Monday, March 24, 2014

5 Tips for Managing Stress

First of all, I am SO sorry for my absence. Life has been crazy! Many things are up in the air, so hang with me. It will get better.

I want to get more involved and consistent with the blog and be there for you all, and hopefully to grow our community. Ultimately, this blog is to inspire others to change their lives and become healthier through my experiences, recommendations, and observations. I want to push you and challenge you to become a better version of you, without making it complicated or crazy. And I want you to feel comfortable emailing or messaging me with questions or concerns. Really, I want to acknowledge that we are all human, we all make mistakes, slip up, get busy, get lazy and we all need support.

Sometimes, life gets away from us. We get carried away taking care of things around us, working on changes, building relationships, families, and businesses. But that's no excuse to neglect our own health, put our workouts on the back burner, or get lazy with our food. (I'm guilty of all of these!) Here are some ways you can make it through the stressful, busy, and crazy times.

1. Stick to quick, easy, grab-and-go food.

When you're stressed or busy, you don't want to have to worry about preparing food or doing dishes.Some great ideas for these are hard boiled eggs, baby carrots, celery sticks, lunch meat, cheese, nuts or trail mix, tuna, sardines, and olives.

2. Make your workouts quick and stress-free. 

By nature, exercise is stress on your body. Stress occurs when your system responds to a challenge or stimulus, such as exercise. But your workout should not cause more emotional stress than you're already experiencing in the other aspects of your life. For some people, yoga is a great option for stress relief, but you can also try a walk, boxing, running, or weight lifting. Here's a quick, at home workout you can do without any equipment:

Warm up
30 body squats
25 sit ups
20 russian twists
15 push ups
10 burpees
5 tuck jumps
Go through the circuit 2 times. Stretch and cool down afterward.

Whatever you do, be cautious that you don't push yourself to the point of exhaustion. Remember, your system is under stress already, and you're putting it under additional stress by exercising. The stress of exercise is a positive stress (eustress) but can become a negative stressor (distress) if you push too hard. Be mindful of how you feel the day after exercise. If you feel too tired or exhausted to take a walk or do another workout, that is a good indicator that you pushed too hard.  

3. Get some sleep!
Typically when busy or stressed, sleep is one of the first things to be neglected. It may sound crazy at first, but strive to get at least 7-8 hours of sleep per night. I've included a short list below of great ways to improve the quality and quantity of sleep:

  • Use a dark colored sleep mask. (This is seriously so underrated. And such an affordable fix! My mom found a black sleep mask and ear plug combo at REI for $10. This improved my sleep immensely.)
  • Invest in black-out curtains (especially if the sleep mask is out for you.)
  • Get a pair of amber colored glasses. These block blue light which disrupts our sleep cycles, and should improve your hormonal response better preparing you for sleep.
4. Listen to your body.
There will be days you are literally too tired to workout. Too tired to even think about working out. Do yourself a favor. Don't workout on those days. Remember the eustress and distress we talked about earlier? Yeah, that. Don't turn exercise into a distress.

5. Do something you enjoy. Smile. 
There is so much to be said for relaxation and joy. We often put fun and enjoyable things on the back burner when we are stressed or busy, when in fact this is the time you should be prioritizing those things. You need down time, time to laugh, to smile, to breathe deeply and easily. Take a walk, listen (or dance!) to music, draw, paint, write, cook, hike, bike... whatever you enjoy. Sometimes its hard to remember how to do these things. Don't worry, just try. You'll fall right back into it.

By taking baby steps and implementing just one of these tips per week can make big changes in your life. You'll start to feel more prepared to handle the stress, feel less overwhelmed by the busyness, and happier overall. (Now if only I could take my own advice.)

I have one last question for you all...

I mentioned earlier in this post that I wanted to get more involved and be more available for you all. Would you rather I posted a workout/exercise of the week, recipe/food of the week, or some combo of the two?

Leave your reply in the comments below. Thanks!