Not to sound cliché but what did you want to be when you were growing up? Most
articles will tell you at this point that you probably said you wanted to be a doctor, or a
veterinarian, or a pilot...or maybe a princess? Who knows. But did any of you say I think I’ll
be STRESSED? Probably not. That’s the last thing people want to be but it’s also a huge
part of our lives even if we don’t realize it. Whether you’re the CEO of a company trying to
keep your employees in line and your whole reason for living is to keep your business
alive? Or a stay at home mom who’s trying to figure out how you’re going to get from one
place to the next while keeping your kids’ pants on and their food off the floor? Stress is
stress. What stresses you out may seem completely ridiculous to me. What seems
stressful to me may seem 100% irrelevant to you. We all experience stress on different
levels, about different things, at different times.
One thing we do have in common though? Stress is a huge part of why our bodies store
fat. Stress is the opposite of relaxation.
When do we feel stress?
Mostly when we’re moving too fast. The more relaxed you are
throughout your day, the more energy you will have. Most of us experience a slump part-
way through our day that makes it feel as though we can’t make it until it’s time to clock
out. So, that slump that happens is because we’re sprinting throughout the day and then
we must rest and recuperate. That’s when we end up turning to something that will
provide us with pleasure because we’re not getting enough pleasure throughout the
day...we’re just stressing.
Sugar?
Energy drink?
Chocolate?
Any of this sound familiar?
The parasympathetic nerve is also known as the rest and digest or feel and heal
response. This is the optimal state for healing. The sympathetic nerve is also known as
fight or flight. This is our stress response. When our sympathetic is activated, our
parasympathetic is shut off. Cortisol is the hormone that is released when we are stressed
out. When cortisol is released, fat is stored. In short, we need to learn exactly what we can
do to constantly activate our parasympathetic nervous system and keep our bodies out
of that fight or flight mode. Everyone will experience stress but how can we learn to
experience stress and deal with it in a healthy way so our bodies don’t suffer because of
it?
Thanks for reading and letting me share a little bit of my thoughts with you!
Goodnight
XOX
L
