Happy Halloween! This post has nothing to do with blood, but it does have to do with guts. i just added the blood because I feel like blood and guts are festive in a Halloween-y way. Anyway, the American Institute of Stress's November newsletter is entitled "Stress and the Gut: Mind over Matter?"
The newsletter is quite long, so let me sum up. Basically, digestion stops working properly when the body is under stress. The body focuses on the processes that are essential to life when you're stressed out and turns off those that are not. So normal digestive activity gets messed with. In addition, the gut is directly connected to the brain has almost every hormone and neurotransmitter that the brain has. As such it is very sensitive to things like feeling anxious or nervous.
What it all boils down to is that stress can cause and/or aggravate all sorts of stomach problems - from acid reflux to IBS.
This is all just another reason to reduce the stress in your life. So take a nice slow breath in. And let it out nice and slow. Because things get crazy sometimes, and sometimes stress is unavoidable. But even if you can't avoid it you can always control how you handle it. So don't forget to breath.
Its Tuesday! I am working from home today but that doesn't mean that it isn't still Less Stress in the Office Day. Hopefully everyone at my office is having a wonderful and not so stressed out day.
I wish I could take credit for it but today's tip actually originates in an episode of 30 Rock. They have a one minute dance party in the office in one of the first episodes. Anyway, it was a fantastic idea and thus we have adopted the strategy in our office in downtown nyc.
If you have a way to play music, and a watch, you can do this one. At around 3 in the afternoon, or whenever it is that you are totally starting to fade and lose all motivation to be productive, or you can do it when things are really starting to get hectic and you are feeling overwhelmed. It'll only take a minute.
Get up from your desk, turn on some music and dance for one minute. And I mean seriously rock out. Shake your butt, wave your arms, move your feet, jump up and down. Just for a minute. Then turn off the music and sit back down. That's it.
In case you aren't sure what song to dance to, this is one my personal favorites (courtesy of Helen. Thanks Helen!)
Today I ate too much at lunch. Now I am uncomfortably full. I am pretty sure that I would feel a whole lot better if I had had a slightly smaller lunch.
So today's suggestion is one that I hope to follow tomorrow to avoid feeling icky like this again - don't eat fast. Fast eating can cause indigestion, and lead to feeling overly full (because your body's fullness receptors don't kick in until you have already eaten too much) and gross and like you would rather nap than work.
But if you do happen to find yourself in my situation, try focusing on slowing down your breathing for 5-10 minutes. I just did it for 5 and it made me feel infinitely better. Slowing down your breathing engages your relaxation response, and your digestion activates when you're relaxing. So breathing should help move things along.
Alternatively, you could rub your belly for a while. I don't known that it helps but it sure feels nice.
Happy Tuesday! Once again it is Less Stress in the Office Day, or whatever I decided to call it last week. Today's time tested office technique (wow, unintentional alliteration) is the Push-up Race.
Exercise is clearly one of the best ways to relieve stress. There's just no arguing about that. People who exercise regularly are generally more balanced than people who don't. That said, I am terrible at exercising. I don't make the time to do it, and for the most part, when I do do it, I don't enjoy it. I am certain the runner's high is a myth created by Nike.
But I have felt a little something good after finishing other sorts of exercise. For example, when I am feeling energetic and I do my yoga video it is pretty painful during, but afterwards it feels great (By the way, this dvd is really good and recommended by my yoga instructor friend. If you are looking to do yoga in your home I recommend this).
The point of all this is the push-up race.
Today I will race against Fred. First, it is important to even the playing field. In this example fred will be doing one-armed push-ups and I will be doing girl push-ups (on my knees). We have found out this is the most fair because I am quite slow (but getting faster).
Then race to 20. First one there wins. Count out loud.
What good will this do you? You will get up from your desk for a second and get your blood going. You will think about something other than work. You might even laugh. And, if you do this with some regularity you might actually improve your upper body strength. All good things.
No one ever thanks the MTA. You hear plenty about how crowded the subways are, or how slow, or how much people don't like their commute, but no one ever says "Thanks, MTA! I got to work on time today!" or "Thanks a bunch for being way cheaper and faster than a cab ride!" or "Thank you MTA! I got a seat and it was wonderful!" Nope. I am willing to bet that the thanks they get are few and far between.
