
- Structural
- Environmental
- Depleting thoughts and feelings
are three aspects we explore in the work that we do together.
If you’d like to learn more, I’m hosting a workshop in late July. We will be talking about some HeartMath Institute principles on transforming depletion into renewal. It’s going to be a great workshop and I’d love for you to attend.
note to editor:
Here is the link to the webinar: http://bit.ly/CBStressRegulate
