The high price of stress: why stress reduction strategies are more important than ever
Stress reduction strategies help with symptoms of stress like poor memory, low immunity, weight gain, and hypertension
Are you feeling frazzled, anxious or overwhelmed? Experts agree that the time is now to practice stress reduction strategies to preserve your health and wellbeing.
The ongoing financial and social uncertainty surrounding the pandemic has us all on edge, and it’s more important than ever for our health to make time for stress-reduction and self care.
Psychology Today called elevated levels of the stress hormone cortisol “public enemy number one,” with symptoms including poor memory, low immunity, weight gain, and hypertension.
The stress response is a holdover from our ancestors, whose nervous systems developed an emergency response system for when they encountered a predator. When you feel threatened - whether it’s real or imagined - the adrenal glands above your kidneys begin cortisol production. This signals to your nervous system to shut down all “unnecessary” systems such as rational thinking and digestion, and floods the body with glucose, narrowing the arteries and elevating the heart rate to prepare for combat.
Today, the chances of being eaten by a sabre-toothed tiger while foraging for food at the local supermarket are decidedly low, but any stressors such as waiting to hear if we’re going into lockdown or slouching over a computer for long periods can incite this ancient response.
You don’t have to pay the price of stress
By practicing stress-reduction techniques, you activate the relaxation response of your parasympathetic nervous system and begin to reverse the harmful effects of stress.
Here are five things you can do starting today to offset the harmful effects of stress:
Spend time in nature
Practice meditation, Restorative Yoga and Yoga Nidra
Make a gratitude list daily
Limit your screen time and take frequent breaks from your computer
Lie down for 5 minutes and focus on your breath
Some aspects of this article are adapted from my book Restorative Yoga for Beginners, ©Callisto Media Inc, 2019
