by phoebescopes | Feb 1, 2021 | Thoughts on Health
Upgrading your health
The processes taking place in your body are constantly, adjusting, evolving and shifting in response to your overall physiological activity and condition.
Here, most activities and actions happen behind the scenes- hidden from your conscious awareness but mounting damage or deficiency to areas of your physiology, then rise to the surface clearly indicating that something somewhere is not right.
And at this stage, you feel out of sync as the health issue takes the shape of a system functioning poorly or a system that has failed completely in areas of your body.
The reality is that by the time many people stop to acknowledge or report a health issue, they are actually dealing with referral symptoms originating from an old unresolved problem. This problem has remained behind the scenes, continuing quietly to compromise the system.
To better understand…
When you think about health and wellness, remember that humans are multi-cellular, complex organisms with an average of 30 trillion human cells in our body and of this, there are 200 different types of cells.
Each type of cell performs a unique and special function for (organs, cardiovascular, digestive, endocrine, immune, muscular, nervous, renal, reproductive, respiratory & skeletal system which collectively in a sort of matrix made up your physiology.
The same type of system also considers the impact of your external environment (air, food, water, temperature & toxins for example) and how these interrelated elements connect with and impact your internal physiology.
When I think about the processes taking place in the body, I remember watching an amazing giant domino toppling event.
I was captivated to see how dominos had to be set up and positioned strategically so that each one would fall at the right distance to correctly impact the next domino in the sequence.
It was a tense time for the tech team involved in this demanding venture because they knew there were two major risks that threatened the success of putting together the hugely complicated dominoes setup.
First of all, one incorrectly placed domino would cause thousands of dominos to fall when not scheduled to do so.
Or, the second risk was that the opposite scenario could happen where too much space was left between two pieces, and a single domino in the 1000s set up failed to hit the other and continue the chain.
Imagine that your internal physiology is actually one big endless network system of dominos (organs, tissues, cells) connected and vibrating with each other.
Now picture thousands of these dominos arranged in different branches that make up a network but on some branches, there is just one piece that has fallen short of fully connecting with the next in line.
Before long, there would be areas all over the network that are cut off, leaving those areas out of the loop-unable to contribute their share of what is required along their allocated parts of the network.
On a simple level, the domino operation and what takes place to leave sections disconnected and unable to carry on essential processes is also describing what happens in our system.
So when you are working to heal or maintain your health, it’s important to first remember that it is a combination of ideas and tools used together that will bring the most effective, health improving and lasting results.
Where can you start when working to improve your health
Well…Nutrition can never be an overstated suggestion.
Instead of being prescribed a pill or medication, using nutrition has the biggest impact to effectively improve your health and wellbeing.
Many foods, including fruits, vegetables, healthy fats, and protein sources, have been shown to reduce inflammation, improve immune function, promote healing, and provide the fuel necessary for you to get on the mend.
10 of the best foods to help you heal
Leafy green vegetables
Eggs
Salmon
Berries
Nuts & Seeds
Poultry
Organ meat
Cruciferous vegetables
Sweet potatoes
Shellfish
For full details about the foods mentioned, you can find this here: https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/foods-that-help-you-heal
It now also makes better sense to work with a treatment approach that looks your whole self in terms of body, mind and spirit, taking into account mental and social factors too rather than just the symptoms of a health complaint or disease.
Holistic healing is a valuable approach to incorporate in your journey to wellness.
It involves multiple complementary medicines and alternative healthcare practices that can overlap with modern-day western medicine supporting more than just the body and will go much further than treating just one symptom. Some of the most popular and effective holistic therapies are listed below.
Acupuncture
Energy work (reiki) therapy
Herbalism
Massage
Meditation
Yoga/Pilates
Physical therapy
Again, the value of getting good sleep is often overlooked.
Sleep is a vital component for health and wellbeing increasing your productivity, improving your mood and memory, strengthening your heart and of course boosting your immune system.
Sleep enables your body to initiate the most comprehensive ‘cell clean up & repair program’ only occurring with good quality sleep.
These simple tools used collectively can help realign those important domino pieces allowing them to resume their important functions again along the allocated parts of your wellness network.
For more ideas and suggestions on how you can promote health and wellness, you might like to subscribe to my 7 days of healing newsletter. My Newsletters contain information, videos and activities that become very useful building blocks and may also prove to be important on your new wellness journey.
please click the link below and subscribe to my newsletter from here.
https://phoebescopes.com/7newsletters/
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by phoebescopes | Jan 17, 2021 | Thoughts on Health
Here in London, the days are colder, greyer, wetter and windier. These conditions are fully expected at this time of the year.
