Stress is all around us – it’s internal, being a by-product of cellular function, as well as inflammation, elevated insulin levels, hormone imbalances, and it’s external with environmental pollutants, strenuous exercise, EMF’s, traffic, workplaces. Either way, stress is impacting us. So, what can we do to mitigate its negative health effects? Acute stress, is beneficial to us, and without it we wouldn’t be the dominant species on the planet. It’s when stress is chronic – ongoing – that cortisol’s inflammatory effects start to wear the body and mind down. Elevated cortisol leads to inflammation, and with inflammation being at the core root of ALL disease states, managing and decreasing our exposure to chronic stress is so fundamental to being well and in optimal health.
Step 1
Manage the stressors and decrease the ones you can. These include, what face and body products are you putting on your skin? Our skin absorbs 80% of what we put on it, and 99% of commercial brands are filled with parabens and hormone imbalancing ingredients, which add to the internal stress load. Can you give distance and perspective to the situations and environments that cause stress? How can you use gratitude to decrease its impact? Can you delegate tasks to remove some of the load? Can you set up systems to minimize additional stressors?
Step 2
Implement lifestyle practices to help decrease the psychological, biological and emotional impact that chronic stress has. Meditation, yoga, breath work, journaling, walking and any other creative outlets that bring you joy also help to decrease the negative effects of stress.
Step 3
Support and nourish your adrenals through diet and supplementation. Eating a wide variety of nutrient dense wholefoods will provide the nutritional support your body needs, with stress sucking your vitamins and minerals. Supplementing with stress-buffers, such as Activated B vitamins, Magnesium, Vitamin C, and adding in alkalizing greens powders, probiotics and gut support, GABA and Theanine, adaptogenic herbs – Withania, Reishi Mushroom, Turmeric/Curcumin, Passionflower, Ginseng, Licorice are also great additions to support you, and one’s you’ll notice a huge difference with.
Step 4
Optimize your sleep. Sleep is crucial to restoring and revitalizing our body systems, so reducing screen time before bed and creating sleep routine that enables the body to relax and ascend into sleep is ideal. Living in our society, it’s almost impossible to not be exposed to chronic stressors so adopting lifestyle practices and teaming them with nutrients to support the adrenals and body is advantageous to optimizing your health and well-being.
