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Stress is a huge part of all of our lives. We all know this.
Stress about work, stress about family, stress about money or politics or health.
Sometimes I think we’re so used to having stress, we seek out things to stress about.
It’s also not a surprise that stress does a number on our mental health.
Chronic, low grade stress can lead to serious mental health issues like anxiety and depression.
But not only is stress damaging to your mental health, it’s killing your metabolism and energy levels as well.
What is stress?
Stress is really just a response inside our body to something from the outside: A loud noise, a thrilling rollercoaster ride, a verbal argument, bad news at work, running late to an appointment, just about anything.
Your body is exceptional at adapting to short, intense stressors, think going for a run or lifting weights, even that rollercoaster ride (that’s why we love them!)
This stress can actually be beneficial. It causes your body to adapt, making you stronger and more resilient.
Most of us are under chronic, low grade stress pretty much all the time.
Think worrying about money or a rotten boss at work. We all have some to many of these chronic stressors filling up our “stress bucket”.
And this chronic stress can absolutely crush your mental health.
But our stress response is actually pretty energy demanding.
It takes a lot of energy to produce and circulate stress hormones, to direct blood flow to our extremities, and to fire all the synapses and release all the neurotransmitters.
Which means that with all that energy going to your stress response, you have less energy going to things like digestion and mental clarity and reproduction.
It also means with your body using energy and resources to produce stress hormones like cortisol, adrenaline and norepinephrine, you can’t use those resources for building muscle or hormones like melatonin.
When you’re stressed, you produce cortisol, which is meant to make you alert and focused. Cortisol actually stops insulin from doing its job, so energy from food isn’t making it to your cells as well as it could be.
So instead of turning into energy, you turn that blood sugar into fat to store for later. And when you’re stressed, your body is not prioritizing burning fat, because fat equals survival.
Stress = low energy.
While of course it’s important to prioritize what you eat and how much you move each day, working out your stress is key to getting back your energy.
How to balance stress
There are a lot of ways to reduce or “switch off” stress, and it depends on what relaxes you and brings you joy.
Any kind of exercise, especially vigorous exercise, will help flip that switch. Do the activity that you enjoy and that gets your heart pumping.
Finding an offline hobby, like a craft or creative project you can do with your hands is a great way to de-stress. It slows you down and makes you focus on one task, stopping you from worrying.
Breathing exercises are designed to reroute your focus and calm you down. They can be a great way to switch you over from “stress mode” to “relax mode” quickly.
Getting out into nature, even just a walk around your neighborhood or through the park, has been shown to reduce stress levels.
Spending time with friends or family (not the family members who stress you out) turns off stress and promotes good mental health. Community, in general, is good for stress levels.
The biggest thing you can do to reduce stress is… (drumroll please!)
Get rid of the thing that is causing you stress.
Do you stress out watching the news every night? Stop watching the news.
Do you doomscroll social media in bed? Delete the apps from your phone.
Do you dread going to your job every day? Look for a new job.
Conflict in your relationship? Suck it up and talk to them.
Of course I understand that not every one of life’s problems is simple to solve.
But while you can’t always change what is going on in the world, you can change how you respond to it.
Resetting your mindset to let yourself be patient, empathetic, logical and open to new perspectives can reset how you respond to things.
So that your response isn’t a stressful one, it’s a calm and measured one.
And so you save your energy for the stresses you enjoy, like swimming or jogging or playing with your kids or acting in a play.
Managing your stress and how you respond to stress is key for boosting your energy and balancing mental health.
It can also have a pretty happy effect on your waistline, too.
So if you’re dealing with crappy energy and stubborn weight and poor mental health, we should talk.
Ready? Let’s go!
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