 The
Black Dress Stress - Understanding the Pain of Lost
Relationships
By Ray Burton of Building Bodies FitnessStress
is when you wake up screaming and you realize you haven’t fallen asleep
yet....Kim rolled over and reached to stop the alarm. She had a restless
sleep as usual and the pain in her neck reminded her that today is going to
be another long day at a job that used to give her joy. She reaches for her
favourite black dress but sighs and throws it back in the closet. It doesn’t
fit like it used to. Depressed, she doesn’t know what to wear anymore. She
feels bloated and fat.
Kim sneaks a peak at her husband; she hasn’t been able to be intimate with
him in weeks even though she loves him very much. She realizes that she is
not interested in many of the things that she used to enjoy. She just seems
to be spending most of her time irritable and tired. Kim is like a lot of
women these days: overworked, stressed out and fighting depression. She
hates the thought of seeing the doctor and taking medications but she
doesn’t know what else to try. Kim is not alone. 90% of all visits to the
doctor are stress related.
Stressed Out! - Does Kim’s situation sound familiar? One of the most common
problems I hear from clients is that they feel fatigued, anxious or
depressed. And they often have trouble sleeping -- even though they are
exhausted. Most of them share a common underlying theme: adrenal burnout.
It’s the result of racing through life with a constantly aroused sympathetic
“fight or flight” nervous system. In the heightened nervous state of adrenal
burnout, the body overproduces adrenaline, Cortisol and other stress
hormones. Eventually, this causes the adrenal glands - the front line in the
stress reaction - to show wear and tear and become depleted. This frequently
leads to impairment in the thyroid gland, which can cause a further decline
in energy level and mood. This is one of the reasons why so many women have
thyroid glands that don’t work well.
The first step for Kim and women like her is to exercise. Taking personal
time for you in of itself is a great stress reducer but when that time
involves exercise the benefit is two fold. Simply going from out of shape to
fit reduces stress levels by increasing a sense of well-being and
self-confidence. Feeling confused and overwhelmed is a common stress symptom
and through exercise the blood flow to your brain is improved, bringing
additional sugars and oxygen and a sense of wellbeing. This increased blood
flow also brings on the precious endorphins. The post workout endorphins are
chemicals secreted by the body after intense exercise and they make you feel
great. They are a legal and healthy “high”, a gift from Mother Nature.
How to exercise to reduce stress is a common question that is easy to
answer. The required amount of exercise time required to decrease your
stress level is minimal. If you want to only apply moderate intensity to
your exercise regime, then 30 minutes of walking or other exercise five
times a week works perfectly. For those that like to exercise more intensely
(getting your heart rate to 70% or more of your maximum heart rate), 20-30
minutes, three times a week will do wonders for you.
When starting your stress reduction exercise program make sure you include
all three kinds of fitness. The first kind of fitness is flexibility. Tying
in with your stress reduction theme, if you combine a tai chi or yoga type
program, not only will you gain flexibility but you will also reap benefits
from the meditative and calmness aspects of these disciplines. Taking as
little as 10 minutes from your day to focus on your breathing and
flexibility will help shift your attention from a stressful situation to
your body, allowing you to cope more effectively with any situation. Short,
rapid breathing is usually associated with stress, so the objective is to
deliver as much oxygen to the body as possible and just relax.
The second kind of fitness is cardiovascular work or aerobics. Doing your
cardio will not only burn fat and reduce the health risks associated with
the mid-line bulge but also increase your blood flow and vitality.
The third kind of fitness is muscular work or weight lifting. Many women use
weight lifting to “work out” their stress and leave their problems in a pool
of “glow” on the gym floor. Lifting weights changes your shape, releases
endorphins and increases your confidence in many aspects of life. Weight
lifting, if kept under an hour, has a very positive effect on your hormone
levels. It increases the fat burning ones and decreases the catabolic
hormones like Cortisol and DHEA. These hormones, when released repeatedly
over time, can cause several problems including depression and
cardiovascular disease.
If you just can’t find time for a structured program, then your stress is
probably caused by doing too much! Here are some quick ways to beat stress
during the day:
Walk to work. Some might say that this will involve an extra hour a day to
your schedule. I say, “So what? Why are you in such a hurry?” If you do live
far from work, then just park the car a half mile away. You can also get off
the bus before your stop and walk the rest of the way.
Use your bike for running around. If the last time you were on a bike was
when you were a kid then you forget how much fun it can be!
Take the stairs instead of the escalator. When I went to Las Vegas there
would be a line up in front of every escalator, and not a soul on the
stairs. It’s crazy that some people would wait two minutes to glide up these
escalators when they could be up there in 10 seconds and get some exercise.
The bottom line is that stress comes from feeling out of control. Only you
can regain that control, and taking care of yourself and exercising is the
first step.
Ray Burton is a fitness writer & owner of the Calgary personal
training company Building Bodies Fitness. Visit
www.buildingbodies.ca
for guidance on all matters of fitness. |
