Have you ever woken up at 2:17 a.m., your mind replays a conversation from three days ago. You’re not in danger. You’re not being chased. But your heart is racing like you are. Why? STRESS! No matter how much we try to silence it, when we don’t find a way to manage our stress, it will find a way to keep talking!
The American Psychological Association (www.apa.org) reports, “Stress is a normal reaction to everyday pressures, but can become unhealthy when it upsets your day-to-day functioning.”
Stress is the body’s natural response to a challenge or demand. In short bursts, it can help us meet deadlines, stay alert, and solve problems. But when stress becomes chronic, it shifts from helpful to harmful. Everyone experiences stress, however, the depth, consistency and the individual responses we have to stress can be the tipping point in whether we can brush it off and move on, or if our life starts to be impacted by the external factors around us, such as waking us up in the middle of the night.
Children, caregivers, professionals, and even retirees experience daily stress. What differs is how it shows up and for how long. When stress starts to stay around showing up in irritability or mood swings, trouble sleeping, headaches or muscle tension, difficulty concentrating and changes in appetite, is when stress has crossed over from a daily factor to a health impactor. Stress may seem like whispers that live in your head, but when it goes unheard, it will start speaking into your relationships, body, workplace and community.
The National Institute of Mental Health (www.nimh.nih.gov) explains that chronic stress can contribute to anxiety, depression, heart disease, and other serious conditions. Many Americans claim to be experiencing high levels of constant stress that we have normalized as, burnout. Living in this state of burnout isn’t healthy! Anything else that is burnt out we often think of ask broken: a light bulb, a battery, etc.; we toss them out and fully replace them. The good news is, humans don’t need to be replaced!
When it comes to chronic stress and burnout, The Mayo Clinic (www.mayoclinic.org) recommends what many other medical and psychological sources recommend: regular physical activity, mindfulness practices that welcome deep breathing techniques, prioritizing sleep, staying connected to others, being creative and setting realistic expectations. If you are truly in a burnout state, one yoga class may not have you ready to take on a higher level of management at work, but it will give you smaller movements of relief that grow over time! Think of this as recharging your battery.
Let’s try one right now! Sitting nice and tall, see if you can release your shoulders from your ears. Keeping your lips together, draw in a nice slow breath through the nose until your belly expands. Hold it for a moment. Now purse your lips like you are holding a straw and slowing breathe out. Bring your lips back together, breathing in through the nose, pause, slowly out through the mouth. Try it with your eyes closed. How do you feel? This is a short, 1 minute opportunity to recharge your battery, reduce stress, support your nervous system in a healthy way and perhaps even reduce a headache, lower your blood pressure or help you fall asleep faster. Imagine doing this daily, or a few times a day?
The Vermont Department of Health (www.healthvermont.gov) continues to highlight mental health as a top priority across our state, especially in rural communities where access to care can be limited, such as in the NEK. This is why places like North Country Hospital (NCH) have been investing in access to care in the Primary Care model where mental health access is now available, nutritional support, other programs for chronic pain and lifestyle management too. These programs are there to help carry some of the weight that brings us stress. However, it’s the investment that NCH made 44 years ago that changed the NEK forever and that is The Wellness Center.
The Wellness Center has been the meeting place for fun, health and fitness in our communities in Troy, Barton, Newport and beyond for decades. This has been NCH’s biggest impactor in supporting healthy lifestyles and stress management. The number one way to end a stress cycle is movement. It can be any kind of movement, but it needs to be a focused physical movement that is different from what you are doing. If you are stressed running around all day chasing kids, that’s not it! It’s a Tonetastic light weight workout after work. It’s a Zumba® on Tuesday evening, it’s coming to yoga every Wednesday because that’s what makes the week better. Physical activity doesn’t drain you; it fuels you! It recharges your body, reduces stress and can flood you with feel good chemicals.
Stress is not a sign of weakness; it’s a reminder you are alive and human. Chronic stress is like a weather report, sometimes the seasons call for more of one thing than another. You wouldn’t walk every day! You’d eventually get a raincoat, umbrella, a ride, or do something! The same goes for stress, there are so many options to recognize, reduce and replace it! How is your stress talking to you? Maybe it’s time we all took accountability to listen. Listening to how stress may be speaking to you in your life and body may be one of the strongest things you can do to live a happier, healthier and more meaningful life. Ask yourself, what is my stress telling me today? Shhh! Your stress is talking!