Stressed Out!

TLDR: We are bombarded every day by stress. It seems to have become a normal way of life for most of us. But daily, continuous stress keeps our body’s stress responses turned “on” all the time and daily living in this way can lead to a whole list of health problems. We can’t always avoid the stress of life, but we can make the choice to support our hormones with our diets and exercise.

Hello, friends!

Our second week together has flown by already and we’re facing another beautiful weekend. It’s almost Halloween and I’m sure a lot of you have plans with friends or family. I hope you all have fun and stay safe and healthy!

This week we’re talking about *stress*! And whew, boy, it’s a doozy. I picked this topic as one of our firsts to dive into because I think that stress is something that affects literally everyone. Stress in and of itself isn’t always a bad thing, in fact sometimes stress can be helpful in getting us motivated to finish a project or, as in exercise, helping our bodies adapt to new conditions. But as with absolutely everything else, it’s all about balance. Too much is just too much and can cause on increase in stress responses.

Our bodies are wired to respond to stress. This is so that, if we’re ever in a life-or-death situation or an emergency crisis that we need to react quickly to, the stress is realized, and the body reacts and releases certain hormones to activate our response to the stress. For instance, you’re chilling out in the woods (maybe you don’t actually do this kind of thing in real life, but just pretend with me here, ok?) and you hear something coming up behind you. You slowly turn to see... it’s a bear… a big one. And he looks hungry. What happens? You see the stress, recognize the threat, and almost immediately your heart starts racing, your blood is pumping, and you feel a surge of energy. This is your body’s way of activating it’s systems and sending all of the signals and hormones you need to respond to this (very!) stressful situation as quickly as possible!

And this is a good thing! We need these signals to keep us alert and safe. But life-or-death situations typically don’t happen every day (at least we hope not!) but what does happen is day-to-day life stress. Whether it’s work, family, relationships, health, finances... Just about any area of our lives can be a source of stress. And, unfortunately, once a source of stress is perceived, our body’s responses to it are the same. Our blood pressure rises, heart raise increases, and those stress hormones (specifically adrenaline and cortisol) are released just the same as it we were responding to danger.

If this response is only temporary, then no harm done. But living with increased levels of these stress hormones daily can lead to many other physical problems such as chronic pain, IBS, sleep disorders, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, and weight gain - particularly in the belly area.

There is a silver lining because, although stress is just a part of our lives, we can work with our bodies to help regulate cortisol.

Let’s talk nutrition

Again, it’s all about balance. We can actually put more stress on our systems by both what we eat and how much eat. Diets that consist of highly processed foods and added sugar keeps our stress hormones elevated. But don’t restrict too much! Eating too low of calories for too long also causes the body to go into “stress” mode and increases cortisol as a result. You might be thinking you’re restricting to lose weight, while your body responds by increasing cravings or holding onto belly fat – yikes.

What we eat can either help our cortisol levels, or hurt them. For example, foods that raise cortisol:

Alcohol
Caffeine
High sugar foods and drinks
Simple carbs

Studies have found that eating natural foods that are high in B vitamins, omega 3, and magnesium actually lower your cortisol level. These include:

Lean meats
Eggs
Walnuts
Spinach
Broccoli
Avocado
Bananas
Olive Oil

Another great way to support hormone regulation is through herbs and adaptogens. Adaptogens are natural sources of hormone-balancing goodness, usually found in roots and some mushrooms. They literally help your body “adapt” to stress (aka regulate hormones). Great sources of natural support for cortisol include:

Chamomile
Lemon balm
Ashwagandha
Rhodiola

So, eat enough and stay away from heavily processed foods and high amount of sugar as much as possible. Your hormones will thank you.

How about a little movement?

Research has been done to test various levels of exercise and its degree of influence on cortisol levels. What they found was that very little, or no exercise at all, does nothing to cortisol levels. But working out too hard or too much actually triggers the stress responses and cortisol increases. So what’s that magic sweet spot? Studies show that 40% of your max effort is right where you need to be in order to benefit from cortisol reduction. AND you only need about 20-30 minutes of exercise at this intensity for it’s effects to kick in!

Live well, be well

Our actions can also either help or hurt our daily stress hormone levels. Most things are unavoidable because, let’s face it, just regular day-to-day life IS stressful. But we should be making time for activities that actually lower stress and cortisol to help counterbalance our stressful day. You might be the caregiver in your family, or the sole income for your household, and these are rewarding and beautiful tasks but often unavoidable stressors.

The thing I try to work on every day is mindfulness. It's a tough one for me because I'm an overthinker. An over-analyzer. I have that type of brain that just thinks and thinks and thinks.. and seems to never shut up. It's exhausting most days. However, a couple years ago I came across the concept of mindfulness and it struck a chord with me. I've never really been in control of my thoughts, they just do their own thing and I get swept up in them… Which is usually stressful! But after realizing that hey, I am actually in control here. My brain is an organ, just like any other organ in my body, and while my heart’s job is to pump blood and my lungs are in charge of breathing, one of my brain’s functions is *thinking* and while I can not stop my heart from beating or my lungs from breathing (nor would I want to!), I can not stop my brain from doing what it is meant to do – to think. So instead of fighting against it, I try to stay mindful. Which involves realizing my brain is running at 1,000 miles a minute, separating myself from my thoughts for a minute by telling myself “Ok, brain. I see you overthinking. I recognize what is going on right now. Let’s chill for bit.” and purposefully, intentionally being present with whatever task I am doing at the moment. Just this sense of awareness to say “Whoa. I’m feeling a bit stressed and my brain is being overactive right now. I’m going to take a breather for a few.” has does wonders in my stress levels – and overall peace and mental strength!

So, take a look at your life. Is it stressful at times? I’m betting it’s stressful MOST of the time. Do you have any of the signs of elevated cortisol? If you do have concerns that you may have a hormone imbalance, please talk to your doctor about having a hormone panel done to see exactly where your problem might be. But everyone can do the simple things above to help keep stress hormones at a regular level and to simple *relax*. You’ll be glad you did!

The power is within us to take control over what we put into our bodies and how we exercise for both our physical and mental health. What can you add into your diet and exercise routine to give yourself a helping hand?