Weight Loss Day 52

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Day 52

STRESSS?!?!

How are your current stress levels? Stress can be a pretty debilitating thing on a number of areas of our health and our lives. It can be a catalyst for us not eating well, not moving enough, getting a higher percentage of little aches and injuries, and certainly can be a major inhibitor to good sleep.

 

Even just a single night of tossing and turning, the areas of the brain that are involved in processing emotions become so hypersensitive that your reaction to something stressful may rocket out of proportion, ever found yourself all emotional or freaking out for no reason. Anyone with children can tell you how obvious the signs of symptoms of not enough sleep has on their child’s emotion and behaviours – it’s a pretty good window into what’s still going inside of you. As an adult, you’re just able to socially filter that a little more, but a lot of the same processes are still occurring.

 

The extra stress can then make sleep even more elusive the following night. Your cortisol levels are elevated and your heart is pumping faster, two things that will keep you awake and impair the quality of your rest even once you finally do drift off. In fact, research shows that people who slept just four hours one night had higher levels of cortisol the next night, making it hard for them to get back on track.

 

It’s a viscious cycle: You need sleep to de-stress but are too frazzled to turn in, and the lack of rest makes you even more tense. 

 

Going to bed earlier isn't always the answer either. In fact, turning in too prematurely can be another way of unproductively stressing out about trying to fall asleep. It’s a great way to give yourself insomnia.

 

There's no one bedtime—or sleep ritual—that works for everyone. Some of us love slipping between the sheets earlier; others would rather stay on the couch until their eyelids droop. Both ways are fine, as long as you start doing something restful—reading a book, watching something chill on Netflix (with the screen dimmed to minimize your exposure to blue light, which can disrupt your z's)— about 30 minutes before you want to be asleep. If you're not drowsy in that time frame, though, don't get anxious. The more relaxed you are, the easier it'll be to eventually drift off.

 

Chances are at some point in your life you’ve experienced anxiety, usually when faced with a stressful or worrying situation. Anxiety can bring feelings of fear, apprehension and worry, you might get nausea, quick breath, chest pain, and breathlessness. These will obviously impact your day-to-day life, on your decisions making, and your ability to get good sleep. Excessive anxiety is often linked or leads to issues such as depression.

 

Self help and relaxation techniques can also play an important role in relieving anxiety symptoms. Improving your eating habits and reduction in caffeine and sugar intake also helps, many of the things that you are already progressing on your 10-Week journey. Exercise and a relaxation stretching and breathing techniques can also be very helpful.

Don’t let anxiety stop you enjoying a fullness of life, one that you’re making so many good choices to achieve through the 10-Week Challenge. Reach out to your friends and family if you’re struggling. It’s so important to not let things accumulate until it all feels like it’s too hard. Anxiety is common, and you are not the only one, so make sure you get help.

If you are constantly worrying, and have a hard time controlling your worries then you might be suffering from anxiety.

Anxiety can make you cranky and irritable. You may get tired easily and often suffer from insomnia, which feeds the vicious emotional and behavioural cycle.

There are a number of steps you can take to help overcome or manage your anxiety. Naturally if you feel your at a place that is out of your control, you need to seek professional help and support. There are a number of other therapies a health professional can work on with you. A couple of the commonly used therapies are:

Behaviour Therapy: Here you are made to face your fear in a planned environment, and using different relaxation techniques, you are made to accept and overcome your anxiety and panic. This helps you to become more confident about managing fear and anxiety and also prepares you to face any kind of inducing situations. 

Cognitive-behavioural therapy: This is the most popular and effective type of psychotherapy to overcome your anxiety. The goal is to understand your thinking process and help you to develop coping skills before your anxiety takes over. This helps you:

• Challenge false or self-defeating beliefs
• Think positive