So I am here to say thank you. As an accidental participant in the customer service world I have come to see that complaints are a lot more common than compliments, and that can get pretty stressful. But frankly, for all the crap you put up with (like people holding the doors open and throwing trash everywhere), you guys at the MTA do a good job. You're not always perfect, but who is? You clearly work hard. So thanks!!
See how easy that was?
This brings me to the tip of the day. Say Thank You! And throw a smile in there too if you can. Say it whenever someone does something nice for you just like your mom taught you when you were 3. The same rules apply now. Not only will saying thank you lead to happier less stressed out people everywhere, I am pretty sure the world would be a better place if people used those 2 words a little bit more.
Tuesday at Medium Wellness is "Less Stress in the Office Day." This means every Tuesday I will share one of the many stress reduction methods we use in my office here in nyc. I promise that everything I recommend will be a tried and true (and healthy - so going to the bar, while it may be effective - and we definitely do it here - doesn't count) by the folks here at my company.
This weeks tip is the water competition.
You need at least 2 people. And water. So if you work alone, sorry, you'll just have to play against an imaginary friend. Here's what to do. First, you and your coworker each get a water bottle. Any size will do, you just have to know how many fluid ounces it holds. Actually, its better if they are different sizes, especially if you sit near each other because that makes it tougher to know who is winning. So for instance, today I will be using a 14oz. Nalgene and Fred will be using a 33 oz. Poland Spring bottle (I clearly deserve bonus points for caring more about the environment but there are no bonus points in this game. oh well)
Second, fill your bottles.
Third, start drinking. Don' refill until you have completely finished the bottle. Then be sure to fill it all the way up. No point in cheating in this particular competition.
Fourth, keep a tally of how many bottles of water you drink throughout the day. At the end of the day, whoever has consumed more water total wins! Here we play for pride and bragging rights and just in the spirit of general dorkiness, but if you want to play for something else, that's totally your call. The rules are not set in stone.
Anyway, no matter who wins you will spend the day very hydrated (be prepared to have to pee a lot) and that is good for you! Hopefully it will also help you to remember to hydrate yourself on non-competing days as well.
But seriously, in the new NYT health blog "Well" friday's post was about stress. Since all of the posts here are about stress (in one way or another) its nice to see that the Times agrees that its a worthy focus point.
They also recommend the book "Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers" by Robert Sapolsky, and I think that is a fantastic call. It's a great description of how stress affects all of the body's systems and its a fun read - not too scientific, but he doesn't over simplify either.
Side note: Zebras are effing amazing looking! I would like to visit Africa.
Friday, October 12, 2007
Its a been a couple of weeks since I posted and what was the reason? Stress. Not anxiety-ish stress where I cant fall asleep at night because something is worrying me, but rather too-much-to-do-and-no-time-to-relax stress and so things I care about start to be taken for granted.
Often the first things that get knocked off the to do list when we have a lot going on is time for exercise and time for relaxation (and apparently blogging. oops). But this is exactly the opposite of what we should do. If you make the time for 15 minutes of relaxation a day - whether its meditating, or going for a quick run, doing breathing exercises, or even stretching - you will actually be more productive and feel better at the end of a long day.
Some ways to fit relaxation in: - relax on the subway (if you can get a seat) or the train. Listen to music that relaxes you and focus on breathing slowly over the course of the ride. It may not seem like the most relaxing setting but it works for me.
- relax for 15 minutes before bed. Before bed is a great time to relax since you're headed to sleep anyway. Turn off the TV, get off the phone, stop talking to your roommate or husband or whoever, and just take 15 minutes to be calm.
- break it into 5 minute segments. You don't have to do all your relaxation at once. It still counts if you break it up. At my job I hear a lot of people say "I don't have 15 minutes!" And I know they really are busy. But 5 minutes here and there? Everyone can do that if they decide they want to. And don't forget, it will actually improve your focus and productivity during the rest of your busy busy day.
- put it on the actual list. If you actually have a To Do list like I do, add it. And then cross it off once you have done your relaxation. Anything that helps you to make it a part of the routine...
