Let's face it, we live in an incredibly fast-paced, adrenaline-driven world. I grew up a few hours from Manhattan and Boston, and have seen major facets of this pulse-pounding environment. Honestly, I have no idea how people manage to exist this way and live past age 40. As a culture, we torment our bodies with little sleep, 12-hour work days at high-pressure jobs, artery-clogging food, and lots of medications, then wonder why diabetes and coronary artery disease/congestive heart failure rates are so high. Fun fact, when you undergo physical/chemical, mental, or emotional stress, or have a vertebral subluxation affecting the sympathetic nervous system, your brain thinks you are in a "fight-or-flight" situation; along with stimulating an increase in your heart rate and blood pressure, it instructs your adrenal gland to produce cortisol. High levels of cortisol cause an increase in blood sugar and conservation of body fat, promote muscle wasting, decrease learning and memory retention and assist in the formation of depressed mood.
I'm not trying to scare you, I promise, and this isn't Web MD. What I'm trying to say is that chronic stress CAN help increase your chance of chronic illness, obesity, and depression (the first two of which can also help increase your chance of having depression). Ok, I'm done being negative.
SO WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO ABOUT IT? In 98% of cases, the only person who can create change in your life is you. Here are some suggestions:
1. Take a little time every day to be by yourself and gather your thoughts.
This doesn't mean "think about your to-do list". Practice #2&3 and clear your head of negative thinking. "Now, think of the happiest things. It's the same as having wings."~Peter Pan. It doesn't have to be a long time, even 3-5 minutes can make a world of difference. Try it while you're drinking your morning coffee (although remember that caffeine can help to increase symptoms of stress in some people), in the shower, standing in line (anywhere), on your lunch break, while the baby is napping, whenever and wherever. Although don't get too deep into your thoughts while driving, ok?
2. Take a few slow, deep breaths.
This is good to do just take a small break from your work or even during a stressful situation. Closing your eyes helps too. Deep breathing will help slow your heart rate and help you relax, even if you only do it for a few seconds. Your brain will do less racing and you will be able to focus better on the task at hand.
3. Have an attitude of gratitude.
We have so many things to be thankful for every day, and #1 is being alive. If you can't think of anything, you should probably do some self-reflection, because if you're reading this, you at least have some kind of access to the internet, and should be thankful for that. I am thankful that you are able to read this and that you will share it with people who need it, among many other things. I was thinking about this last night while I was at the gym and feeling sorry for myself because I have a love-hate relationship with running. A clip came on the news about a elementary school child with cerebral palsy who ran a race with his classmates, despite the excuciating pain it caused him. You better believe I finished my running without whining or complaining after I saw that!
4. Hug more people.
This works best with your family or very close friends, but also is beneficial with pets and even acquaintances. Physical contact triggers a surge of oxytocin, which contributes to that "feel-good" feeling we all crave. The best part is, it's a two-way street, because you're also providing the other hug participant with a positive emotional surge. Personally I believe small children give the best hugs because they don't have any social restrictions holding them back from loving everyone unconditionally (but PLEASE make sure you have the child's parent's permission first, and make sure it's someone you know, I'm not promoting inappropriate touching here).
5. Get adjusted by your Chiropractor.
A vertebral subluxation can put a lot of stress on your nervous system! How do you get a subluxation? Thoughts, traumas, or toxins. All three can cause over- or under-stimulation of your nervous system, which have the potential to affect any part of your body and symptomatic patterns that are different in every person. For example, I store most of my stress in my neck and shoulders. Contraction of my neck and shoulder muscles puts pressure on the nerves in the area, which leads to further contraction of these muscles, causing tension headaches as well as causing rotation of my neck vertebrae. One of the effects of this is compression of the internal jugular vein by the rotation of the atlas, or C1 vertebra; the internal jugular vein is the major drain of CSF from the brain and when compressed can lead to a buildup of CSF in the skull and lead to headaches. I'm also very allergic to aspartame, which is a common ingredient of sugar-free products and can also be labled as "aspartic acid", "nutrasweet" or "aminosweet", among others, and has been shown to be a predisposing factors for brain tumors. With my level of sensitivity, even one stick of gum can lead to (you guessed it) a headache within minutes. No I am not kidding about this. Oh right, I left out trauma. Kind of self-explanatory, if you have ever been in a car accident or had any kind of whiplash injury, among other types of trauma, you may have changes to your spine that pre-dispose you to a subluxation. I spent a lot of time riding and getting thrown off of horses when I was young, so I have a predisposition to vertebral misalignment leading to a nervous system subluxation. No, I don't think any of this breaks my promise not to be negative after that third paragraph, why? Because you can get checked for a subluxation by your friendly neighborhood Chiropractor and make sure that your body is functioning at 100% of its capacity. Would you want your computer to function at 75%? Probably not, unless 75% is an improvement, so why would you want your body to function less than optimally?
6. Go outside (in weather-appropriate clothing).
For thousands of years people have spent the majority of their time outside, coming inside only to sleep; it is only recently in our history that we have developed a system in which we spend little time outside and instead work, learn, and live inside most of the time. Take a few minutes each day (ideally the ones you spend in self-reflection), and spend some time in the outside air. Just being outside, especially in the sunshine, boosts positive emotions and immune function and helps to decrease stress. If it's raining, grab an umbrella and breathe in the fresh, clean smell that takes over, even in the cities. If you enjoy rain dancing and have a dry change of clothes, the umbrella is optional. I'm not a fan of northern winters, but even I can appreciate the joy of a cold wind and fresh snow now and then. I simply prefer to enjoy them briefly while piled in multiple layers of snow gear and with hot tea. Find what works for you and embrace nature for a little while, even if it means spending a few weekend hours at the park or getting away from the city for a while. You will be amazed at the positive benefits of being away from sirens and hustle-and-bustle of high-traffic areas, and how much more relaxed you can be when there is only natural noise and you can see the whole expanse of the sky and lots of trees, even if you only experience it for a few hours once a month. Yes, I definitely miss country living. You can also try getting a white noise generator with nature sounds to drown out city noise now and then, or look up "yoga radio" on Pandora, a lot of time you can get rain sounds to play.
All of the suggestions on the list will eventually have more in-depth follow-up posts, and there will inevitably be a long list of de-stressing tips, so stay tuned!
I had to practice a little of #2 and #3 this afternoon because being engrossed in writing this post almost made me forget about having class, and I definitely was experiencing some elevated heart rate!
