Stress is a Jerk
Stress is the pits.
I could end the blog there. But if you’re like me, you wonder why. Why is it you hit a wall at work or home and stopped sleeping well? Why has your whole body changed when you have a stressful season? Why is it when your stress went up then your ability to learn went down?
Time to talk about stress.
First off, let’s define stressors. Everybody knows that stress happens. Here’s some examples of stress triggers:
Rushed from work to your workout class? Rushed from a work deadline to a personal one? Rushed all day long? Yep. Trigger.
Exhausted at the end of a day where you were in charge of everything and everybody? The emotional labor. The physical labor. The mental load. YOU NEVER GET TO SHUT OFF. And your body gets stressed!
Sleep a concept not happening for you? 3 am is all too familiar?
Are your current workouts full of intensity, and leaving your wrecked? Are you injured, sore, or hungry constantly? Your run after a long day of stress at work leaving you feeling awful? Exercise is a stressor too, and the wrong type of exercise after a long stressful day can derail your health.
Have PMDD? In perimenopause? Or menopause? Bet you aren’t surprised if I tell you that shi$ is stressful too.
Never been allowed to feel safe in your own body due to diet culture, prejudice, discrimination, privatized and inaccessible healthcare? So. Much. Stress.
Stress is actually not the bad guy. It’s just that we aren’t really designed to be this stressed out this much of the time. And it compounds.
Stress releases cortisol, and while cortisol itself isn’t bad, too much can cause issues. Cortisol and growth hormone often compete for the same receptors in your brain, making it hard to learn or remember when you’re stressed. Cortisol also hijacks your hunger, shrinks your muscle mass, and decreases your resilience.
Is that cortisol drink you saw a MLM mom selling on Insta the answer? Yeah, absolutely not. Let’s talk about some helpful stress management.
TIP #1: Change the way your workout. Hire a personal trainer and do exercises right. Reset your training routine to lifting heavy 3-4 times a week. Add in play-based movement, such as a long happy walk or shooting some hoops or goofing off with friends. Do some mobility.
TIP #2: Change your mindset. Replacing one thought (“I’m never going to get this right”) with another thought (“wow, I am having trouble with this. Good thing I’m smart and I can find someone to help me figure it out”) matters a lot. It’s called a growth mindset, and fostering the idea that you can succeed helps lower your stress!
TIP #3: Keep promises to yourself. Make promises to yourself that you can keep, like working out with a trainer 2 times weekly or drinking enough water. And then keep that promise. It reduces your stress, and increases your confidence. Don’t decide to make so many promises to yourself that there’s literally no way it’s happening. Make it reasonable. You know who you are. :)
TIP #$: Take care of your body. You can’t out-think bad recovery. You can’t out-exercise bad recovery. Drink enough water. Eat enough calories. Sleep the best you can. I’ve got some tips to make that happen.
Noticing that de-stressing isn’t working? Have inflammation, muscle or joint pain, don’t feel good in your own body? Bring in a professional, such as seeing a doctor, or hiring a holistic personal trainer. Try taking things a little slower. Read a book on mental load, emotional labor, or burnout. Tap your resources, from people you adore to providers you trust.
And take that long walk, stopping often to smell those dang flowers.
As always, need some help? I offer personal training and small group fitness programs from a holistic perspective. There’s no such thing as bootstraps, and the goal of getting stronger is feeling better than ever before. Reach out for your free consultation and if I’m not the right fit, I’ll find someone who is.
