Coping with Stress in Stressful Times
We are all entering our fourth or fifth week of “social distancing” and adjusting to the unexpected and abrupt changes of the world as we know it. As Covid-19 continues to run its course, and hopefully begins to diminish in its intensity, we must continue to manage the stress that comes with the upheaval of our lives.
Stress is not always a bad thing, in fact it is physiologically designed to save us. Imagine you are being chased by a lion, your sympathetic nervous system recognizes the need to run, fills your body with adrenaline, noradrenaline, and cortisol, and sends the blood flow to your appendages so you can run; this is also known as our flight response. Similarly, when faced with emergent danger, we may fight or freeze. That is how we respond to acute stress: stress that is abrupt and short-lived. But what we are experiencing now is chronic stress. Chronic stress is nothing new to our American culture, but presently, we find ourselves trying to tame a very different beast.
When we exist for long periods of time under chronic stress it can manifest in four ways:
Biological/Chemical: in the processes of your body
Mental/Emotional: in your thoughts, feelings and beliefs
Spiritual: in your sense of connection.
Structural: in your bones and muscles.
Sound familiar? All of these factors affect our sleep, our digestion and weight, and our overall sense of peace and wellbeing. But don’t be dismayed! There are ways to activate our parasympathetic nervous system, which activates our ability to relax, to stop the flight, fight, or freeze response, to signal to our bodies that we are safe, and allow our bodies to heal. Even in the midst of stressful circumstances, we can train our bodies to relax and find peace.
A few tips to help your parasympathetic nervous system activate:
The 5-5-7 breath: It sounds too easy, but taking time to breathe can turn off your stress response and turn on the part of your nervous system that helps you relax. This is best to do when you are feeling stressed, but also good to do right before you eat, just for a couple minutes, and throughout the day. Simply breathe in for five seconds, hold for five seconds, and then exhale for seven seconds. Counting the seconds also enhances the mindfulness component.
20 minute meal: When it is time to eat, we should choose food that will fuel our bodies. It is equally important to relax while eating. Start with a few 5-5-7 breaths, and then set a timer for 20 minutes. Leave your computer or workstation, sit outside, or at a table, and take your time eating your meal. Even consciously slowing your chewing can help as well. Digestion takes place when we are relaxed; it is key to our overall health.
Be grateful: Finding things we are grateful for and acknowledging the people in our lives who love and help us goes a long way to reduce our stress by feeding the natural need in us to find connection.
Accentuate the Positive: between the internet, the news and social media, we can be inundated with negativity and overwhelmed by bad news, but there is so much good in the world. Making a point of seeking out the good can go a long way to lift your spirits and bring perspective. Here are a few great websites that center around good news, but there are many, just search “good news.”
https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/
https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/need-some-good-news-for-a-change-top-5-good-news-web-sites/
The great news is, this is not an emergency from which we must run, we are not being chased by a lion, and we will survive. Hopefully, we will come out on the other side with gratitude, closer to those we love and have a whole new appreciation for the little things, like eating out, or having a drink with friends. You are strong and you will come out of this even stronger!