There’s something about this season that always makes me feel like I’m preparing for a partial hibernation!
Many of us have to work a little harder to stay motivated and maintain wellness during this season, so I follow my seasonal routine and pull out a winter storage box where I stored away most of the extra warm clothing that only gets used for a few months of the year.
These days, my joints and muscles don’t like the cold temperature very much, so I get things ready for the usual challenge of capturing some deep core body warmth.
I start making soups- adding generous amounts of ingredients like garlic, chillis, lemon and ginger; used for centuries to ward off illness and boost the immune system.
I become increasing aware about the effects on my spirit/mood/ frame of mind; living through longer nights and shorter days and as the nights draw in, I begin to feel starved of Vitamin D.
Vitamin D- also known as the ‘sunshine vitamin’ helps maintain normal blood levels of phosphorus which is another bone-building mineral but is best recognized for its vital role in bone health.
Without it, the body can’t absorb the calcium-, increasing the risk of osteoporosis and fractures and it.
In fact, researchers have discovered that vitamin D is active in many tissues and cells besides bone and controls an enormous number of genes, including some associated with cancers, autoimmune disease and infection. Low D levels may make our immune systems less able to fight off germs & pathogens.
Even though we as humans can only make vitamin D from sun exposure, the list of vital roles it plays in the body still need to be met regardless of any absence of the sun’s rays.
In the UK, for example, sunlight doesn’t contain enough UVB radiation from October to early March for our skin to be able to make vitamin D.
I’ve heard people say that our body can make vitamin D while sitting indoors by a sunny window but this isn’t true because (UVB) rays that the body requires to make D cannot get through glass.
For this reason, people with health or mobility challenges and difficulties getting out as a result, are prone to becoming very deficient in vitamin D during winter months and learning the truth about how UVB remains blocked while indoors can make the situation feel more hopeless.
Of course, ensuring that you eat a well-balanced and varied diet, taking vitamin D supplements and incorporating some exercise in your daily routine are all essential to keep your immune system as strong as possible
but…
Is there anything we can do to support ourselves through this challenging season?
Yes, there are a combination of things that help maintain wellness and a healthy system.
Although our body cannot make vitamin D while sitting indoors by a sunny window, it is important to remember that the eyes also play an important part in our wellness because the human eye contains photosensitive cells in its retina, with connections directly to the pituitary gland in the brain. Stimulation of these important cells comes from sunlight, in particular, the blue unseen spectrum.
Taking in fresh air, natural daylight, and just small amounts of sunshine will still have a profound effect on our entire physiology and health-not only in the brain but in the whole body.
So, earlier today as I sat looking out onto the wet road, wind battered trees and grey blanketed view of the sky from the bedroom window, something interesting and powerful was happening to me as I found myself day dreaming.
While daydreaming, I was looking out at a clear blue sky, trees lining the street were in full bloom and instead of the sound of strong wind and rain, the sound of birds singing joyfully was the only thing I could hear.
The technique of recalling a happy moment or memory that’s the opposite of a current experience you are having is another really useful strategy to incorporate at this time because, when the going gets tough, the tough get nostalgic! Never underestimate the impact of happy thoughts.
I’d also like to share another really effective habit I adopted and practice, especially when natural light is limited due to the season.
The first time I became consciously aware of this habit was actually just as the spring season began years ago.
I remember that the winter before this new season had felt a lot longer than usual so that now, when the bright spring moments appeared, I wanted to take full advantage of the light and warmth that accompanied it.
Just as a sunflower leans towards light, I would be drawn towards the brightest room in my house.
As the sun moved round the house, I found myself getting up and moving with it-just to hold onto the daytime rays before they disappeared again for another day.
Now there were a number of reasons why this habit has worked for me ever since and can work for you too.
Well, moving around the space you live in helps create those opportunities to harness natural light and the benefits that come from it. The additional physical activity of relocating your daily activities a few times a day keeps blood and oxygen pumping through the body and is a great way to get additional exercise without a great deal of effort.
And again, if you are someone unable to get out for any number of reasons, then moving around the rooms in your home or even simply using different spaces within the same room shakes off that feeling of being surrounded by stagnant energy, it often feels like a change of scenery and can positively improves how you feel about your immediate surroundings.
Adapting to the global changes that are taking place for all of us, it has become even more important make embrace what is different, so today, start looking at the space you live and work in.
