Are you stuck in a pattern of feeling like you have no time to take care of yourself? The signs of chronic stress you want to watch out for and what you can do right now to prevent it

Do you feeling like your work is consuming you? Like you are stressed all the time and taking your work home with you to lay in bed still worrying about it and can’t sleep? 

This turns into feeling tired the next day and experiencing brain fog, then being easily triggered by all the never ending tasks you have to do and the tasks keep piling up? 

Do you also have low mood and feel like you are not enjoying life right now?

Are you struggling to see a way any of this can even change?

Sounds like you might be living in a chronic stress response.

You are not alone!

→ I hear this exact conversation way too often with many clients and students

→ First of all I know that your job is insanely demanding & it’s probably taking up most of your brain space in your personal time (thinking about emails you need to send or that project due date coming up…)

→ I hear that your weeks fly by & you’re not sure where the time goes?

→ I know you are counting down the days until your next holiday that can’t come fast enough

You’re living in escape mode & your nervous system is constantly stressed. Basically you’re living from a place of fear because that’s how you are biologically hard wired. 

The same response happens whether you are being chased by a lion (danger) or have too much work on your plate (perceived danger).

Your nervous system responds by creating a stress response to get you OUT OF DANGER QUICKLY!

Your heart beats faster to pump blood to your muscles, your cortisol increases your blood sugar so your body can make energy to run fast. Your pupils dilate so you can see better and your awareness of your other senses increase too.

That’s all wonderful & definitely needed to stay alive BUT what happens when your work (perceived danger) is causing this reaction and never seems to stop? 

You get into a state of CHRONIC STRESS

→ This is not a good place to be in or live from long term.

Why? Because your blood pressure remains high, your heart is strained from pumping quickly. Your digestion, body healing and repair, reproductive hormones and health, and libido all suffer.

Why? Because if you’re in danger, your body definitely does not want to be thinking about digesting food or having a baby!

→ If you’re in constant stress mode then your body stays in ‘run, danger!’ mode & you’re probably exhausted but can’t sleep, gaining weight for seemingly no reason, having issues with your period/cycle, perhaps having difficulties conceiving and staying pregnant (if you are trying for a baby).

This is all happening because you are a natural being & your hormones exert control to keep you safe in your surroundings

This is keeping your senses heightened & furthers a disconnect between body & mind because your awareness is turned outward

Is this making sense?

The practices of yoga & proper nutrition have the power to increase your tolerance to stressors (ie: so you can prevent living in chronic stress & instead have a healthy stress response that occurs when it’s needed).

→ Yoga helps you to tune inwards & listen to your body, breath, mind to find stillness within. Practicing consistently will produce the most benefits, even 10 minutes a day! 

→ Nutrition gives your body the resources to heal/repair/build hormones & neurotransmitters to manage a healthy stress response & also move to a state of calm.

→ Yoga does wonders but if you don’t have the raw materials to build these calming molecules in your body, then they’re just gonna be lacking.

For example:

A calming neurotransmitter called GABA needs a good supply of B Vitamins for its synthesis. B Vitamins are not stored in your body (except B12)  & they are highly used up when in chronic stress or by drinking alcohol. B vitamins are also important to create energy (ATP).

So chronic stress depletes them = less energy & less calming GABA

Where do you get B Vitamins? A rainbow of vegetables (especially leafy greens), whole grains & legumes, nut & seeds, yogurt, eggs, all whole foods essentially. Vitamin B12 is harder to get if you’re vegan but a wonderful source (my personal favourite) is nutritional yeast.

Now coming back to the original Q: how can you take care of yourself without time? Well, you’ve got to make time to prioritise it, DO NOT PUT IT OFF!

→ 10-60 minutes of yoga 4-5x week.

→ Eat foods that have recognisable ingredients. Ideally 1 ingredient whole foods (like broccoli).

→ Purchase fast foods from healthy fast food establishments, we are spoiled in London for choice here.

→ Batch cook curries on the weekend & freeze them so you have dinner ready.

→ Chop up veggies & keep them in containers, mix them into a salad bowl or wrap in the morning.

→ Make frozen packets of mixed fruits that you can easily pop into a magic bullet with plant based milk & make a smoothie. 

→Eat a lot of vegetables and a variety, that way you don’t have to think about your B vitamins much, and you know your giving your body the resources it needs to build the lovely chemicals for you to feel calm.

This is important because when you’re calm you get more done anyways as your cognition increases and you can think much more clearly, so make it a priority!