Is stress affecting your body? The answer to this question is a big “YES! The number-one complaint that I am hearing these days is: “I am under so much stress and it is causing me to overeat. I am storing fat around my midsection; what can I do to de-stress myself so that my body doesn’t suffer?”
First, we all need to get in touch with our bodies so that we can recognize what it feels like to be relaxed and how it feels when we are stressed.
The first thing I like to ask a person is are your shoulders (trapezoids) up by your ears? When we are stressed, our shoulders rise up to ear level; it causes your shoulders to slump over, and allows gravity to take over and continue to pull our bodies toward the ground. This ages our bodies more than you can imagine. Bad posture makes us look much older than we really are, and it can cause headaches among other things.
If we can all learn to relax, we will solve our eating/stress problems at the core level where they need to be addressed. If work or life is making you so stressed that you can’t seem to relax, there are solutions out there for you that can help you feel better right away so that you can navigate your way through what needs to be done.
4 Ways to Stop Stress Fast
Stress check. Not sure how stressed you are? Perform a posture check to see if your shoulders are visiting your ears or if your breathing has become shallow and quick. Try taking a deep breath and tell your shoulders to “wilt” or “relax”. They will relax just by the power of suggestion and your breathing should slow down. If you are very tense, this may take multiple breathes. If you are super tense, this may take time, so be patient and don’t give up. It is well worth the trouble, and you will not only feel better, you will look fitter too.
Just breathe. Find a quiet place and take a 5-minute de-stress break to practice your breathing. Take a deep breath in through your nose and exhale out through your mouth slowly, as if there were a feather right in front of you and you don’t want it to move. Take five seconds to fully exhale. This is one of the simplest yet most effective things we can do to de-stress our bodies and stop the stress hormones from escalating, causing fat to be stored around your midsection.
Exercise! The right kind of exercise will help burn off some of that anxiety and will help you sleep better. If you workout too intensely, guess what? You actually cause your stress hormones to rise – not fall – and that makes our bodies store fat instead of releasing it! Exercise at a moderate intensity daily – not too hard or too easy, but middle to moderate is what works. If you can’t sing while you’re exercising, you’re working too hard! Slow down!
Use the right supplements. Drop any supplements that has energizers in them and keep your caffeine intake low. Taking oxytocin will help ease anxiety instantly without making you drowsy. Be sure to buy this from a reputable source and follow the directions on the label. Taking more is not better. Oxytocin is a great way to balance your energy levels; you will feel better all day long by minimizing the highs and lows that go along with stress.