Feeling frazzled? Don't let Covid get you down
Ask any woman how many hours per day she simply relaxes and enjoys herself. She’ll probably laugh.
She’s too busy. She’s drowning in stress. She’s worried about her kids. And these days, Covid coop-up is likely quadrupling her stress response.
Stress comes in all shapes and sizes, but it all starts in the brain.
Our bodies were designed to react to stressors like tigers in the wild about to pounce on us (in the cavemen days). But whether it’s a tiger or a train running late on your commute, when faced with stressors, our bodies release the “fight or flight” hormonal response.
Your pupils dilate. Your blood pressure increases. Glucose is released into the bloodstream to give you quick energy in case you need to fight or run away. Your adrenal glands release cortisol to keep you on high alert.
But the emotional stress we feel around our health, jobs, families, finances, and this seemingly never-ending pandemic, have nothing to do with running as fast as we can away from the hungry tiger.
The dilated pupils? Blood sugar increase? Hormonal response? It’s overkill. Practically useless to our modern lives.
The other problem is that this rapid, intense stress response works best when there are significant periods of rest in between.
So yeah, you escaped the tiger. But now you can lie in the sun, pick berries and nap for the rest of the day. Right? Right?
Nope. There’s no rest.
Her primitive stress response is getting triggered over and over and over, with no time to recuperate in between.
Especially these days.
* We are trapped in the house with nowhere to go.
* We can't see our friends and families.
* Our kids are going stir crazy.
* My pants are too tight.
* I feel guilty because I ate a gallon of ice cream last night.
* We can't get fresh produce.
* We're running out of toilet paper.
* There’s a leak in the basement and no one to fix it.
* My kids won't listen to me.
* My husband doesn't get it.
(SIDE NOTE - Even things you may not consider “stressors” contribute to the body’s perceived stress, like chronic infections, environmental toxins, food triggers and extreme exercise)
Her cortisol levels remain high, keeping her hyper-vigilant and on the lookout. The body shunts energy and resources away from non-essential survival functions like digestion.
* She feels overwhelmed and anxious.
* She takes meds to help her sleep.
* Her body holds onto fat as a crisis-mode energy reserve.
* She experiences uncontrollable sugar cravings.
* Having a sex drive is almost a joke.
* She relies on coffee every morning to wake up.
* She relied on wine every night to calm her down.
Can you see?
The stress response system that’s designed to keep us safe actually backfires and makes us sick.
So what do we do?
Start by evaluating your stress response system.
Are your systems balanced and working properly? Is your stress response tilting overboard and you’re starting to show symptoms?
Or, is your body completely exhausted and your stress response is actively working against you?
TAKE THE QUIZ: "Why is STRESS hindering your weight loss?" + Receive personalized STRESS REDUCTION TOOLS.
Next, understand that the goal isn’t to eliminate all stress.
It sure would be nice to quit your job, move to the beach and have Ryan Gosling deliver fresh coconuts for you to sip from while a sexy beach boy massages your shoulders.
But happy lives are rarely devoid of stress. In fact, too little stress can lead to depression and lack of interest in life.
The goal is to hover in the center part of what’s called the Yerkes-Dodson curve, between feeling interested and overwhelmed… where you feel focused, energized and fulfilled… where performance and satisfaction are optimal.
Third, practice taking steps to dial down your stress response.
These practices fall into two categories:
1) Limit the firing of your fight-or-flight response (sympathetic nervous system). These are things that say to your brain, “Oh shit, we’re in trouble!”
2) Purposefully activate your rest-and-digest response (parasympathetic nervous system). These are things that say to your brain, “We’re ok. We’re safe.”
Where you fall on my stress quiz will determine how diligent you must be with these practices in order to heal yourself.
TAKE THE QUIZ + Personalized STRESS REDUCTION TOOLS.
P.S. Seriously, I would LOVE to hear from you! How'd you do on the stress quiz? What are you struggling with? How are you doing right now? Shoot me a quick email to jessica@loyowellness.com. Wanna schedule a Breakthrough Call? You can do so at a convenient time for you HERE!