Tag Archive for: practice gratitude to reduce stress

Holiday Stress

3 Tips to Avoid Unwanted Aches and Pain from Holiday Stress

3 Tips to Avoid Unwanted Aches and Pain from Holiday Stress

The holiday season is a time of celebration, joy, and cherished moments with loved ones. However, it often brings with it a flurry of activities, responsibilities, and – unfortunately – stress. While the holidays are meant to be a time of relaxation and enjoyment, the reality for many is quite different. The pressure to create the perfect holiday experience – coupled with the hustle and bustle of shopping, cooking, and entertaining – can lead to elevated stress levels. What’s more, this heightened stress can manifest physically in the form of aches and pains, making it essential to manage both our mental and physical well-being during this season.

Here are three of my top recommendations for reducing stress during the Holidays (or any time of the year), to help you avoid unwanted physical aches and pain.

3 Tips to Avoid Holiday Stress:

  1. Prioritize Intentional Breathing

Breathing is one of the most powerful tools at your disposal for rapidly reducing and interrupting stress. The act of taking a deep breath sends a signal to your brain to calm down and relax. This simple yet effective technique can have a dramatic impact on your stress levels in as little as 30 seconds. The beauty of intentional breathing is that you can do it anywhere and at any time—whether you’re stuck in traffic, at your desk, in a crowded store, or even in the privacy of your bathroom.

The premise behind intentional breathing is to interrupt the accumulation of stress. By doing so, you decrease the overall toll it takes on both your body and mind. When stress builds up, it can manifest physically, leading to muscle tension, headaches, and even neck and back pain. Therefore, taking a moment to practice intentional deep breathing can make a significant difference in how you feel during the holiday season.

  1. Practicing Gratitude

Gratitude is a powerful antidote to stress. Studies have shown that practicing gratitude can lower cortisol levels in the body by approximately 23 percent. Cortisol, often referred to as the stress hormone, is responsible for many of the negative effects of chronic stress, including high blood pressure and an increased risk of heart disease.  Chronic stress can also be responsible for unwanted muscle tension – especially in areas like your neck, back, and hips.

When we focus on things we appreciate and practice gratitude, we activate the parasympathetic nervous system, which is responsible for calming the body and returning it to its natural rhythm. By consciously practicing gratitude, you actively lower your stress levels. This not only benefits your mental well-being but also has a positive impact on your physical health. Reduced stress can lead to lower blood pressure, improved sleep quality, and decreased muscle tension.

  1. Incorporate Physical Activity

Physical activity is a powerful stress-reduction tool with numerous benefits for both body and mind. Engaging in regular exercise helps boost your mood by releasing endorphins, the body’s natural stress and pain relievers. Additionally, physical activity helps put an end to the “fight or flight” response triggered by stress.

In ancient times, our fight or flight response served to protect us from immediate danger, such as being chased by a predator (aka Lion). Physical movement, like running, signaled the end of the stress cycle by telling the brain that we were safe. In the modern world, stress triggers may not be as obvious, but they can still activate these ancient systems. When stress becomes chronic and prolonged, it can have detrimental effects on your physical and mental well-being.

Purposeful movement, even something as simple as a brisk walk, can help break the cycle of stress in your body. Engaging in simple activities like jumping jacks, push ups, or even dancing in your living room can elevate your heart rate just enough to signal the end of the fight or flight response.

While the three essential tips outlined above can be highly effective in managing holiday stress, they may not be suitable for everyone, especially if you’re dealing with pain or injury. If you’re feeling overwhelmed by stress and physical pain this time of year, consider reaching out to a qualified specialist for guidance.

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Dr. Carrie Jose, Physical Therapist and Pilates expert, owns CJ Physical Therapy & Pilates in Portsmouth and writes for Seacoast Media Group. To get in touch, email her at [email protected].

Holiday Stress

Tips for Getting through the Holidays injury and stress-free

The Holidays are here – and while it’s meant to be a joyous time of year – for many reasons it also brings a lot of stress to people’s lives. People find it difficult to get through the Holiday season both injury and stress-free. Besides the obvious mental toll that increased stress levels tend to cause, it also has an impact on virtually all systems of your body. Stress puts our nervous systems on high alert – otherwise known as “fight or flight”.  This is a recipe for all sorts of things such as increased blood pressure, shortness of breath, increased muscle tension, increased cortisol production, an unhappy gut, and more neck and back pain.

But the good news is that it’s not as difficult as you think to combat stress on your own – and give yourself the injury and stress-free Holiday Season you deserve.

Here are 3 tips for getting through the Holidays injury and stress-free:

 

1. Breathe 

I know this might sound cliche, but breathing is one of your best friends when it comes to quickly reducing and interrupting stress. As little as 30 seconds can make a dramatic difference. When you breathe deeply it sends a message to your brain to calm down and relax. The best part is you can do this anywhere — in the car, at the office, while shopping, even in the bathroom. Although breathing may not eliminate stress permanently, it does interrupt it. And interruption is key when it comes to managing stress — both emotional and musculoskeletal.  When you interrupt the ability for the forces of stress to accumulate, you decrease the toll it can have on your body and brain.

2. Practice Gratitude

Did you know that gratitude helps lower cortisol levels in our bodies by about 23 percent? Prolonged stress causes elevated cortisol levels, which causes lots of different health problems such as heart disease and high blood pressure. Research shows that when we think about something we appreciate (i.e. practice gratitude), the parasympathetic nervous system (the calming one) is triggered. Our parasympathetic nervous system is responsible for returning the body to its automatic and natural rhythm. So when the parasympathetic nervous system is activated, your heart rate and cortisol levels lower — which is the opposite of what happens when your sympathetic nervous system is activated and you’re stressed out. Your sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems can’t both be in charge at the same time – so when you consciously practice gratitude – you actively lower your stress.

3. Get Moving 

Any kind of movement is going to help you control stress for a few reasons. First, it gets your blood flowing which contains endorphins — natural chemicals of the body designed to decrease pain and stress. Second, movement helps to end the “flight or fight” response of your body. In ancient times, our fight or flight response protected us from danger (like a lion chasing us), by triggering us to run away. Running away (movement) would signal the end of the stress cycle caused by fight or flight by letting the brain know we were safe and out of danger. In our modern world, triggers of stress are not as obvious as a lion trying to eat us. The end of the stress cycle is not always clear and can just keep going – one of the ways stress becomes chronic. Therefore, purposeful movement can help decrease stress by physiologically ending your natural fight or flight response. Something as simple as walking can do the trick. But even jumping jacks or dancing in your living room can feel good and get your heart rate up enough to end the fight or flight cycle.  

I hope these tips help you feel confident that it is indeed possible to get through the Holidays injury and stress- free completely on your own. 

Give these easy and practical tips a try and see how you do!

If you find that you can’t, it’s always a good idea to talk to a professional who can help you. A little bit of stress is normal, but being chronically stressed is not.

Cheers to a happy, healthy, injury and stress-free Holiday Season!

Dr. Carrie Jose, Physical Therapist and Pilates expert, owns CJ Physical Therapy & Pilates in Portsmouth, NH. To get a free copy of her guide to taking care of back pain naturally – click here.