Don't Forget to Breathe!

When we find ourselves in a stressful situation our sympathetic nervous system kicks in and our body begins to prepare a fight or flight response.

Part of this automatic response sees our heart rate increase, our breathing become quicker and our muscles tense up as our brain assesses whether we need to stay and face our stress (fight) run for our lives (flight). While running away might have been a sensible option for our ancestors facing lions and tigers and bears (oh my!); in our modern world we are more likely to stick around and attempt to face the stress.

Since escaping our source of stress no longer appears to be a feasible option, it can lead to a prolonged stress response from our heightened nervous system. This in turn can lead to a myriad of health issues such as weight gain, weakened immune systems and an inability to sleep.

Below are a few tips on how to support you to reduce your body's stress response and help regain control over beginning to manage your stress.

1. Drop your shoulders.

When we tense up, we hunch up and despite appearances, our ears do not require shoulder supports. So, drop those shoulders and gently roll them back and forwards a few times to help relax your muscles. Let them come to rest straighten (don't leave them hunched). This helps to open up your chest and allow you to take deeper breathes.

2. Unclench your jaw.

When we hunch up our shoulders, we also tense up our neck muscles and clench our jaw. This means that our ability to communicate clearly and effectively is compromised as we try to speak through clenched teeth. The best way to unclench your jaw is to drop your tongue. Even as you read this, you are probably resting your tongue behind your teeth at the top of your mouth. When we drop our tongue, it is very hard to clench our jaw and it naturally forces the mouth cavity to open. This allows more air to enter and make its way to our lungs. You might also find that rest of your facial muscles follow suit and begin to relax.

3. Don't forget to breathe.

When we find ourselves face-to-face with our stressor, and our nervous system is trying to decide if we run or fight, we often hold our breathe without even realising it - and when we do breathe, our breaths are short and quick. Now that we have dropped our shoulders and relaxed our neck and face, we need to take some deep breathes and fill our lungs with precious oxygen. To do this, take a few minutes and slowly breathe in until you feel like you have completely filled your lungs and hold your breathe for a slow count of three. Then, very slowly, release the air from your lungs. Do this two to three more times, and feel your body begin to relax with each exhale. This will not only support your body to reduce its sympathetic nervous system response, but allow you to begin to think more clearly and enable you to more effectively manage your stress.

After you have done all of that, don't forget to have a big glass of water. Dehydration can lead to an increase in stress hormones, which prolongs our body's heightened response, thus leading to some of those health issues mentioned above. Studies have also shown that even mild dehydration can cause us to suffer the same kind of cognitive impairment as drinking alcohol - making us nearly 115% more likely to make mistakes.

So, while I can't make your stress go away, hopefully you can use these strategies to manage your physical response and enable to you effectively stay and fight.

Yours in health,

Jaime