Stress?? What is that? Why should I be more intentional? I am always cool, calm, collected, and chill!
JK, I’m a hot mess most of the time!
Stress is inevitable and we all know it’s harmful to our health. Your doctor may even say you need to reduce your stress.
First of all, that’s not helpful.
Second of all, how is that even possible??
You will always have stress, it’s not going anywhere. Instead of telling you to reduce your stress, I will teach you how to be more intentional so you can respond to stress instead of react to stress.
What does stress do and how can being more intentional help?
The nervous system is the major control center for thought processing, communication and homeostasis in your body. There are several parts of the nervous system, each controlling a different process in the body. The autonomic nervous system controls all the processes that are automatic like blood pressure, heart rate, breathing and digestion. There are two divisions of the autonomic nervous system: the sympathetic and parasympathetic.
The sympathetic nervous system is responsible for getting you out of danger. When the sympathetic nervous system is turned on, your heart rate and breathing rate increase to deliver more blood and oxygen to the muscles and parts of the brain and body systems that will get you out of danger quickly. In turn, less blood and oxygen are delivered to the parts of the brain and body that aren’t needed for immediate survival. This part of the nervous system is called Fight or Flight because when that lion is chasing you, you will either turn and fight it or run!
The parasympathetic nervous system is responsible for relaxing your body. When the parasympathetic nervous system is turned on, heart rate slows, breathing slows, and muscles relax. The processes in the body that are not needed for immediate survival also get turned back on, like digestion, growth hormone and tissue repair. This part of the nervous system is called Rest and Digest because you aren’t able to do either unless you are in the parasympathetic part of your nervous system.
The sympathetic nervous system is turned on during times of stress and with different emotions such as anger, fear, worry, anxiety and sadness. In our world, and with stress not going anywhere anytime soon, you may be living in a state of constant fight or flight. When the sympathetic nervous system continues to stay on, processes like digestion, tissue repair and the reproductive system struggle to work properly. Also, the front part of your brain doesn’t get used as well. This is the part of the brain that helps us be more intentional by helping us think clearly and respond instead of react.
The constant stress, fear, anxiety and worry about what the future holds while you suffer with a chronic disease is not helping your situation and will only make it worse if you aren’t taught how to be more intentional with your responses to stress.
How to be More Intentional
Being intentional means you are making a decision on purpose and for a reason. When it comes to stress that is leading to your chronic disease, learning how to be more intentional with several areas of your life can play a significant role in your healing.
How to be more intentional with your sleep
Staying in fight or flight will prevent you from getting deep, restful sleep. Take steps, starting early in the day, to be able to fall asleep and stay asleep. Some steps to take include getting enough movement to be tired, waking up early, getting outside early, doing stress management activities during the day, and putting electronics down an hour before bedtime. For more in-depth guidance, go grab my Energy Elixir here!!
How to be more intentional with your nutrition
What you eat can play a large part in your stress level. Food can either cause calmness and peace or stress and inflammation in your body. Intentionally eat food that will decrease inflammation and decrease the stress level of your body by choosing whole, real food over processed food. Other ways to be more intentional with your nutrition include choosing to eat at home instead of running through the drive through, filling up on nutrient dense meals and not snacking throughout the day, increasing water intake, and avoiding sweetened drinks.
This podcast gives a great explanation about the microbiome, inflammation and your diet.
How to be more intentional with your busyness
Saying no may be hard for you, but sometimes you have to get good at it. When you’re in a season of wanting to heal your chronic disease, but you feel pulled everywhere so you don’t feel like you can devote the time to it, that’s when you have to say no. The enemy can keep you busy, even with good things, to keep you sick.
Let’s Connect!
I’d love to hear any tips you may have on how to be more intentional for your health. Comment back with what you do! And as always, please share this with anyone you feel may enjoy reading the tips!!
