Stress Management

Stress Management

 

STRESS! We all have it in our lives, whether it’s internal, external, personal or environmental. We face stressors on a daily basis, at work, with our family and friends, with our partners, in our training and through the food we consume. Seeing as there are all these stressors in and around our lives, it seems like there is no escape. Well to be truthful, there is no escape... There will always be stressors in our lives that cause both acute and chronic stress. However this does not mean we can’t manage and minimise the stressors we face and how we handle the actual impact of stress both mentally and physically.

What is stress? Well as a general definition stress is a state of mental or physical strain
tension resulting from adverse or demanding circumstances. Mental stress for example could be a situation in which you are pressured to achieve a specific work goal in a set amount of time, you may have a deadline closing in at the end of the month and as a result of the heavy mental workload, you are experiencing a lot of mental stress. Physical stress could be caused through something you’ve eaten, for example you are intolerant or do not handle wheat based foods very well, therefore when consuming the food you have placed a lot of stress on your gut to digest the food consumed. Physical stress could also be as a result of intense training, for example you may have just squatted your one rep max and as a result your central nervous system and muscular skeletal system is under a lot of stress to recover and repair.

This blog is a topic that for myself is very interesting, why? Because stress is something I personally struggle to manage on a daily basis. It’s something that has had a huge negative affect on me both physically and mentally over the last few years. I don’t share this with most people, but RikFit (Me) is naturally a stressed out guy! Even though I know how to handle stressors and techniques/methods to deal with stress, I still struggle to manage it personally. Now everyone is different and being better at managing stress in your life doesn’t make you a better or more superior person than anyone else, but 9 times out of 10, a person who handles stress very well will generally function and feel much better than the person who is a stress mess. This is due to the negative effects acute and chronic stress can have on us physically and mentally.

Now before I go on any further I just want to make sure you understand that stress can be both good and bad, without stress in our lives we would not adapt, progress or achieve, the important thing with daily stress and stressors is how we manage and approach them. Not handling stress very well will have a negative impact on ourselves, whereas being able to handle stress well will have a positive impact on ourselves. As usual the answer to any question is “well it depends” otherwise there would be a bias opinion on stress and stress management.

Stress can affect how you look, how you feel, how you perform, how your gut functions, how well you think, your overall mind-set etc. As I mentioned above this can be both positive and negative, it all depends on how well YOU handle and manage stress/stressors and the type of stress/stressors that are in your life. For example everyone seems to think that training is a type of stress management, well it is and it isn’t, it is because of the positive mental effects it has on our mentalities but it also isn’t as training is a form of acute stress. The important thing here which decides whether it is positive or negative is how well we manage the acute stress from training and how well we supply our body with what it needs to recover from the acute stress of training

Seeing as I may have confused you slightly with the above paragraphs, let’s get to something simpler and probably what you’re looking for whilst reading this post… BULLET POINTS!

General Negative Symptoms of Long Term Stress

Cognitive

• Memory problems
• Inability to concentrate
• Poor judgment
• Seeing only the negative
• Anxious or racing thoughts
• Constant worrying

Physical

• Aches and pains
•  Diarrhoea or constipation
• Nausea, dizziness 
• Chest pain, rapid heartbeat
• Loss of sex drive
• Frequent colds

Emotional

•  Moodiness Irritability or short temper
•  Agitation, inability to relax
•  Feeling overwhelmed
•  Sense of loneliness and isolation
•  Depression or general unhappiness

Behavioural

•  Eating more or less
•  Sleeping too much or too little
•  Isolating yourself from others
•  Procrastinating or neglecting responsibilities
•  Using alcohol, cigarettes, or drugs to relax
•  Nervous habits (e.g. nail biting, pacing)

Effects of Stress on the body both Mentally and Physically

Short-term positive effects:

• a quick burst of energy 
• decreased sensitivity to pain
• increase in immunity
• Heightened memory.

(NOTE: This is how ACUTE stress can positively affect you to improve physical performance, whereas CHRONIC stress effects are a whole different story altogether.)

Long-term negative effects:

• imbalances of blood sugar
•  adrenal fatigue
•  increase in abdominal fat storage
•  suppressed thyroid activity
• decreased bone density
•  decreased muscle mass
•  high blood pressure
•  lowered immunity 
•  Less able to think clearly.

(NOTE: These negative effects can be as a result of chronic mental and physical stress, and will have a huge impact on how well your body achieves physical performance and aesthetic based goals. I will not go into detail on each one as each of these effects is a whole blog post in themselves. All I will say is if you are experiencing these effects then its time you started to manage your stress better on a daily basis. Techniques and methods will be listed in the below paragraphs.)

