Cheryne Blom's Blog: Are you Addicted to Stress?

Sounds a bit strange, I know but did you know that most people are actually addicted to stress. In fact the reality is that most people do not even realize they are stressed. Most people believe that the way they are feeling is normal and could not even imagine a different way of being. Statistics actually show that “Alarmingly 91% of adult Australians feel stress in at least one important area of their lives. Almost 50% feel very stressed about one part of their life” – Lifeline Australia.

That’s a huge statistic and high levels of stress are directly related to further health issues, depression, high anxiety, feelings of despair, and overwhelm. We are a population stuck in stress, however when we realize the addiction and what we are doing within ourselves we can make powerful changes to shift ourselves out of a stress mode.

One of the most empowering personal discoveries I have found is my ability to manage stress in my life. Stress almost killed me at the ripe old age of 33 and stress eventually backed me into a corner where I had to re-assess every aspect of my life. I was constantly in a state of “dealing with something” and managing stress levels within myself. I thought the fact that I was constantly on the go, constantly in a state of panic, constantly in a heightened state of arousal was a sign of living a successful life…the price of accomplishment.

Ha, that is actually quite funny, when I read it back, because the reality is that the pressure I was giving myself by living a life I thought I “should” lead was actually creating premature aging and possibly early death. Having the ability to manage my stress levels and stay in a calm and balanced state has lead me to be more present with my life, therefore having more enjoyment and has taught me how to be more resilient and focused through situations. Let’s break all this down…

What are signs of stress?

Here is a chart which highlights the most common symptoms of stress:

Anxiety

Irritability

Lack of Focus

Lack of Energy

Lack of Motivation

Lower Libido levels

Weight gain/loss

Drop in Work Performance

Apathy

Excessive thoughts/busy mind

The need to always keep busy

Difficulty waking up in the morning

Sleep disorders

Food Cravings

Exhaustion

Feelings of overwhelm

Emotional outbursts

Depression

Muscle pains, head aches, chest pain

Shortness of breath

Teary Outbursts

Feelings of despair

Inability to relax

Feelings of guilt

What causes stress?

Again to make it simple I am going to break down stress triggers into Internal factors and external factors. Basically this means, what we are processing within ourselves and what we are dealing with outside of ourselves. Both Internal and External factors contribute to high stress levels, however what we want to focus on is how we process situations internally via the meanings we attach to situations. We first have to look at what is in our sphere of influence to change and how we can manage that.

Calmness comes when we can manage our perceptions and stories we are making about situations outside of ourselves and empowerment happens when we can fully realize the power of our choice over these meanings.

Internal Stress Factors	External Stress
Lack of Interest Lack of Confidence Lack of purpose or meaning Fear of Success/ Failure Negative Thinking Lack of Skill set Lack of Flow Lack of Creativity Hormone Imbalance Poor Diet Lack of Exercise/Movement Poor Sleep Habits Illness Over Exercise	Economic Climate Work Change Redundancies Personality Conflicts Work Environment Business Success Business Failure Pressure from Management Competition Work Place Bullying Long Work Hours Personal Issues Relationship issues Home Environment

What happens in the body when we experience stress?

The body has a fantastic coping mechanism to deal with stress. It helps us survive, it keeps us alive, it helps us deal with fearful challenging situations, and it creates the responses in the body to deal with stress. This is called our FIGHT FLIGHT or FREEZE MODE. It is a brilliant, complex and highly functional system which helps us manage difficult situations. The problem is that, because of our busy, stressful lives we tend to be STUCK in this mode and the body has become addicted to running the same patterns in the body, which means that we are in a constant survival mode and rarely give our bodies time to rest and digest.

I am going to keep this simple… There are two sides to our autonomic nervous system: Sympathetic and Parasympathetic and they work in opposition to one another to bring about balance in the body.

Our Sympathetic Nervous System is also known as our fight or flight mode. This mode seems to be the default mode for most of us. When we experience stressful thoughts or emotions, the

sympathetic nervous system is activated causing us to go into fight or flight mode. We become reactive or submissive. Our breathing becomes shallow, our heart rate increased, muscles tense, we may experience cloudy thought (fear response) and we lose touch with the present moment. The adrenal glands are also activated and release the necessary hormones to help us deal with stress- Adrenalin Cortisol. In this fear (stress) response our lower brain is activated, also known as the reptilian brain, we allow little blood circulation to flow to the frontal cortex or higher brain which is responsible for calm, logical, rational thought. We become reactive and the body uses all its mechanisms and strategies to deal with stress. This is when we begin to show signs of stress, however we do not recognize them.

Because of our “busy” lifestyles we have created for ourselves most of us spend most of our time with our sympathetic nervous systems triggered. We then in turn look for pick-me-ups like caffeine, sugar, alcohol etc which trigger us even further. Therefore our systems are forever activated; we can begin to see why we age the way we do and have the illnesses we do. More Importantly what happens in time is that the adrenal glands fatigue (releasing lower levels of coping hormones) and we become less able to cope with stress as we used to.

We MUST allow our bodies time to recover.

The parasympathetic nervous system is known as our rest and digest mode and helps the body stay calm so that the cells can regenerate and so that we can activate higher brain function. This system is also known as the brakes of the nervous system. It creates a balance in the body which allows all the systems to slowly relax and calm. Breathing rate decreases, muscles relax, brain wave activity slows down and therefore the body can begin to repair itself. The immune system can rejuvenate itself and our energy and vitality levels can be lifted.

How can we break the pattern of stress in the body?

We have to break this pattern with stress, break the addiction so that we can experience emotional freedom and authentic happiness.

I am going to break this down into the following steps:

1. Become aware of your fight/flight/freeze mode. This includes become highly aware and in tuned with how your body is communicating stress and what signals your body is beginning to give you (see chart above)

2. Become aware of your internal and external stressors. It may help to begin to keep a DESTRESS DIARY. For a week, list the stress symptoms you are feeling and list the situations when you felt them with the intention of identifying the possible stressors. By keeping a diary you will begin to see patterns forming and will begin to gain the awareness needed to shift this pattern.

3. Work with a coach, counselor or friend to help you shift the meanings you are attaching to your external stress triggers.

4. Begin to find more empowering perspectives to external stress triggers. Challenge and

change those internal stories which are bringing you stress.

5. Push past victim mentality

6. Engage in 30 minutes of exercise everyday.

7. Lower sugar intake, gluten, caffeine, alcohol or other nervous system stimulants and eat a more alkaline based diet as stress can build acid levels in the body.

8. Engage in breathing techniques or meditation for at least 20 minutes every day. This does not have to be in one go but can be made up of short 2-5 minutes of focused breathing 4 or 5 times a day.

9. Practice positive empowering thinking and affirmations everyday.

10. Get into nature, get creative or least once a week do something you love to do and gets you into a state of flow.

If you have any questions please email me and be sure to Read more in part 2 to be published so on.

To your truth and freedom with lots and lots of love,

Cheryne