How much time do you give to trying to de-stress or really focus on how you are feeling??
It’s a question I ask my clients, especially those who come to me 6 months+ after having kids, or menopausal clients. I look at stress as one of the top things women could try to work on – to benefit their health, wellbeing and weight.
So, what is the stress I’m talking about – yes it comes in different ways!
What can YOU do to help your overall wellbeing to help lower stress levels or balance them out?
1st I am going to actually talk about the stress we do need, that being cortisol. It gets a bad name and in excess yes we need to monitor it, BUT we also need cortisol at different times of the day.
Lets talk cortisol
- It is a stress hormone
- cortisol ebbs and flows through the day
- it regulates your metabolism, blood pressure & blood sugar
- it is essential for your health
Basically – you want and need to have higher levels of cortisol in the morning, then you want it to start falling during the day so by bedtime ideally it is low, enabling you to sleep.
However, it doesn’t always work like that. With work life, family life, a poor diet, too little sleep & sometimes the wrong exercise, it can lead to big cortisol spikes which on a regular basis is very unhealthy and can lead to weight gain.
Can you regulate your cortisol / stress?
There are a few things all of us can do. The thing is everyone makes excuses and really find it hard to fit any ‘me time’ or ‘down time’ for themselves. The real problem is YOU DON’T PRIORITISE YOURSELF.
I know, I know, I know how hard it can be. But have a look at your day – do you spend time looking at Instagram or FB – we can all get carried away by those. Do you spend time walking/driving to work & sitting in a queue? Do you eat breakfast (if you have it) or lunch standing up doing 2 things at once? Finally, do you look at work emails or go online before bed at night?
I am sure you can see something of yourself in the above. So lets look at how being more aware of things in your life that stress you out a bit and then little things you could TRY to do – even just trying to change / add in ONE thing to help de-stress you.
Little things you can start trying to do
Coffee
Are you a coffee drinker – like me? When we wake tired we just want and often need a coffee to get us going when we get up. Unfortunately, there are lots of studies that show having too much coffee (how much is too much?? Apparently 5 – 6 cups) or having coffee 1st thing rather than leaving it a few hrs after getting up, can elevate cortisol levels.
So IF you can bear to wait a little longer in the morning – try a peppermint tea OR hot water with fresh lemon & fresh ginger before your coffee, it can help prevent big spikes when your cortisol is already higher in the morning
Do you have a coffee before the gym/ a hard run / HIIT class? Apparently, this is even worse for increasing your stress levels. When we exercise, we do stress our body – we stress the muscles. This is a hard one as there is also research that found this really helped performance when exercising after a coffee.
I think these are all things YOU have to decide whether you want to change your routine. IF you are pretty stressed and exercise whilst stressed as well as having caffeine before exercise, you will really be increasing your stress levels & cortisol even higher. So maybe take head and change this little habit.
Already feeling stressed & then go for a hard run or class
I know it may make you feel so much better, clear your head, give you some time away from work or family issues, however, this is something I do talk about with clients.
When you have elevated stress levels to then do 30 mins or 60 mins of exercise but really pushing it hard, can be detrimental and if you are wanting to control your weight, this can actually go the other way, especially if peri-menopausal.
So maybe look at doing less intense exercise in the morning or waiting till lunchtime or early evening to run/do a workout. This is hard for those of you who like to exercise in the morning.
- If so look at making sure you avoid coffee before the class, try to focus on some deep, slow breathing before doing the early morning exercise.
- Or have something to eat before you do the class/exercise – this has been shown to help the cortisol spikes. So try a handful of nuts
What & When you eat can affect cortisol spikes
Many do the overnight fasting and don’t necessarily want to eat before a class or run etc. However, maybe it is time to rethink this, just on your exercise mornings.
Dr Nicky Keay from University college London, says one of the worst things for us is to actually skip breakfast & then do exercise on a prolonged fasted state. I follow Stacey Simms who specialises in women’s physiology, she is also very against exercising in a fasted state.
The main thing that happens that the body actually piles on the stress & increases cortisol.
Exercise IS good, but recovery is crucial
It is important to do regular exercise – I am not saying don’t do HIIT, but it is about planning around it and giving yourself time to recover – especially in the menopausal years.
Uni of Westminster’s research found that people who are more active tend to have a lower cortisol response to stress than those who don’t.
For HIIT or a hard run – cortisol levels rose significantly for up to 2 hrs. However, 24hrs later cortisol was back to baseline levels.
This just means – yes do the HIIT/hard sessions BUT make sure you have enough recovery in between. I would advise leaving a few days before doing another hard session.
Sleep, walking & yoga/Pilates are good
Walking in nature is SO good for us, especially if you actually walk more mindfully. Feel the breeze on your face, look at the trees, flowers or whatever is around you & finally – maybe sometimes don’t listen to music – listen to the birds, especially in the morning.
Maybe do a relaxed breathing session – even just 5 mins in the evening/before bed. Or do a yoga Nidra session before bed. It can help sleep and can really bring your cortisol levels down which also in the long run helps sleep too.
In summary
- re-think your caffeine in the morning / especially before exercise
- re-think having something to eat before a hard run/HIIT/ ride in the morning
- when you actually feel very stressed – STOP, close your eyes and try to take a few minutes of slow meaningful breathing
- remember your cortisol is higher & needs to be higher in the morning to get you up and going, we just don’t want to elevate it even more.
- Try to de-stress before bed or in the evening, especially those who have sleep issues
You can have a read of my other blogs on stress – https://www.vickihill.co.uk/stress-why-we-need-to-know-about-it/
Or on ‘burn out’ https://www.vickihill.co.uk/stress-rest-recovery/