I’m certain everyone who is reading this will have experienced these symptoms at some point in their lives, some of you more frequently than others. If you are experiencing these symptoms on a daily basis then it’s time to start managing your stress more efficiently. This is where I’m going to discuss how to manage stress from both a mental and physical aspect.

Mental Stress Management

There are many ways you can manage and minimise mental stress in your daily life, most people make the mistake of avoiding stress/stressors, this then results in the person being locked in a box as anything worth doing in life will most like cause some type of stress in the process. Instead people need to know how to manage the mental stress being produced on themselves. Managing mental stress/stressors links in hugely with managing physical stress/stressors and vice versa, if you just approach one you will only ever be half way there. Methods to managing Mental Stress are as followed:

Meditation – This is a practice you can use each and every day, it simply involves you finding a place to sit back, shut your eyes, relax and think about the present. We tend to be thinking about the past and future constantly, when instead we can only control the present, therefore it’s great to take time to yourself to be in the moment and let you mind take a break from the constant stress of “I have to do this” “what if the happens” “I forgot to do that” so on and so on.

Deep Breathing – Again another practice like meditation that you can do anywhere at any time, it works similar to meditation as you are focusing on the present (your breathing) to slow your heart rate down and relax your body. Even 10 or 12 deep breaths a couple of times a day can change hoe you think and approach stressors in your day to day life.

Communicate With Others – Some people tend to keep everything bottled up, they don’t share or talk with others about certain stressors in their lives. This can be due to many reasons, one of the main ones being you don’t want to elevate another person’s stress with yours! However if you can find someone who can help clear your mind and help you think more positively, your mind-set and how you approach daily stressors will improve dramatically.

Laugh – Laughing is one of the best medicines for stress possible! I don’t need to explain why, it’s a fact that if your laughing your happy, hardly anyone tends to be sad when they are laughing. This is because it effects brain function positively to improve mind-set and sense of well-being. Therefore when you are feeling stressed, watch a funny video, speak to you comedian friend who’s always cracking jokes, or if you’re feeling a little crazy just start forcing a laugh and before you know it you will be laughing out loud on the floor not knowing why.

Relaxing or Happy Music – Again something you can utilise any place or any time of the day, all you have to do is find some relaxing or happy/feel good music, put your earphones in and escape from the world’s problems and issues.

Physical Stress Management

In this section I’m going to split physical stress into two categories, nutritional stress and training stress. The reason for this is the fact that these are both physical stressors but the process in which they affect you is different.

Nutritional Stress

The food and drink you consume can have a positive or negative effect on your body, if a negative effect then it will cause stress on the body, more specifically the gut. Many people for numerous years neglect there gut health without even knowing. Just like anything else in life, if something is injured or broken, it needs to be repaired, and the only way you can repair most things is with time, patience and taking the correct actions to maximise recovery.

Nutrition stress is most common in consuming typical foods you may have an intolerance to or you may be allergic to. I’m not going to list typical intolerant foods as I believe intolerances should be tested to each individual, also I know some people will get the wrong idea and immediately cut these foods out of their lifestyle even if they do not need to. However as usual if you want to minimise stress from a nutritional aspect you may want to do some of the following:

Identify & Avoid Intolerant Foods – This is a simple method of performing an intolerance test that helps give you an indication of what foods you are intolerant to. The quality of the intolerance test will determine the accuracy and truthfulness of the results. An alternate method to discover what you are intolerant to would be by performing an Elimination Diet, this is a diet where you eliminate any main “intolerant foods”. After eliminating foods for a set amount of time, you will then begin to reintroduce them into your diet and monitor the effects and symptoms that you could possibly be experiencing from the reintroduced foods.

Avoid Over Consumption – Eating huge meals numerous times a day will inevitably cause stress on your gut, why? Well simply because it is having to digest and deal with a large load which takes a relatively fair amount of energy. If you overconsume foods you may experience symptoms of bloat and tiredness, therefore make a smart choice and don’t eat to you about to blow, just eat until you are happy and content and keep this consistent to your lifestyle.

Avoid Under Eating – Just as eating too much is bad for you, eating too little is no exception. If you are eating a tiny amount of food a day, your body will most likely not be producing the energy it needs to function efficiently, therefore natural bodily functions, especially hormone function will begin to down regulate, in turn causing stress on your body. A simple rule to follow for the beginner would be to eat to perform, this basically means eat so you nourish your body and feel both mentally and physically healthy.

