Stress Awareness
Some resources to manage stress and anxiety. (Image by rawpixel.com)
Stress is a normal reaction to everyday pressures, but it can become unhealthy when it upsets our daily life, or when it becomes chronic.
According to John Hopkins University of Medicine documentation, the biggest sources of stress in general are work, family/relationships, conflict/trauma, money/finances, health/illness and finally change/transition. Does it sound familiar?
Chronic stress
We all respond to stress differently. We might get short-tempered, feel pain or struggle with our monkey mind. Stress might affect our digestive system, our sleep, our ability to think clearly and our breathing pattern. Once stress is over, our systems resume their normal activities. But sometimes, stressors don’t go away, and/or we feel under stress constantly. Our systems don’t resume their normal activities and that can exacerbate - or even trigger- health problems or so-called ‘stress-related diseases’.
The illustration below taken from a research paper called Inflammation: The Common Pathway of Stress-Related Diseases shows that multifactorial factors, including genetic predisposition, aging and life style, act on stress-related diseases and that stress-induced chronic low-grade inflammation is the common soil of a wide variety of the chronic diseases.
Free resources
A while ago, I recorded three yoga sessions for anxiety and stress relief:
Restorative Yoga
Chair Yoga
Yoga on a Mat
You can access them HERE.
I’ve also added a 5 min Breathwork session HERE.
I hope that if you feel anxious, stressed or under pressure, these practices will help you feel more relaxed and serene. Please share if you know someone who is struggling with stress right now.
With love,
Véronique