Somehow, that fight or flight feeling we all know so well has become a bit of a ‘new normal’ in our busy lifestyles. We find ourselves answering the question “how are you?” with things like “I’m ok”, “a bit stressed” or I’m just SO busy” much more often than “I’m amazing” or “I feel wonderful, really relaxed and calm today” …right?
Modern day stress is really the absence of sufficient recovery (and the absence of sufficient parasympathetic tone - the parasympathetic branch of our autonomic nervous system being the “rest and digest” opposite to our sympathetic “fight or flight” state).
We have become less engaged with the idea of resting and doing ‘less’ and somehow feel more naturally inclined towards adding ‘more’.
Our physiology is also more naturally inclined towards this sympathetic fight or flight state because of the constant stimuli encouraging it. Things like coffee, sugar, light, noise, work, exercise, alcohol, and poor sleep, all restrict the body PHYSICALLY from entering into our parasympathetic - and we also sometimes fail to prioritise this restful state MENTALLY.
A big thing for me on my own journey towards building Self Care and Stress Resilience into my lifestyle was learning to shift my mindset from ‘work hard play hard’ to ‘recover well.’ I now absolutely love the phrase “You are a human being, not a human doing”. It keeps me so grounded and I bring myself back to it when I do have those stressful moments and fall back into thinking “I should be doing more.”
WHAT IS STRESS RESILIENCE?
The idea of stress resilience is to move away from potential dysfunction, and towards optimal functioning, through healthful lifestyle changes looking at:
A. The demands placed on us (stressors)
B. Our coping resources
And ways to implement a support system and coping strategies which work for us individually.
But because these are sometimes proactive long term strategies and we live in such a fast paced and reactive world, we often neglect them and only ‘fix things when they break’.
Here are some of the areas I looked at in my own stress resilience journey and some ideas on where self care and stress resilience could be built into each of these - though please note, these are very much just suggestions, everyone is so uniquely different and what works for me may not work for you.
MOVEMENT & TRAINING
- Consider moving high intensity training earlier in the day where cortisol levels are higher and naturally want to be used. Gentler movement like yoga can be super energising but also kinder and more restful if you prefer moving your body in the evening.
- Finding a balance of strength, mobility, functional training and cardio without overtraining is really important. Rest needs to be factored in to allow your body to recover well.
NUTRITION & NOURISHMENT
- Focus on whole foods (do you recognise everything on the ingredients label?) with diversity. Change up staples like veg to add in more colour variations, textures and fibre.
- Slow down your eating and increase your chewing, both of these really increase your parasympathetic tone.
- Support your gut health with fermented foods, things like kefir yoghurts and kimchi are great.
- Consider reducing or eliminating alcohol and / or widening the gap between drinking and sleep time.
- Consider reducing caffeine to 1-2 cups per day and ideally earlier in the day.
SLEEP
- Aiming for consistency in terms of daily sleep and wake times.
- Establishing a wind down routine. Removing blue light (which suppresses melatonin production) at least 1h before bedtime is ideal, or just focusing on more red light or dimmer light / a more relaxing ambient environment.
- Early morning exposure to sunlight or nature if you can is great, as is avoiding super jarring alarms to wake you up if possible.
RECOVERY, REST AND RELAXATION
This category is huge and SO individual. Here’s a list of things to consider. How can you build more of these into your life?
- Silence, Calm and Stillness
- Meditation (I love Vedic meditation, 2x 20 min sessions daily, but there are so many ways to make meditation work for you)
- Mindfulness
- Gratitude
- Journalling
- Laughter
- Social Connections
- Doing things PURELY for joy. What are the little things that make you feel like ‘you’?
The most beautiful thing I learnt in my research into stress resilience strategies and my implementation of them is that they are pretty much all really lovely things. So rather than thinking “why should I focus on building stress resilience”, I guess the thing I’d love to leave you with is “what do I have to lose by giving some of these a go?”
For me, Stress Resilience means:
Vedic meditation, a daily movement practice of either Reformer pilates, strength training, yoga, swimming or a walk with a podcast, breathwork classes, prioritising colourful whole foods and organic/gut friendly foods wherever I can, morning + nighttime journalling, cuddles with my kittens, quality time and ALL the giggles with my friends, leaving my phone outside of my bedroom and reading ten million books on manifesting.
What could it look like for you?
G