Because there are many simple yet affective solutions to support your health and they can often be found by observing every-day activities, patterns and habits.
After purchasing and using this book for many years to help me, you might like a copy: ‘Staying Healthy with the Seasons’ [Ssu Chi Chien Kang Fa] Elson M. Haas 21st Edition
https://blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/product/9781587611421?gC=5a105e8b&gclid=CjwKCAiAsOmABhAwEiwAEBR0Zit7neORE8Y4q2Cm30-ed6Xmuz5BbgQy4RPXmaY60LSr4_OKBfmciBoCntQQAvD_BwE
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Staying-Healthy-Seasons-Elson-Haas/dp/1587611422/ref=asc_df_1587611422/?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=310762441626&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=1549882407024428950&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9045901&hvtargid=pla-525539555688&psc=1&th=1&psc=1
by phoebescopes | Aug 30, 2020 | Thoughts on Health
I begin by raising a thought that somewhere early on in life, we are taught that children are not yet truly capable of knowing their minds.
And yet, how many times have we heard adults say that children are a good judge of character, still possessing pure natural instincts, that sense when something is not quite right?
Well, it was another appointment day
Sitting in the waiting room wandering how much longer it would be before my specialist consultant came out of his office and called my name, I took great interest in the other children sitting with one or both of their parents-also waiting to be seen.
Did these children have what I had and were they going to be seen by my specialist too?
I remember my consultant being a genuinely warm, smiley gentleman- his voice was calming and reassuring which had a way of disarming the aura of anxiety and tension that threatened to take over the waiting room.
But the doctor’s good energy could only go so far because I really disliked the whole experience of waiting around.
Finally, my name was called…
And just like maybe a 4×4 relay race, a series of handovers were put in place by the lady on the desk…seeing the doctor…being poked-prodded and asked to carry out physical tasks before being sent off to a different department clutching a form for a blood test and then going on to another department to have an x-ray.
As my young body grew, I also visited the plaster department every 9 to 12 months where my torso was wrapped to make a cast in preparation for a new back brace.
Now, this I liked!
I was fascinated to see part of my body copied in a three dimensional form. Did I look like?
With the exception of standing in front of a mirror, how many of us can say that we’ve seen entire sections or our whole body-front & back?
So, a new back brace was made and I needed new clothes all over again.
I sometimes wandered if the specialist had a daughter-maybe a son. I imagined his child or children to be very healthy and happy and wandered if he would use the same treatment for them if they were unwell like me.
So as a child growing up living with a few medical conditions, the whole affair of being told what to do or not do was greatly extended from parents and teachers to doctors, nurses and others involved in my medical journey.
Of course, their training and qualifications placed them in a position to advise my parents about the best way to treat my condition, so at such a young age, why did I often feel like I was taking part in an experiment? Maybe in the grand scheme of things as a child suffering with a spine abnormality, there were techniques, procedures and materials that were actually quite new.
Maybe I felt this way because I found some of the advice and treatment approach a bit strange, bizarre or even a little funny which often led me to ask the medical team questions about all sorts of things.
Of course there were times when I felt less courageous to speak out and would stay quiet- telling the voice in my head that the professionals knew everything.
Well after all, I was only 9 years old!
But try as I might to stay quiet, my instincts would eventually start shouting out-returning me to my ‘SELF’ again where my overriding thought was that the doctors didn’t know how I was feeling and couldn’t be sure about what was entirely best or me.
I have a strong memory of a time after having major surgery and being told that I would have to stay completely still in bed for many days if I wanted to recover from a serious operation.
I listened to the doctors and cooperated for a few days but as an ugly cycle emerged my instinct screamed at me to get up!
This ugly cycle of the drugs for pain, the drugs to treat constipation and medication to address iron deficiency had taken me further away from my reality and made me feel ‘out there’ somewhere. I didn’t like this feeling.
My instinct carried on screaming at me to get up and after becoming increasingly vocal with doctors and nurses, they agreed, with planning to schedule an earlier release from the bed.
Yes, I was in some pain from just simply being helped to sit up but movement really quietened my screaming mind, reduced tension in my body and was a great distraction while my body reconnected with its own abilities to heal.
Whenever I won the battles to stay out of bed, I didn’t feel like a sick person. Instead, I felt that I was having a say in my life and participating in my outcome.
With this new arrangement working well, I was discharged from hospital ahead of time.
