Stress and Self-Care Let’s Get Jiggy With It!

Stress can be defined as the body’s reaction to any change that requires an adjustment or response. This reaction can be physical, mental, or emotional or a combination of all three. Self-Care How can we adequately care for ourselves? How do we accomplish this? A good place to start is to assess your stress level and present coping mechanisms. Some questions to ask your self are as follows: What are the triggers in my life that create stress? How do I feel stress on a physical/emotional/spiritual level? Can I identify behaviors that I have incorporated into my life in dealing with stress? In my experience many of us may not be aware that we are experiencing chronic stress and how it affects our body and how it disrupts our homeostatic balance. Chronic stress sets into motion a cascade of responses such as increase in respiratory rate, blood sugar, heart rate and platelet production. According to Suzanne Little PHD the most common physiological response patterns under stress include: Autonomic reactivity (anxiety and hypertension), Muscoskeletal disorders TMJ and tension headaches and Immune related disorders such as allergies, infections and auto immune diseases. The American Medical Association states that Stress is the cause of 80-85% of all human illness and disease or at least has a detrimental effect on our health. Every week 95 million Americans suffer some kind of stress related symptom for which they take medication. American businesses lose 200-300 billion dollars per year to stress related productivity. Ninety percent of all visits to the doctor are for stress related disorders. So what can we do about it? Self-care is essential for decreasing our stress. Creating a sacred place in or perhaps outside of your home that can be used for daily reflection and grounding. The following well researched tools may be helpful in lowering your stress levels: Meditation, Guided Imagery, EFT, and Breathing Techniques. Journaling for five minutes daily in the morning can be a great way to release anxiety, stress and fears we are holding in our thoughts. We are responsible for our own Self-Care! Once you identify your stress and how it is affecting you do an experiment for 1 week. Take 1 Action and Pick 1 tool and try it on for 1 week. Please let me know if you would like any other resources or ideas. Contact me at: Fran@franmedinacoaching.com In Love and Support, Fran