Is Stress Making You Sick?
Discover Your Health Risk Related to Stress So You Can Conquer Stress, Reclaim Your Power and Embrace Radiant Health, Starting Today!
Get Your Free Course
Stress and Your Body
How to Know When Your Health is at Risk
And find out what your score is with the Stress Risk Assessment
Stress affects your brain, your body and your behavior. And the higher your stress load, the greater the risk to your health.
It's never too late to take control of your stress and your health so you can begin to heal today as you move Beyond Burnout and Emerge Empowered!
Decompression
Our bodies are wonderfully designed to assist us in a true emergency. The stress response kicks in and we’re electrified. We become hyper alert. We can experience superhuman strength. We think clearly and creatively and we can move fast.
But it’s designed to be a temporary state. It’s meant to get us out of immediate danger, and that’s it. It’s not meant to be a way of life.
Unfortunately, as we find ourselves living day after day, putting out fires, dealing with crises, drama and other people’s urgencies, we start to feel the stress response kick in far too often.
If we don’t find a way to calm the storm, we can pay a very heavy price. And for some, it can be a lifetime sentence. The effects of stress can even be deadly.
So when life gets overwhelming or starts to feel out of control, it’s absolutely critical that you find a way to decompress in a hurry. The tools on this page and in the posts that follow, are designed to halt the stress response quickly and bring you back into a more balanced, calm, homeostatic state, where you can experience greater clarity to deal with those fires more creatively and effectively.
Decompression is meant to give you quick relief. The Decompression Pillar contains a collection of tools that help you calm and halt the immediate cascade of stress chemicals that flood your body the moment you encounter a stressful situation.
Most of the time these chemicals are released before you even realize your stress response has been triggered. So, it’s imperative that you know your body’s SOS signals and respond quickly.
Decompression doesn’t fix the problem. You could repeatedly halt the stress response all day long, and it would work, but as soon as the next trigger was tripped the symptoms would come right back. And they will usually come back stronger.
However, Decompression is like a reset button, it calms the immediate symptoms and buys you time so you can figure out what’s causing the stress to begin with and ultimately eliminate the cause.
Each time you feel the pressure start to rise, or you feel the tension creeping back into your body, these tools can be used to bring you back to center as many times as you need throughout the day.
Most Decompression tools initiate the relaxation response in as little as one minute.
Choosing to change how you respond to stress in the moment it’s happening is empowering. It puts you back in control of every situation. And the more you do it, the better you get at it.
The Decompression Pillar is like a partially filled toolbox It contains universal tools that work for pretty much everyone. If you don’t like the tools in the prefilled box, you can remove them and replace them with tools you like better.
One of the most basic and universally effective Decompression tools is your breath. There are so many ways to use your breath to halt stress.
Try this. Breathe in slowly and deeply (clear to your belly) to the count of 4. Now breathe out slowly to the count of 4. As your heart rate slows, increase your exhale. Try to exhale twice as long as you inhale. Breathe in for the count of 4 and breathe out for the count of 8. Do this until you feel calmer. It usually only takes a minute or two.
Remember stress is different for everyone so what works for you will probably be different than someone else. And even you will experience stress differently depending on the day and moment. So, you need a collection of tools in your toolbox that work specifically for you and work in a variety of circumstances.
You only want the most effective tools in your toolbox.
Whatever you place in there has to actually work for you and work well. If a tool doesn’t do the job, you don’t need it. And you don’t have time to mess with stuff that doesn’t work.
You need to stop that stress response as quickly as possible to minimize the damage. And you need to be familiar with your tools and ready to respond the second you feel your body’s SOS signals (signs of stress) begin.
Remember, stress is your friend. She will warn, guide and protect you. Your job is to listen and respond. And the quicker you respond the better the outcome.
Every time you try something that works, make a note of it. Put it in your toolbox and use it so often that you become so familiar with it you don’t even have to think, you just pull it out and use it.
My Fantastic 5
To get you started here are My Fantastic 5.
Five simple and effective tools that will help you stop the stress response and initiate the relaxation response quickly. The next time you feel the pressure rising, take a moment and try one of these quick and easy tools to help put you back in control and bring a sense of Calm… From Within.
Yawn
When the stress response is activated our breathing naturally becomes more rapid and shallow. Slow, deep breathing is the quickest and most effective tool we have for reversing the stress response. Unfortunately, most people forget how to breathe correctly when they’re under stress. Yawning however, quickly takes us right where we need to be. Notice how the bases of your lungs fill and the abdomen rises as you yawn.
So, when you feel the tension rise and you need to put the brakes on your stress response quickly, yawn 10 times. Try to hold the yawn for 8 seconds if you can. If a forced yawn feels difficult at first just go through the motions.
Take a long deep breath and sigh audibly as you exhale. Stretch and really get into it. By the third or fourth fake yawn, a real yawn will develop. As the relaxation response is triggered, your heart rate and blood pressure will begin to decrease and you’ll begin to feel calmer.
A nice little side benefit of yawning is that it’s contagious. When you yawn, others around you will yawn without even thinking about it. As you lower your stress, others will reap the benefits and lower their stress as well.
