Stress Resilience Strategies

I rolled out of bed at 5:15am this morning full of aches and pains. My 6am class with Jafar Alexander at Beloved Yoga Studio, inspired this post. He reminded me that when we stress a muscle, we can gently find the sweet spot. The spot that needs extra attention; the knot that we’ve ignored. When we breathe into that sweet spot, when the muscle feels it’ safe, it relaxes and allows a stretch. Stretching comes only after recognizing the stress, holding and breathing into the stress, until it’s safe to release and let go.

Forcing a stretch will only lead to injury. Stretching comes after recognizing the stress, holding and breathing into the stretch to the point the muscle will relax and release.

How do we take this physical reality as a metaphor to create stress resiliency?

How do you look at stress, not as a negative, but as an opportunity?  An opportunity to stretch, to grow, and ultimately strengthen the body and the mind and spirit?

Isn’t it a lovely thought that to find optimal health does not involve the no pain, no gain” mentality? Rather, it’s about finding your flow. It’s not about swimming upstream or feeling like the waves are crashing all over you due to uncontrolled stress.

A savvy secret is to go with the flow. Find your natural rhythm. Find what your unique body is whispering (or sometimes screaming) to you.

We can gracefully grow and age without feeling the overwhelming effects of uncontrolled stress. We can create stress resilience at any age.

Three Stress Resilience Strategies:

·      Breathe, Relax and Stretch

·      Remember and practice the power of play. Allow yourself the freedom to fall and gain wisdom.

·      Move from ‘fear and overwhelm’ to curiosity. Come to yoga to reconnect with your physical body. Listen to the aches and pains. Ask yourself what message is being given to you. Ask what’s right with the body, not what’s wrong. Cultivate curiosity by breathing and relaxing into the space. This is a simple way to move from overwhelm to empowered. (Also step three from my Seven Steps to Optimal Health.)

Consider joining me Wednesdays @ Rise Wellbeing Center for the following classes:

1.     10am for Carpe Diem Dance, a fun joyful movement to music class where we practice play to stretch you in multiple ways.

2.     Or the 11:30am-12:00 Street Clothes Stretch Class. Come and stretch, then have lunch in the nature garden and feast off organic raw vegan prepared lunch. Rise has raw vegan healthy nutrient dense gluten free and dairy free sandwiches and salads. You can sit and enjoy lunch (Sign up now so you can be sure to have a spot and plenty of food).

3.     OR join me for a 45 minute vinyasa class at 12:15am- 1pm. This is a perfect amount of time for a practice, so you can return to work renewed, relaxed and refreshed. You can practice without sweating or if you like a more vigorous practice there are showers available. And if your body says, “Not today”, then consider a 20-minute nap on an organic bed in the napping room or practice meditation or breath work.

Carpe Diem!

Lisa

About Lisa Jackson, RN, CHC, RYT-500, AFMC

Lisa is an author, functional nutrition and function medicine trained health coach, yoga teacher, and retired Registered Nurse with the mission to "Inspire, Educate and Empower" individuals to heal from within.

Lisa's book, Savvy Secrets: Eat, Think & Thrive is a self health book offering her Seven Steps to Optimal Health.

When she is not coaching, or speaking, you can find Lisa joyfully sharing Carpe Diem Dance or playing with her two grandchildren. She is the mother of four adult children and believes, "Optimal health should not be a secret."

This week a client sent me her recent lab results and was surprised at my interpretation. Her physician had pointed out her slightly elevated cholesterol of 227 as a concern. When I worked in cardiac care as a Registered Nurse I too would have been concerned and recommended a low fat, low cholesterol diet replaced with hydrogenated vegetable oils. Crisco over lard. Margarine over real butter.

That was then. This is now.

Here's a few myths versus facts:

Myth: Those with higher total cholesterol experience more heart attacks.
Truth: Cholesterol is only a minor player in the cascade of inflammation which is a cause of heart disease. Cholesterol is an inflammatory marker. It is sent to inflamed arteries to patch and heal damaged arteries. Lowering cholesterol is like eliminating firemen.  Instead, discover the source of the fire. Excess blood sugar is the most common cause of inflammation and triggers the liver to release cholesterol. Cholesterol is vital to our survival.