So back then over 40 years ago, it’s amazing that my ‘child self’ must have seen something of the future because today, if we have back ache or are recovering from any number of operations and procedures or have a medical condition, we are routinely advised to move around, get exercise, natural light, fresh air and stay OUT of bed unless it’s ABSOLUTELY necessary.
I believe we are ALL born with the ability to develop and nurture our survival instincts.
But when we hand over to others that ability to engage with our intuition or ’gut’ or we totally expect others to make decisions for us we dilute or loose this skill which quickly behaves like a muscle that is unused.
Fortunately though, we can rebuild and strengthen our instinctive muscles again if we put in the work and maintain interest in our wellness.
How do we do this?
Well, before exploring different methods, I first want to be clear by saying that I do not encourage anyone to be a maverick about their health. This is not taking responsibility for your health and could be detrimental in some cases.
1) Instead…If you are told something relating to your health & wellness that doesn’t feel right or make sense to you, remember that in many cases, you have a right to request more time to think about what has been said.
In this case, you might decide to gather additional information, do more research or seek a fresh opinion where needed. Remember…Knowledge is King.
2) The best doctors are not stuck to their drug prescription forms or standard medical journals.
Where possible, the best medical professionals want you to participate in the job of keeping you well. Often with little time to spend on individual patients and appreciating that they don’t know how you’re feeling (unless you say), good doctors are in favour of not just working for your benefit but working with you.
This kind of working relationship allows for ideas, suggestions, wellness plans and programs to be explored and used for the best treatment results.
When dealing with wellness plans or programs, possible ideas and suggestions that could not only be very affective and also resonate with you could also be important consideration especially when you and your doctor work together.
The long and short of it is:
You can have a huge rewarding part to play in your own life when you decide to be your own best advocate. This means: listening and trusting your instincts, having the courage to question and dismiss the things that do resonate with you and striving to live a life that feels like yours instead of someone else’s.
by phoebescopes | Jul 25, 2020 | Thoughts on Health
“I was too busy to think about what might be going on inside me. Whatever it was, it could wait…right?”
So, while I tried to ignore the signs of a medical catastrophe-as it lay fairly dormant and only occasionally came to the surface, ‘IT’ happened…and just like a volcano erupting, my immune system was raging and out of control.
So, there it was…
I could no longer ignore, brush aside or pretend it wasn’t there or happening and I knew that its impact would be significant enough to alter and change my future life ‘landscape’ just like hot molten lava leaving land unrecognizable after rolling over everything in its path.
It happened to me
It was the gradual, progressive kind of medical condition that during the first episodes (mild tremors), was easy enough to ignore because symptoms were short-lived and didn’t have a lasting impact on me. But these episodes were accumulating-becoming more frequent and collectively revealed pockets of damage.
These pockets of damage were slowly building up and merging into a bigger problem that soon told a different story about the state of my health.
Before these tremors of disease, I was excited about life! Sharing good times and places with family and friends and making plans for the future. I was an energetic designer and ran a business that depended on me for survival but I was gradually losing the ability to keep both my company and some future plans alive.
Now, a sense of loss, panic, fear, denial, anger and doubts about the future held me in a place where ‘that’ person I grew into and knew very well had slowly become a stranger to me.
One day as I sat down thinking, I remembered as a child being told never to trust or talk to strangers but here I was – feeling forced to live with the stranger in my disease – never knowing when it was happy or angry or what it would do next but knowing that my life would be affected without a minutes’ notice.
I know that for a while, I sat in a state of confusion and despair wandering when ‘I’, the old me would return to my normal level of wellness. I just wanted the stranger- the invader to go away.
Is this or has this happened to you too?
What would become of you if you were no longer able to be that person you’ve grown up with your entire life because of a sudden accident or progressive medical condition that significantly impacts and changes your landscape?
It’s a question that many of us tend not to think about or ask ourselves until we’re having to contemplate living life with that health stranger in an unpredictable position that leaves you feeling overwhelmed and undermined.
Of course, prevention is better than cure but what can you do to start building a healthier life & lifestyle after a health crisis?
Like many people looking for instant results, you could go head to head with your disease by launching an attack- just reaching for and relying on drugs to fix the problems and heal you but I don’t recommend this plan of action!
The body registers many of these drugs as invaders too and releases a barrage of chemicals to fight them off which creates more ‘fire’ (inflammation) in the body.
This new inflammation causes unfavorable symptoms, attacking the nervous system and creating further damage that in time often becomes another one of those conditions or diseases that appear.
I have come to learn and understand the importance of preventing those attacks ‘fires’ from taking hold in the first place because without certain kinds of bad inflammation diseases is not fuelled and the damage that usually follows can be prevented.