Alphabet Antics
This is a great distraction tool. When you’re angry or having trouble letting go of a negative thought, try this trick. Make a list of related items that begin with consecutive letters of the alphabet.
Here’s an example: think of animals that begin with each letter of the alphabet such as, alligator, bear, cat, dog, elephant, fox, giraffe…you get the picture. You can think of foods, states, girl names, or musical instruments… the more difficult the category the quicker you’ll notice the relief.
As you practice this intervention and become accomplished at it, you’ll find that you rarely need to go past “G” or “H” before the stress response is halted and the relaxation response sets in.
Here’s why it works: Our minds cannot effectively focus on 2 opposing thoughts or emotions at the same time. By distracting our thoughts and redirecting them towards items that begin with consecutive letters of the alphabet, we’re interrupting the flow of negative emotions. This quickly halts the stress response so we can think more clearly and get back to a more balanced and peaceful frame of mind. Give it a try.
Power Posture
This is a simple action that immediately changes your state of being. When you’re feeling overwhelmed, victimized, or in any way feeling your life or the events happening around you are out of control, try this tool.
To begin: Tell yourself that you are so tired… so stressed… and so unhappy. Exaggerate the thoughts and really get in to it. Pretend you’re rehearsing for a part in a play and you really want the part.
Notice what happens to your posture as you exaggerate your negative mood. Whether you’re sitting or standing, chances are you’re becoming more slumped over and your shoulders are pulling forward as your head hangs down. You look tired, stressed and unhappy.
Negative thoughts and feelings are like weights pulling us down. What is your breathing like? Your breaths are probably short and shallow. This is mainly because your body is so scrunched together there’s no room for your lungs to expand. How confident do you feel? You don’t look confident and you probably don’t feel confident either.
Now, quickly stand or sit up straight, take a deep breath, and pull your shoulders back and down. Hold your head up high and repeat these words in your mind, “I am in control of this situation. It does not control me”. If you’re in a place where you can do it, say the words out loud for greater effect. Say them loudly and firmly. Repeat them until you feel the power of the words. How is your breathing now? How confident do you feel?
Positive thoughts are like magnets pulling the weight of oppression off our shoulders and giving us the appearance and feeling of confidence and power.
Anytime you’re feeling overwhelmed, victimized, or out of control, immediately change your state. Sit or stand up straight, hold your head high, take a deep breath, and pull your shoulders back and down. Feel the confidence and power flood your being. It’s amazing how quickly this can help.
Oh, and don’t forget to smile.
Ball Therapy
When we’re stressed our body automatically responds in predictable ways. Our breathing changes as I described in the yawning exercise, and our muscles tense.
Over time this can lead to tension headaches, chronic neck and back pain, even foot pain which can radiate to other parts of your body, causing constant and intense pain and stiffness. Your range of motion can diminish which leads to greater risk for injury…lots of problem potential.
To nip this tension, before it becomes chronic pain, keep a tennis ball with you for immediate relief. Simply place the ball between you and a firm surface such as a wall, door, seat back, or the floor. Then lean into it at your tension points. At first this may be a bit uncomfortable if you carry a lot of stress in these areas, so press gently, but press.
Move your body or your foot over the ball and massage the knot or sore spot in a circular motion for a couple minutes and feel the immediate relief flow through your body. Even if you don’t feel tension in any specific area at first, lean into the ball anyway and move it around. You may be surprised how many tender spots you find.
I keep a spiked massage ball under my office desk. This is a firm rubber ball, about the size of a tennis ball with little spikes all over it. While I’m working at my desk I remove my shoes and gently roll my foot over the ball. What a great little massage. And the relief is immediate.
If you practice using a ball daily, (a lifestyle activity), on your shoulders, back and feet, you’ll soon notice that pain decreases and the tension disappears. Aaaaahhhhh……
Take a Mini Mental Vacation
Our subconscious mind cannot distinguish between real and imagined events. That’s why our thoughts are so powerful. Simply thinking about a stressful event can trigger the stress response, even if that event occurred years ago, or never actually happened.
Fortunately, the subconscious mind can’t tell the difference between real and imagined happy events either. So take a mini, mental vacation whenever you need to de-stress.
To get started close your eyes (or leave them open if you prefer), and imagine yourself someplace happy, pleasant, or relaxing. It can be a carnival, a beach, a special place in your home…the mountains…even a candlelit bubble bath…the possibilities are endless. If it makes you feel good, go there in your mind. It could be an event that has already occurred, or one that you want to happen in the future.
The more senses you’re able to engage, the more effective the retreat will be.
What does the air feel like on your skin? What does it smell like? What sounds do you hear? Does it have a taste (think salty, sea air)? Imagine the details as clearly as possible. Note colors, textures, movement…are you alone, or is someone special sharing this moment with you? Indulge!
If you feel stressed-out, burned-out and overwhelmed
And you feel like your stress is affecting your health
Then this course is for you!
Is Stress Making You Sick?
Discover Your Health Risk Related to Stress So You Can Conquer Stress, Reclaim Your Power and Embrace Radiant Health, Starting Today!
Get Your Free Course
