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Stress is a two-headed beast. On one side too much stress will kill you. And on the other side not enough stress and you won’t achieve anything. The key is to find the middle ground…be like Goldilocks…not too hot, not too cold, just right.
Way back in the day, we humans had to deal with very real stressful situations…finding enough food and shelter on a regular basis, not getting eaten by other large predators, or being attacked by other hominids who wanted our food or shelter. But these stresses (mostly from external sources) came and went. In today’s world our stresses, although seemingly less dire, are constant and coming from both external and internal sources.
In today’s world we are under constant attack. Work, home, and everything in between hit our system with little bits of stress. That cup of joe (or 2) in the morning hits my adrenal glands with a little zip of stress (that’s how caffeine works by the way). My morning commute sends my blood pressure soaring. The deadlines at the office, or the financial challenges my business poses hit my system and my breathing races. Maybe I get home and get hit with relationship challenges with my children and spouse. As modern humans our stress levels are constantly high. It is as if we are constantly under attack by saber tooth tigers and running for our lives.
Too much stress causes huge health problems. Everything from cardio vascular events to skin eruptions to depression to auto-immune disorders can often be linked to an over stressed system. We often respond to stress in non-productive ways as well…alcohol abuse, drug abuse, emotional eating, and other self defeating behaviors. The real problem with these responses is that they often cause additional stress on both our physical and emotional systems. Drinking too much is not good for your physical body as well as being hard on your relationships.
Not enough stress makes us complacent and lazy. Not having goals that excite and scare us (just a little) has us staying fat and de-conditioned. We need good stress in our lives.
The real trick is to develop the skills to handle the day to day stress of modern life in a healthy way. There are some very real things we can do to combat the toll stress is taking on your health. The big 3 are (you already know this!)…exercise daily and intensely, eat right, which means eating real food prepared well and eaten with purpose, and sleep 7-9 hours a night. If you do these 3 things you will be several steps ahead in the management of your stress.
Here are some other strategies and tools you might find useful:
Meditate or sit quietly without an agenda…when we sit and just let things be without trying to force an outcome our body gets a signal that is ok to relax and can come off of hyper alert status. A lot of the stress we experience arises from the chattering of our “monkey mind.”
Pray…experience your connection with the divine, something bigger than you and all the mundane concerns we have day to day.
Get outside…find your place in the natural world. Sometimes our stress arises from being disconnected with the real world. The world of plants and animals and other natural phenomena can have a calming effect on your mind and body.
Do something for yourself…get a massage, take a soak or whatever will feed your inner selves and have you feel love and connection with yourself.
I am sure you can think of some others that will serve you in taking care of your stresses. The important thing is to take the time to do them! So get out there and do nothing for a change!
Namaste
John Mariotti
www.crossfit-odyssey.com
www.martialartsnevada.com
www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com
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