Stress Awareness Month

Since its inception in 1992, Stress Awareness Month has served as a crucial reminder of the importance of managing stress in our lives. The current landscape of work, family, the feeling we need to be busy all the time, (or scrolling through social media when we are not-just to keep our cortisol levels high…) certainly doesn’t help.

I know this blog is a bit late. Stress Awareness Month is "officially" April. And today is April, 30th... I must've been too busy to write this earlier on this month. Sorry about that. The fact of the matter is that we (as a culture) are STRESSED.

In 2022, just about 41% of people surveyed stated they were stressed and experienced "a lot of worry."

In fact the American Psychological Association stated in 2022: We are facing a national mental health crisis that could yield serious health and social consequences for years to come.

Some of the increase in stress stems from the COVID-19 pandemic (that certainly didn't help matters). Nearly 8 in 10 adults state the pandemic has been a significant stressor in their lives (check out this informative slide here). However, a lot of stress can also be attributed to general decrease in exercise, increase in work hours, increase in work-availability (many people working from home now are actually "working" more hours than they were in-office), lack of connection with others (so much time on "social" media without truly being social and CONNECTING), poor diet, lack of reading or working on stress outlets, etc.

These stressors alone may seem "small" but the consistency of them and the build up can lead to some devastating things.

Some forms of stress are good for us. When we are stressed, our body is warning us of trouble, our fight or flight reflexes are enabled, breathing rate and heart rates are increased, (ancestors used this to help run away from predators), the inflammatory response is triggered (in case that tiger bites us, we can start healing right away), fat and cholesterol production increase (to aid in wound healing) blood sugar is increased, and sensitivity to pain is increased (to give us more impetus toward flight-to run away). However, these same things happen with prolonged, smaller stresses.

The same responses to stress that helped save our lives when we were actively running from prey, are slowly decreasing our life spans now. I personally have not had to run away from a Sabre-Tooth tiger in quite some time. Your life may be different, but I'm guessing not many reading this have had to do that this morning either. Instead, these day to day stressors may be smaller, but they are constant, and our brains sometimes don't know the difference.

So how do we cope with the daily barrage of stress?

The good news is, we can create tools/weapons in our arsenal to combat these stressors.

1) Take some time for yourself! Try to incorporate small parts of your day to decompress. (No phones allowed unless it is gentle background music). Take a walk, read a book, get out in nature. Studies have shown that even short nature walks help decrease stress-A LOT.

2) Seek a support system. I am a big proponent of counseling. All of us could use someone to talk to, and it can be extremely beneficial to speak to someone who is not in your circle, who is there to listen, give advice and does not judge.

3) Get adjusted! Shameless plug, but studies show Chiropractic care helps reduce the feelings of stress and help your body cope with the stress that you cannot eliminate. A balanced body handles daily life better (less pain, clearer thinking, better movement and a better sense of well-being are all "side" effects of chiropractic).

4) Exercise. You may not want/need to join a gym, and you don't have to. Even a daily walk of 30 mins (go 15 minutes away from your house, turn around and walk back) is an excellent start. Movement helps the body regulate cortisol-oxytocin-dopamine balance and uplifts mood, decreases fat production, helps normalize blood pressure (long-term) and helps you FEEL LESS STRESSED!

5) Limit unhealthy coping mechanisms. Alcohol, drugs, over-eating, junk food, scrolling social media (endlessly) can give you a quick short-term dopamine hit. However, these things consequentially create a lower oxytocin hit-the longer term/connection hormone. Dopamine is fleeting too-so soon we just want to keep getting that small boost over and over again, all the while not truly coping, just covering up.

6) Give yourself some grace. You are doing your best. Life happens. Guilt due to stress doesn't eliminate stress, only adds to it. So allow yourself some time to think and even tell yourself how good you are doing. You have made it this far, with some small changes, you will go even further-and have more fun doing it!

-Have an amazing day!-Dr. Joel Lindeman