3 ways you can optimise your stress levels
Stress can be useful. At moderate levels it can help boost motivation, encourage resilience and growth and even faciliate social connections. When stress becomes overwhelming or chronic (over a long period of time) problems occur.
Our lives in the western world have changed so much in a relatively short space of time. We’ve lost little habits we used to have as a normal part of our day and we have extra stressors that we didn’t have 10 or 20 years ago. That combination has caused a high levels of stress for most of us.
Our brain is a prediction machine, it deems uncertainty as dangerous. Routines give us an unconscious sense of control. Our ancestors used sunrise and sunset as complete daily certainities to predict our day. Nowadays the blue light from our phones, laptops and Netflix have interrupted this signal.
We have more luxury nowadays - smart phones and computers make it possible to do so many tasks whilst sitting in the same spot. For most of us our jobs and leisure time are sedentary. If we do exercise then we tend to do it in one burst of high intensity exercise - which is a stressor and can create cortisol. That run or HIIT session that you force yourself to do could actually be making you more stressed!
If we have a stressor during the day - emails piling up, a difficult phone call etc, in the past we would have had many opportunites to walk it off so the stress hormone cortisol wouldn’t build up. Studies show that low to moderate levels of movement reduces stress and help us to get back to our baseline quickly. How could you fit in small and regular ways to move and breathe to help yourself process stress?
Try some of these swaps
If you enjoy intense exercise - do this early in the day. Aim to be physically tired when your head hits the pillow - not just mentally exhausted.
Limit blue light of an evening - there are glasses and apps you can use to add a red hue or filter light but the cheapest and easiest option would reduce your use of the devices emitting the light. How do you use devices in the evening? It is something you really enjoy or is it more to zone out?
Have a hot bath - increasing your core temperature even just once a day can reduce depressive symptoms. It also helps us to rest and relax more deeply.
What signs does your body give you to let you know that you’re stressed?
Do you know how to calm yourself down? Do you have a way of showing yourself you have control and can reliably get back to your baseline? Having a way to do this can really optimise your stress levels.
You’ll find lots of tips here in My Wellness Hub and if you’d like some support tailored to your specific needs then book in a coaching call.