5-Minute Mindfulness (8 page)

You already know you’re not a superhero. Stress takes its toll on your body, with any of the following unwanted side effects:

• Sweating

• Cold extremities

• Nausea, vomiting

• Diarrhea

• Muscle tension

• Dry mouth

• Confusion

• Nervousness, anxiety

• Irritability, impatience

• Frustration

• Panic

• Hostility, aggression

Even worse, being under stress for extended periods has been linked to depression, loss of or increased appetite, resulting in undesirable weight changes, frequent minor illnesses, increased aches and pains, sexual problems, fatigue, loss of interest in social activities, increased addictive behavior, chronic headaches, acne, chronic backaches, chronic stomachaches, and worsened symptoms associated with medical conditions such as asthma and arthritis. Let’s take a closer look at some of the most common ways stress can manifest in our bodies.

BRAIN BURNOUT

The burnout epidemic is a result of people failing to manage their stress. Many people struggle with anxiety and depression, both signs that the brain’s circuits are not firing properly. Two mental illnesses—generalized anxiety disorder and depression—exemplify a brain short-circuiting. Generalized anxiety disorder is chronic stress for no apparent reason, while depression is a sense of empty hopelessness and a loss of the ability to enjoy life. Both exemplify a brain on burnout that can’t tell what’s really stressful or even what’s pleasurable anymore. If you have experienced either condition, reflect on your life and see if a stressful event, job, or relationship may have been a factor contributing to this condition.

THE BRAIN SOOTHER

When your mind is overburdened, do something with your hands. Many people find relief in baking bread, painting, gardening, doing home repairs, or practicing amateur carpentry. Building or creating something helps the mind to focus. When you are hammering a birdhouse together or decorating a birthday cake, you don’t have room in your brain to worry.

TUMMY TROUBLE

Stress doesn’t just affect the brain; it also affects the digestive system, or “second brain.” The gut is the source of hormones and chemicals that regulates mood. Long-term episodic or chronic stress has been linked to a number of digestive maladies. It’s no wonder that stress-related conditions, such as irritable bowel syndrome, Crohn’s disease, and celiac disease, are on the rise as people’s guts struggle with stress overload.

HOW STRESS AFFECTS THE DIGESTIVE SYSTEM

When the body undergoes the stress response, first, the blood is diverted away from the digestive tract to large muscles. The stomach and intestines may empty their contents, preparing the body for quick action. Many people experiencing stress, anxiety, and nervousness also experience stomach cramps, nausea, vomiting, or diarrhea. (Doctors used to call this a “nervous stomach.”)

YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT

Poor diet is also a contributor to digestive distress. Many people forget to drink water and eat well while stressed, which can lead to constipation and even hemorrhoids. Others substitute soda and processed food when life gets tough, and both can cause constipation from lack of fiber and essential nutrients. To maintain a healthy digestive system, be sure to eat well and drink plenty of water, especially when stressed.

THE TUMMY SOOTHER

If you are subject to stomach upset, try one of the following fixes:

Water.
Dehydration can contribute to tummy troubles, so be sure to drink lots of water—especially if you consume carbonated beverages on a regular basis.

Ginger.
In Asia, ginger has long been used as a cure for gastrointestinal problems, and more people in the West are finding it helpful now as well. You can sip water and suck on some dried ginger; if that’s too much for you, try hot ginger tea with honey.

Crackers.
The common cure for morning sickness can also work for you whether you are pregnant or not, as the crackers help absorb some of the stomach acid that fuels upset.

Tea.
In addition to ginger tea, chamomile tea and peppermint tea with honey can also help.

EMOTIONAL EATING AND STRESS SNACKING

Mood eating can lead to weight gain, in addition to digestive problems. Eating to “feel” better is not good, for your feelings or for your waistline. Yet, many people grab a soda or eat a tasty, high-fat meal to unwind after a stressful day. To make matters worse, many people have a favorite comfort food, sweet or salty, that they hold close like a teddy bear during times of stress. Even people who eat well as a rule break down for a treat in the midst of stress.

THE SNACK ATTACK SOOTHER

An occasional treat is part of a healthy and balanced diet. Eating badly to feel better, however, is neither healthy nor balanced. Explore other activities to unwind besides eating a mixing bowl of ice cream. Exercise, a healthy snack, or other treat can easily be substituted for a fatty, sugary feel-good friend as a reward for a stressful event or conversation.

THE STRESSED-OUT HEART

Heart attacks used to be an epidemic for men, the strong, silent types, who bore the stress of work and family alone. In recent years, heart attacks have become an epidemic for women, too.

THE HEART BEAT OF STRESS

Some scientists believe stress contributes to hypertension (high blood pressure), and, for decades, people have advised the nervous, anxious, irritable, or pessimistic among them that they’ll work themselves into a heart attack. In fact, people who are more likely to see events as stressful do seem to have an increased rate of heart disease. If you are one of these people, your perception of stress is about to change. Remember, you control your level of stress. Stress only controls you if you let it.

A high-fat, high-sugar, low-fiber diet (the fast-food, junk-food syndrome) contributes to fat in the blood and, eventually, a clogged, heartattack-prone heart. Coupled with lack of exercise, the risk factors for heart disease increase, all because you were too stressed out to eat a salad and go for that walk (day after day after day).

THE HEART SOOTHER

Polluting your body with too much saturated fat and highly processed, low-fiber food has a direct effect on health. Just as a polluted river soon cleans itself when the pollution stops, so will your coronary arteries begin to clear out if the body is freed from having to process foods that are damaging to good health. So, lose the junk food, and incorporate more fruits and vegetables into your diet.

STRESSED-OUT SKIN

Ever notice how pimples get worse after a stressful presentation, a pallid complexion results in anticipation of a difficult conversation, or the lips get dry after forgetting to drink enough water? The skin, the largest organ of the human body, also shows signs of stress.