Supplement To Improve Gut Health – Many of us, especially in the western world, have developed gut issues over time. This is due mainly to our highly refined diets and lifestyles which doesn’t naturally nourish our bodies to function and feel good. Therefore many of us need assistance in some way, shape or form. One of the ways we can assist our guts back to full functioning fitness is through specific and tailored supplementation, meaning supplementing to our personal needs and issues. For example, an individual may be struggling with adequate gut bacteria levels, in turn needing to utilise certain supplements to help regulate gut bacteria levels effectively.

(If you are unsure on how to utilise these methods listed above, then please contact a nutritional professional to help you understand how to utilise these methods effectively. I have kept things quite vague as I do not want to go into too much detail in any of these topics as they are easily a whole blog topic each on their own)

Training Stress

This tends to be an area many people following the health and fitness lifestyle can suffer from, many individuals tend to get into the mind set of “No Days Off” and end up training day in day out for weeks on end. Sure it’s great at the time but if you are under recovering, you are certainly doing more bad than good. Even though training is seen as the thing what gets you the results, if your body and mind isn’t in the right place to handle the stressful load of training, you will inevitably suffer from the effects listed above if you under recover for a chronic period of time. Ways you can minimise training stress are as followed:

Utilise All The Above Methods First! – I figured I’d get this point across first on the topic of training stress. In my experience, if you want to avoid silly mistakes and having to take the long way round, make sure you handle your mental and nutritional stress well. I can’t emphasise enough the importance of having the right mind set and gut function to achieve great physical results, especially when utilising training methods to achieve your goal physique or physical ability. I’m very positive and confident in my view of mental function and gut function being two of the main factors that influence your overall health, well-being and ability to achieve consistent training results. Therefore don’t rush, take your time, get your mentality in the right state, focus on ensuring your nutrition works well and is nourishing your body, then finally move onto training and reap the rewards. The fastest way isn’t always the most sustainable and effective way!

Rest Days – As I’ve mentioned in previous blogs, rest is hugely important to help your body repair and recover from the acute stressor that is training. The term “Rest Day” pretty much explains its self… REST! You don’t have to lie in bed all day but you mainly want to avoid anything that will be strenuous on your body from a physical aspect. Visit my previous blog on “The Importance Of Utilising Recovery Methods” in order to understand what you can do on your rest days in order to recover appropriately.

Consistent Sleep – This is quite basic, just as resting from training helps you recover, consistent sleep does just the same. The only exception is that consistent sleep is a much faster and efficient way to recover and minimise mental and physical stress from training. It seems not sleeping is turning into more of a norm in modern society, numerous individuals find themselves in bed at night wide awake. Although I think it may be fair to say that many of these individuals bring it on themselves with mental distractions such as phones, T.Vs, lights etc... Subconsciously stressing their minds, which in turn keeps them awake or causes broken sleep throughout the night, resulting in tired, confused, inefficient bodily function in the day. This will inevitably negatively affect training and decrease physical performance, therefore causing training and physical exercise to increase the physical stress on the body.

Smart Programming – This is basically structuring a training program so it its specific to your goals and your needs and also takes into account de-load sessions/weeks (a period of time where you may decrease training load, volume, frequency etc. to help your body recover from the consistent acute stressors of training. This is very important to allow progressions in any given performance and physical area e.g. strength training can take its toll on the CNS (Central Nervous System) therefore with smart programming and progressive overload, you should hit a peak week of which you would then regress from to let your CNS recover the week after in order to keep progress safe and consistent.

Summary

I have covered quite a lot of topics in the blog and structured it so you get a brief understanding of each but in turn get a good understanding on how to manage the topic of discussion “Stress Management”. Hopefully leaving this post you will understand that stressors and stress are forever ongoing in life and all we can do is handle or minimise them to the best of our abilities.

To manage stress effectively you must approach it from more than one angle, Mental Stress, Nutritional Stress and Training Stress should all be managed appropriately in order for you to achieve your Performance or Physique based goals. These three factors all influence each other but in my opinion, managing Mental Stress and Nutritional Stress first creates the best foundation in order to achieve your goals.

As usual I hope you have taken from this blog as it’s a great way for me to get through simple ways to help the newbies as well as remind some of the educated veterans that simplicity is usual key in many areas of life.

Remember to manage stress/stressors appropriately to your needs and finally do not stress about stress! It’s not the be all and end all, it’s only another factor that can influence our overall health and wellbeing, just as many other factors in life can.

Have a great day, stay smart, stay simple and manage your stress!

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