Managing stress in the new year
Metro Creative
Stress can cause a myriad of physical and mental health problems, including hypertension, difficulty sleeping, ulcers and chronic health conditions.
Courtesy of Feroza Patel
Dr. Feroza Patel says quality sleep is important – and our sleep is impacted deeply by stress. Exercise and a bedtime routine are keys for sound sleep, she said.
Courtesy of Sean Coyne
Dr. Sean Coyne, assistant professor for W&J’s department of psychology, says stress itself isn’t bad, but too much stress can lead to health conditions. He encourages positivity and social connectedness for combatting stress.
America is stressed.
According to Stress in America 2022, a report published by the American Psychological Association, 55% of U.S. adults feel stressed during the day, a number 20% higher than the global average.
“Stress – it gets a really bad rap, but it’s actually a highly adaptive response. It’s been shaped by evolution for hundreds and hundreds of years. Stress actually frees up a lot of energy, it gets a lot of sugar into your blood, so you’re able to deal with some obstacle,” said Dr. Sean Coyne, assistant professor for Washington & Jefferson College’s department of psychology. “The problem with social primates, and in particular humans, is that we can really think about all of these other things. We can think about the future. We can have chronic stress. Our stress is supposed to turn on, deal with the problem and turn off. The system basically keeps itself on for far too long.”
Stress can cause a myriad of physical and mental health problems, including hypertension, difficulty sleeping, ulcers and chronic health conditions. It reduces the immune system’s ability to ward off infection, and can lead to problematic coping behaviors and, Coyne said, brain shrinkage.
Good stress or bad, it all adds up, said Jeff Jernigan, a board-certified and internationally recognized clinical psychologist with the American Institute of Stress, who specializes in all things stress-related.
“In general, stress is cumulative. It doesn’t matter whether it’s the good stress of a wonderful vacation or the de-stressing stress of an overwhelming trauma; both affect our minds and bodies in the same way. When we have too much stress, it becomes difficult for our bodies and brains to process,” Jernigan said.
“Our cognition goes down, our decision-making goes down, our working memory goes down. We find ourselves in a place now where it’s affecting our relationships and it’s affecting our work. We get to a place where we begin to lose energy and motivation and, at some point, we don’t have the motivation or the energy or the cognitive ability to realize our systems are shutting down; we’re heading for a crisis, and we don’t have the energy for self care.”
Reading about stress’s impacts to the body may have your cortisol levels skyrocketing, but Jernigan said there are five simple ways to better manage stress in the new year.
Eat a healthy, balanced diet
If we eat junk, we’re going to think junk, quipped Jernigan.
“We have to watch our biology as well as our psychology when it comes to stress management,” Jernigan said. “The first thing we can do is be careful of our nutrition, our diet, of what we eat and drink.”
There are about 50 nutrients the body needs to function at full capacity, and all 50 come from food and drink, Jernigan said. Our brains need two-thirds of those nutrients to run full steam ahead.
Jernigan recommends limiting fast food and carb intake. A consistently balanced diet ripe with fruits and vegetables can help alleviate stress in the new year.
Exercise weekly, sleep soundly nightly
Stress manifests in the body as cravings, particularly for salty or sugary foods that jolt us to action or offer comfort. But reaching for the nearest bottle of something strong isn’t a healthy way to deal with stress.
“Finding a healthy outlet for stress, so not necessarily binge-eating or wine, but finding a sort of healthy outlet” is important, said Coyne. “Even just little exercises, 30 minutes a couple times a week, could be highly effective at reducing your stress levels.”
Jernigan said aiming for 153 minutes of moderate or intense exercise weekly is good for brain health and stress reduction. Moving throughout the day is also a good way to refocus at work, wake up our bodies and brains and keep stress levels in check.
Exercise is great for working out stress, and it plays a key role in sleeping soundly.
“Your body is not going to fall asleep if you’re not tired enough,” said Feroza Patel, doctor of osteopathic medicine at Washington Health System’s Canonsburg and Washington locations. “It’s really important to do some physical activity. If you don’t have time, clean the house. Your body will actually get tired.”
Patel, who also serves as a sleep specialist, said there is a difference in sleep quality between those who move daily and those who don’t. Sleeping is important, she said, because that’s when our brains rid themselves of toxins and unnecessary information accumulated during the day.
Sleep is governed by cortisol levels, which decrease during the day, signaling to our bodies it’s time for rest. As morning nears, cortisol levels rise, eventually waking us up to a bright new day. When we’re stressed, it’s harder to sleep soundly or recover from the daily grind or illness.