ACNE — NOT JUST FOR TEENS

Teens aren’t the only ones suffering from stress-induced acne, however. Skin problems such as acne are usually related to hormonal fluctuations, which in turn can be exacerbated by stress. Stress can extend the length of time these skin flare-ups occur, and damage can take longer to repair in a compromised, stressed-out immune system.

THE SKIN SOOTHER

Try cucumber slices on your eyes after applying a facial mask or aftershave for an in-home spa experience. Dim the lights, light some candles, lie down flat, and enjoy the cucumber’s coolness sinking into your skin. Now, this is refreshing! Try slightly damp, used tea bags, a chilled eye mask, or smooth stones as variations.

PIMPLED SKIN

Long-term stress can lead to chronic acne. Eating badly, forgetting to practice healthy skin care, and chronic dehydration will also affect your skin. Stress also contributes to psoriasis, hives, and other forms of dermatitis.

CHRONIC PAIN

Ever notice how migraines, arthritis, fibromyalgia, multiple sclerosis, degenerative bone and joint diseases, and old injuries all feel worse when you’re under stress? That’s because, along with stress’s other victims, the body’s pain tolerance has also succumbed.

Pain is tricky. Pain is your body’s way of alerting you that something is not functioning well or is in danger and needs your attention. How much pain you have is not always directly proportional to the health risk you are facing. How you react to the pain is one factor that can make it worse. For example, a woman hospitalized for back surgery with an angry daughter in her room yelling about the hospital bill is likely to have greater and longer-lasting pain than the same woman in a room with a caring friend or nurse.

THE PAIN SOOTHER

When your mind is relaxed, it will be easier to reduce your pain than it will be if you cannot relax. Being aware that stress is exacerbating a preexisting condition is the first step to saying no to stress. A simple note to self—” This is just the mind worrying. I can handle this”—and taking several deep, relaxing breaths may decrease the pain because you will not stay in the mind-set of fear.

STRESS AND YOUR IMMUNE SYSTEM

Ever notice how a bout with a bug often follows a stressful event? Your immune system is your body’s frontline defense against colds, flu, and any type of infection or illness. But when stress exhausts your body, your immune system is compromised.

THE IMMUNE SYSTEM SOOTHER

One of the best things you can do to boost your immune system is increase your beta-carotene intake. Make sure you eat plenty of sweet potatoes, carrots, spinach, cantaloupe, kale, turnip greens, papaya, broccoli, apricots, mangoes, peaches, and butternut squash. Note: Smokers and people exposed to asbestos should avoid beta-carotene.

The Stress List Exercise

Make a list of the physical symptoms you experience from excessive stress. Take the time to reflect on each physical symptom, and in the following week, be attentive to any event that triggers the physical symptom. Explore ways to minimize the stress causing the physical condition. For example, do you have headaches as a consequence of fighting with your partner over not spending enough time together? Hire a babysitter for a date night. Your body may just thank you.

THE STRESS–DISEASE CONNECTION

While not every expert agrees on which diseases are linked to stress and which to other factors, such as bacteria or genetics, an increasing number of scientists and others believe that the interrelatedness of the body and mind means that mental and emotional stress can contribute to, if not cause, almost any physical problem. Because of this interconnectedness, the cause and effect can occur in the reverse direction, too: Physical illness and injury can contribute to mental and emotional stress.

The result is a spiral of stress—disease—more stress—more disease, which can ultimately cause serious damage to the body, mind, and spirit. The question of which came first may be irrelevant, and quibbling about which conditions are caused by stress and which are not may be irrelevant as well. Managing stress, whether it caused physical problems or resulted from them, will put the body into a more balanced state, and a body that is more balanced is in a better position to heal itself. It will also help the mind to deal with physical injury or illness, thereby reducing suffering.

DISARM YOUR BULLYING MIND

Stress cannot ravage your body unless you let it. Your mind, the command center of your body and spirit, is more than just the brain in your head. How you perceive the world is key to what causes you stress. Is life really too busy? Are you juggling too many things? Control your mind with self-awareness and practice stress-busting in daily life, and you are well on your way to controlling stress.

RUNNING ON AUTOPILOT

Everyone knows what it’s like to run on autopilot. Those are the days when you don’t even have time to sit down for all three meals, let alone take some time out for yourself. Why is there so much to do? First you’re bouncing from meeting to meal to meeting, barely there; then someone says something offensive, and then the boss spills hot coffee on you, and suddenly you’re descending in the dreaded roller coaster. How did that happen?

Though you may indeed have a busy job, needy family, social obligations, countless errands, and a home to maintain, who doesn’t? How do some people avoid the stress roller coaster and others don’t? Here’s the trick: Turn off the autopilot.

Awareness is key to stopping stress before it manages you. When you put your life on autopilot, you check your brain at the door.

WHY YOUR PERCEPTION OF STRESS MATTERS

A busy day for one person is a slow day for another. Perception is key to stopping stress before it stops you. The term
perception
simply means how you see the world. A tour at the local art gallery might be inspiring for you but torture for someone who’d rather be playing paintball. It’s all about perception.

Changing your perception can be challenging: That’s why some people spend a lifetime in therapy with gifted professionals trying to change their perception of the world. Indeed, the whole discipline of psychology is based on how the human mind perceives the world around it.

How you see the world directly affects how you see stress. Mindfulness can help you change your perception of both.

Top Three Torments Ecercise

Stop right now, and write down the first three things that you hate doing that come to mind. Does it stress you out having to deal with these things? How much do you find yourself thinking about doing these things—or
not
doing them? How important is it that you actually do them? Can you hire someone else to do them? Enlist the help of friends or family? What would it take to cross them off your list—forever?