Insulin resistance is a huge common precursor to heart disease.  Elevated triglycerides are a better indication of excess glucose (sugar) creating an inflammatory response. Simple processed carbohydrates and sugars predispose you to heart disease.

• Cortisol, the stress hormone creates elevated glucose in the blood. Lowering both internal and external stressors is essential to lowering cholesterol.

Truth: There is no correlation between cholesterol and heart attacks. Just as many heart attack patients had low cholesterol as high cholesterol.(1)

Myth: The higher the cholesterol the shorter the lifespan.
Truth: "Lower cholesterol is a robust predictor of mortality..." (2) Higher cholesterol protects you from gastrointestinal disease, pulmonary disease and hemorrhagic stroke. It also has a protective influence against dementia. The most protective range for cholesterol appears to be between 200 and 240. (3)

Myth: Saturated fats are dangerous.
Fact: Saturated fats are not dangerous. The killer fats are trans-fats from partially hydrogenated vegetable oils.  Please empty your cupboards of them. These are omega 6 oils and inflammatory. Hydrogenated means oxidized. This causes oxidative stress which can lead to DNA damage. DNA damage leads to mutated genes, a precursor to cancer. If you have cardiovascular disease you are more prone to cancer.

Myth: Fat makes you fat and is bad for your health.
Truth: Monounsaturated and saturated fats protect you from metabolic disease (insulin resistance and pre-diabetes).  Sugar is the culprit in cardiovascular disease.

Myth: Common Thinking, "I eat a clean healthy diet so don't need to worry about cardiovascular disease."
Truth: See above. Stress causes the liver to convert glycogen to glucose. Chronic stress can lead to insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome. My own history is a personal example of this. Diet is only one factor. Uncovering hidden stressors (like food sensitivities and gut issues) and how you react to the daily external stressors are equally powerful and important interventions.

Myth: Cholesterol is the most important marker determining heart disease.
Truth: Other important markers include homocysteine, CRP, HgA1c, Triglycerides, fibrinogen, fasting insulin, glucose, eAG, LDLIII, LDL IV and VLDL levels.  I like Spectracell Laboratories Cardiometabolic profile for a more complete picture. If you are local you can go to Golden Health Pharmacy in Sterling for blood draws on Wednesday mornings.

Fortunately, my client is going to a savvy practitioner who did most of the above tests. All were well within normal limits indicating her dietary changes over the last couple of months were making a big difference!

What was elevated and a bigger concern to me was her SHBG. Sex Hormone Binding Globulin is a stress marker. Stress is most likely the culprit of her elevated cholesterol as well a her hormonal imbalances.

Here's a picture explaining why:

Please note that to make any sex or stress hormones, you must first ingest, digest, and assimilate healthy fats and b vitamins. Second, cholesterol is the precursor to all of your steroid and sex hormones. If you want to feel good you need the basic nutrients to fuel your body.

Your body is interested in your survival. Your body will respond to whatever stress you give it. It will prioritize the stress response over rest and digest, rest and repair or mate and ovulate. You don't need to digest food or repair or make babies if you are running for your life.

Here's a slide from my Holy Hormones lecture.

Stress hormones affect your sex hormones which affects your metabolic hormones. You cannot lose weight or meet your health goals if you are stuck in fight or flight or stress mode.

So Sex Hormone Binding Globulin is a serum blood test that when elevated tells you that your body is prioritizing the stress cascade over sex hormones. This will affect your ability to lose weight and your libido. It also means your body is prone to storing belly fat.

So for quality of life, what do you think is a more important marker? Also know, that you are NOT your lab tests or diagnosis. You are the witness and you have the power to heal from within.

May this weekend be full of family, meaningful and nourishing conversation and food.

Carpe Diem,

Lisa

References:

Harvard University

1.http://circ.ahajournals.org/content/23/6/847 and http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0002870362900637 and http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7114080

2. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1532-5415.2005.53106.x/abstract and http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15006277 

1,3 www.heartstats.org 

2, 3 http://newsroom.ucla.edu/portal/ucla/majority-of-hospitalized-heart-75668.aspx http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2664115/