According to a recent study, a quarter of the population suffer from some form of stress and anxiety due to work, life and emotional demands. Long-term stress can cause a range of physical health problems including high blood pressure, headaches, stomach upsets and in some cases it can increase the risk of having a stroke or heart attack.
Juls Abernethy, Founder of The Body Retreat and expert in the causes of and treatments for stress, provides an insight into how making a few simple lifestyle changes can help to avoid stress, and deal with it when it is unavoidable.
PLAN AHEAD
Plan your week ahead so that you can factor in rest time. This is not just time when you are not working, because that often gets filled with other things very quickly. This is some non-negotiable me time. This could be time to read a book, take a bath, or even practice yoga – whatever you want – but it has to be time allocated just for you. Start with setting aside 30 minutes of your week for rest. That’s just 30 minutes out of an available 10,080 minutes in the week. That’s doable isn’t it?
EAT GREEN
We often think of our mind as the organ most affected by stress but in actual fact it is our liver that suffers the most. When your liver is overloaded you tend to feel sluggish, tired and headachy. You are also prone to infection and virus. Eating a clean diet that is low in processed food (more work for your liver) and high in Greens (supportive and cleansing for the liver) supports the liver which enables you to cope better in stressful situations.
KNOW YOUR ENERGY CURVE AND START TO MANAGE IT
We all have an individual energy curve, which is the amount of time your body takes to completely use the fuel you have provided it with through food and drink.
On average it takes between 2–4.5 hours for this process to happen. But, of course, it can depend highly on the type of food you fuel your body with. For example; if you have a coffee and a muffin you may be very proactive for 45 minutes, but then you are very likely to crash and burn. This energy crash then adds to your biological stress. It is therefore beneficial to focus your diet around high quality proteins and vegetable carbs which will give you sustained energy and prevent any sugar crashes.
HAVE A CUP OF “MINDFUL” TEA
This is not just any old tea – I’m talking about having a mindful cup of tea. Almost all of us have a hot drink at least once a day, but this is often on the go, and drunk without any thought. Turning at least one cuppa into a Mindful Tea, where you focus on the present moment and forget about the past and future, every day can bring about amazing stress relief.
SAY NO
If you feel a surge of guilt, angst, fear or any other negative emotion when you say no to people then it really is time to learn to say no your own way. Saying no isn’t saying that you don’t care; it isn’t saying you aren’t capable and it isn’t saying that you are superior. Too often people shy away from no and add too many unnecessary yes requests into their already busy schedule bringing unnecessary pressure into their lives.
REJECT TECH
Technology can be great – please see the point above. But technology can also cause problems when it begins to encroach into every hour of our lives. When we are expected to be logged in, contactable and engaged at all times, it can take its toll mentally, physically and emotionally.
To counteract this, one day each week, give yourself a digital detox. No surfing, no social media, no gaming. If that sounds like the most ridiculous thing you have ever heard, then you really need to detox digitally as it’s a sign that you might be addicted to tech. Just one day per week off the hamster wheel will give you time and perspective.
FORGET ABOUT SLEEP
It seems like the most ludicrous thing for someone who specialises in sleep and stress to say. But here’s the thing…sleep is the first casualty of stress. When sleep becomes elusive then it quadruples your stress perception. You spend hours through the night tossing and turning worrying about your inability to sleep and worrying about your ability to work the next day. Your brain is so active with thoughts about elusive sleep that the last thing it can do is relax – let alone sleep. So focus on rest instead, as sleep will come in time, maybe not as much as you want right now…but it will come. As you begin to focus on rest and relaxation your mind begins to still, your breathing begins to slow and your muscles begin to unwind allowing you to drift off.
Juls Abernethy runs a Stress Re-Set Retreat for women living a busy lifestyle and struggling to manage life, work or emotional demands.
Situated in the picturesque Somerset country-side, the Stress Re-Set retreat is designed to tackle stress and burnout from the inside out, and give women the tools to better deal with life and all that it brings, with an intelligent focus on behaviour, nutrition and exercise as well as some good old fashioned R&R.
The Stress Re-set Retreat is available on Monday 30th November–Friday 4th December and Monday 22nd – Friday 26th February 2016
Prices start from £1,650. To book, please visit www.thebodyretreat.co.uk