“A lot of the time, people don’t know they’re stressed. They just know they can’t sleep at night. They have been under stress for such a long time, their bodies get used to it,” Patel said. “Evolutionarily, we need stress. The issue now is that in our current society, we are bombarded by so many different things, our bodies are constantly under stress. Instead of having a regular rhythm of cortisol slowly decreasing and increasing, these days our cortisol levels are always high. There’s no peak; it’s constantly elevated.”
Routine is key to a good night’s sleep, and Patel recommends avoiding caffeine after 4 p.m., taking warm baths, and putting away technology at least two hours before bedtime. She also recommends sleeping in a dark room with soothing sounds (like ocean waves) or calming aromatherapy scents, for those who need them.
Stay connected – to people, not devices
“A very successful way to buffer against stress is actually social connectedness,” said Coyne.
Getting together with family or enjoying a game night with friends lifts spirits, and the conversations that flow during nights with the people who “get you” can be surprisingly cathartic.
“Meaningful conversations, verbal interaction with people, is called processing. It’s actually a therapeutic process,” Jernigan said. “The beauty of it is it engages the left side of your brain and the right side of your brain. You hear yourself speaking, you hear other people speaking, and all that ties together structures in your brain that … brings relief and release. Having meaningful relationships with a number of people that you connect with is great for brain health.”
And it’s a fun way to de-stress.
Find purpose
Since the beginning, mankind has searched for meaning – and living a purposeful life is actually one way to decrease stress.
“Human beings, we want to feel important and useful,” said Patel. “When we feel, ‘Oh, my God, I’m no use,’ your body starts secreting these hormones that are not good for your body.”
While working a dream job may sound like a luxury not afforded everybody – the realities of financial stability are also a stressor and often drive careers – having hobbies or volunteering within the community can help combat stress.
Fulfilling work of any sort “triggers the production of good feelings, good chemistry, in your brain,” Jernigan said.
Be grateful
Gratitude journals aren’t just trendy; they’re a great way to combat stress.
“If you can, try to find silver linings. If you’re in a positive mood, it can actually greatly reduce your stress levels,” said Coyne. “If you wake up every morning and write down three things that you’re grateful for, that can really change the whole outlook of your day.”
Coyne encourages folks to cultivate a positive mindset, which helps individuals deal better with life’s curveballs and ultimately leads to lower stress levels.
Patel is a firm believer in self-reflection as a stress reducer.
“A lot of times we feel stress when we feel like we have no control over our lives. A lot of us have high-stress jobs. Take a minute and kind of reflect, try to avoid the triggers. When you’re driving around, take 10 minutes and think about, what is stressing me,” she said.
She also encourages folks to detox from social media and the news, both wonderful in moderation but oftentimes big sources of anxiety.
“If you’re constantly listening to the news, and the news is always telling you things that you don’t want to hear, it might be a good idea to take a break,” she said. “Take a break from stressors.”
Jump start the de-stress process
For those looking to jump-start the de-stressing process, meditation, yoga, float therapy or a salt cave session may be just what the metaphorical doctor ordered.
“With yoga or meditation, you’re basically looking at really just calming down, closing off the brain from going a million miles an hour, which is honestly just where everybody is,” said Lisa Mascara, who owns Salt of the Earth in Peters Township. “There’s a lack of connection with nature. For so many people, that’s a problem.”
Salt of the Earth offers reiki, cellular healing, yoga and quiet sessions in the salt cave, a vast, other-worldly space comprised of 32,000 tons of Himalayan salt. Guests spend 45 minutes snuggled under warm blankets in a zero-gravity chair while instrumental music plays softly over the natural sounds of a waterfall, one of the cave’s many impressive, relaxing features.
Salt cave sessions offer individuals time away from the fast-paced world, and reconnection to oneself helps lower stress in a way similar to meditation. Float therapy sessions, like those offered at True REST Float Spa in McMurray, too, offer sensory deprivation that allows the brain to pause and reduces stress levels.
A long walk through a park, online yoga or guided meditations (also available for free or with subscriptions online or through apps) are great for jumpstarting the de-stressing process, as well.
The long and short of it
There’s no secret to a stress-free life. In fact, a life without stress simply doesn’t exist. But stress is sometimes good, and bad stress is manageable if kept under control.
“If people understood stress as a normal part of life, they would fear it less,” said Jernigan. “It’s normal. It’s a healthy part of life. It can get out of control, but you can overcome that. Good nutrition, exercise, sleep, meaningful relationships and purposeful work are those things that build resilience and give us the strength to push back against the stress that builds in life. This is how you can protect your body and your brain from failure due to too much stress.”