So it’s safe to say that staying as close to our body’s natural makeup in terms of what we eat, drink and use when treating complaints, conditions and diseases creates a much better environment for us to maintain wellness in and initiate repairs.
We are all very different so our experiences with alarm, inflammatory activators will vary but there are some triggers that most of us would do well to avoid all together.
Refined Sugar & Artificial Sweetners . Vegetable Oil . Fried Foods . Refined Flour . Dairy . Artificial Additives Saturated Fats . Prescribed Medicines . Emotional and/or Physical Stress
These culprits might appear relatively harmless and with occasional exposure, the body might be able to manage their negative effects but it’s worth consider their ability to create inflammation each time we encounter them and then remember that reoccurring inflammation leads to damage and disease.
You see…as long as we keep bad inflammation damped down, that stranger we know as inflammation will be less encouraged to lurk around us.
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by phoebescopes | Jul 25, 2020 | Thoughts on Health
Now for some years and for a number of reasons, I have taken a preference in having a shower instead of a bath.
The convenience and speed that showering provides is clearly the main advantage of doing this and the fact that water consumption is also greatly reduced is another.
I also often found the concept of taking a soak in a bath; surrounded by the dirt I want to clean away a contradicting exercise, nevertheless I could see that there are circumstances where the therapeutic benefits of having a soak take priority.
I have a condition that sometimes creates muscle spasms and tension resulting in pain or discomfort in very hot and cold temperatures.
So, the opportunity to relax in a bath of Epsom salt or similar remedies was usually very helpful to alleviate my symptoms and enhance my state of wellbeing.
A number of years after been diagnosed with my condition, I had become aware that if I got too hot, a sense of lethargy often took over my body, causing me to temporarily slow down or gradually ground to a halt.
A cold drink, a fan or simply just stopping activities and resting for a while was usually all that was required to cool me down and allow a full return of body function.
Then one day, things changed and I was alone with my spirit guide.
I remember the evening of this day like it was yesterday. The sky had been covered in a grey blanket for most of the day and the rain fell continuously.
The weather had been pretty miserable and I wasn’t looking forward to my regular 4 mile cycle home but I just kept visualizing being sat with a glass of wine in my lounge room at home.
A few years back, I had restored the cast iron fireplace in this room and I loved this space…listening to the crackling sound of the fire, the smell of burning logs and watching the flames dancing was a treat after a busy day.
I held on to thoughts of being in front of the fire because by the time I set off on my bike, the rain was falling heavier than it had done all day and despite all the waterproof gear I was wearing I returned home tired and thoroughly drenched.
I was looking forward to a long soak in the tub.
I added a few drops of my favourite bath oil to the warm water and lit some tea lights, placing them around the room before getting in.
I sighed deeply as I closed my eyes, getting comfortable and ready to soak the day away. I was looking forward to wrapping up in my thick robe afterwards and sitting in front of the open fire with that glass of wine.
After maybe half an-hour, I became aware that I was slowly sliding under the water, so I tried to lift my knees, and move my arms to prop myself back up again.
This is when I realized that I couldn’t really feel my limbs anymore.
I tried to move but my whole body felt so weighted and the water began to feel like concrete that had just been poured over me in the bath tub.
I carried on sliding further down into the bath so that eventually water fully covered my shoulders and was now approaching my chin.
I could feel my heart beginning to pound so deeply that the water over my chest appeared to ripple.
I tried to call out to my husband and daughter who were somewhere in the house. I tried to shout but the only sound that came out was a whisper.
My head felt stuffy and I couldn’t think about the next thing to do. All the while, I was fixed on a sensation of the water level reaching my bottom lip.
I still could not move my limbs, and suddenly began to cry quietly and I asked my higher power to help me get out.
by phoebescopes | Jul 25, 2020 | Thoughts on Health
What is this thing we call stress?
It appears to be something of a buzzword that everyone uses these days to describe difficult or challenging life experiences.
Simply put, stress is your body’s way of responding to any kind of demand or threat. When you sense danger—whether it’s real or imagined, the body’s defenses kick into high gear in a rapid, automatic process known as the “fight-or-flight” reaction or the “stress response”.
Everyone experiences stressful situations in many different forms throughout life. We’re often warned about what stress can do but do we really understand the impact of the wrong kind of stress or being continuously stressed?
To answer the question, we first need to know how the stress response system works.
