Need to manage the stress in your life? In order to do so, you need to manage your allostatic load. This may sound like a mouthful, but is a
concept that is useful to explain the load that is upon your shoulders
including the worries that prevent you from sleeping at night. Allostatic load is a negative form of stress
that literally ‘weighs us down’ and eventually causes us to become ill.
This toxic negative stress also leads to inflammation of the
brain which prevents us from forming new neural connections – in other words we
become unable to learn, develop and grow.
So what can you do to lighten your allostatic load and combat stress?
The first thing we need to accept is the lifestyles that we
are living in today’s modern age are not healthy, nor are they natural. Every delegate who attends our course
complains that their ‘work life balance’ is a big problem, and wish they had
more ‘me’ time. We are living a life
that is out of balance and in crisis. As a result we lose sight of the very
things that help us cope and stay healthy; the aspects of our lives and
ourselves that keep us in balance.
The human body was
not designed to be sedentary, sitting behind a desk from nine to five (or seven
to seven!). Exercise has been proven to
not only the reduce stress hormones in the body, but also causes neural pathways to
grow and form: in other words, exercise keeps you young! Dramatic results have been found in seniors
who simply start walking for an hour every day.
Exercise is crucial to helping you rediscover your balance, however
neuro-scientist Bruce McEwen has revealed that exercise can be more effective
in a social environment.
Social support is a dimension that is necessary to balance
the human being. In times of crisis,
many people withdraw from their friends and loved ones. Being lonely can also add to your allostatic
load. We must attempt to increase our
social contact and nourish our important relationships rather than neglect them
during times of crisis.
The human being has a spiritual dimension. We are not referring to religion or new age
philosophy, but simply the aspect of each and every one of us that seeks to
find meaning. Viktor Frankl, famous
psychologist and holocaust survivor, pioneered the idea that the strongest
motivational force we can tap into is the meaning we are able to create for
ourselves. A concentration camp
survivor, Frankl noticed that the prisoners who had a sense of meaning in their
lives survived, whilst those who couldn’t not find it sadly perished under the
dreadful circumstances.
So how does one find
meaning when one feels out of balance? When we neglect ourselves during times
of toxic stress, we forget the things in life that bring us joy. So many of our clients arrive for training
and have lost the ability to desire things on a personal level. This is purely a result of chronic toxic
stress and the loss of connection with self.
To restore the balance, we need to find and make time for the things
that bring us joy on a daily basis. We need to make time for ourselves once
again.
Living with the world resting upon your shoulders is neither
a healthy nor a sustainable option. The
good news is change really is possible if we simply focus on the restoration of
balance by making time to appreciate ourselves as individuals – physically,
emotionally and spiritually.
For more information on stress management and making time
for the important things contact info@timeclinic.co.za.
To find out more about the toxic effects of stress read this
article: http://healthland.time.com/2013/02/20/how-stress-gets-under-the-skin-qa-with-neuroscientist-bruce-mcewen/
Image by Stuart Miles www.freedigitalphotos.net