When we feel threatened, our nervous system responds by releasing a flood of stress hormones including adrenaline and cortisol, which prepares the body for emergency action. The heart pounds faster, muscles tighten, blood pressure rises, breath quickens, and our senses become sharper.
These physical changes increase body strength and stamina, speed reaction time, and enhance our focus—preparing us to either fight or flee from the danger at hand.
Once the perceived danger or emergency is over, our stress system is then free to return to a state of calm again-until the next time it’s called on.
Right?
Well, it’s true that when working properly, the stress response helps us stay focused, energetic, and alert which in emergency situations, can provide extra strength to defend and protect us in life situations.
In day-to-day living, stress is what keeps us on your toes for that works presentation job interview or maybe taking a driving test and stress can help us rise to meet challenges.
So yes, in an ideal situation, the stress system would work as described but instead, it seems to have so much more to be on guard against these days!
Our nervous system isn’t very good at distinguishing between emotional and physical threats so many more people are experiencing major difficulties managing their stress levels.
Chronic stress disrupts nearly every system in your body. It can suppress your immune system, upset your digestive and reproductive systems, increase the risk of heart attack and stroke, and speed up the aging process.
It can even rewire the brain, leaving you more vulnerable to anxiety, depression, and other mental health problems.
A few health problems caused or exacerbated by stress include:
Depression and anxiety
Pain of any kind
Sleep problems
Autoimmune diseases
Digestive problems
Skin conditions, such as eczema
Heart disease
Weight problems
Reproductive issues
Thinking and problems with memory
Ok, I have to admit that I enjoy filling my time with all sorts of creative projects and I get a kick out of being ‘on the go’. I’m sure that my attitude developed as a result of having a childhood illness that meant I was sometimes in hospital-laid up in bed for weeks at a time.
So, I guess I am now the sort of person that prefers to be upright… always looking for challenging things to occupy myself with, whether on a recreational level or in my work.
I can sometimes bite off more than I can chew which left unchecked begins to produce the wrong chemicals in the body.
I know first- hand that beyond a certain point, the once productive stress that usually serves to keep us excited and focused slowly becomes like a poison running through the nervous system.
It starts causing major damage to our health, our mood, our productivity, our relationships, and our quality of life.
With an autoimmune condition, I am much more aware about how stress affects me. Negative thoughts, raised ugly voices during rows, anger and frustration are among the top worst emotions for me to engage in as they often result in a sudden, pounding headache, fatigue and numbness in my legs afterwards.
I once even developed a sort of temporary blindness in one eye after having a steaming row with a friend.
The Tragedy of burying loved ones and the mixed emotions I held after shutting down my 15 year design business also created the biggest and most destructive stress triggers that my system had dealt with in many years!
My body was shutting down because it was in a continuously, hightened state of shock.
I no longer had a calm period-but was instead quickly burning out. Around this time, my autoimmune condition came to life and wouldn’t shut down. It is both fascinating and terrifying just how stress can affect us.
My saving grace was being able to first identify what was now fueling or creating a number of symptoms and then use a number of tools to begin calming my immune system-but it was still only after a couple of years of being so unwell that the ‘drowning feeling’ I’d had battled for so long, finally left my stress system.
If you tend to get stressed out frequently—as many of us do in today’s demanding world—your body may be in a heightened state of stress most of the time. And that can lead to serious health problems.
What can you do to keep an eye on your stress response system?
There are simple things you can do to try and consciously avoid some of the stress triggers I mentioned earlier.
Take a ‘time out’ break before your activities overwhelm you. Short breaks work best and are easier to factor in.
When you are here, use your ‘time out’ to meditate, listen to soothing music or engage your mind in a breathing awareness exercise.
I also believe that the act of recognizing that you are in a stressful situation in the first place and then working to remove it helps to manage and modify the long term negative impacts of living with the wrong kind of stress.
The techniques you can use for instant ‘calming’ are visualization and mantra work.
I like the fact that both can be used-and practiced anywhere and don’t cost anything! If I feel sad, anxious or nervous about something, the first thing to do is to try and slow the pace of your heart which is usually pounding or racing at that moment.
Leaving you with something I do:
To slow things down, I imagine that I’m in a garden surrounded by the sweetest smelling flowers that I really love such as freesia.
I take deep breaths to fully hold on to the smell and as I do this, I repeat a mantra in my head or out loud.
I also use this technique if I’m having some difficulty winding down or sleeping.
Lying in bed, I begin to repeat a mantra in my head and initially feel that it’s not working and I’m still awake but in the morning, I always wander how and when I finally drifted off.
What do you do?
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