Stress and Exercise

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There is alot more to stress than Depression but Depression is a very common manifestation of stress. Increasing number of General Practitioners are now recommending regular physical exercise as a front line treatment for mild to moderate depression, there is solid scientific evidence that shows exercise measurably increases the level of the feel-good hormone serotinen, the very hormone that anti-depressants such as Prosac promotes the presence of in your bloodstream. When there is a healthy level of serotinen in your bloodstream it makes you feel a lot happier than when there is not enough.

Even those amongst us who don’t particularly enjoy exercise will concede that exercise puts you on a high for a while after you do it, it is an easy theory to test out (so long as it is performed sensibly!), your body feels lighter and more energised and mentally you feel satisfied that you are doing something positive, if you are a parent or carer of children it also sets a good example for them to follow.

As we get older it doesn’t take long to notice how much harder it is to stay fit and maintain a body shape and size that we can be proud of, it is a reality that all of us have to face eventually, I once heard someone say “you know when you are getting older because all of the sportsmen are younger than you!”.

The same can be said of stress, as we mature we realise through painful experience that it is not possible to be all the things we dreamt of when we were young, growing up almost always means taking on responsibilities both professionally and personally put our own wants into the background. When we become senior citizens we have to then contend with longer recovery times from illness, we need more rest and most of us will see more people of our own age slow down and pass away, a big reminder of our own mortality.

Exercise is one of the cheapest and most accessible ways of actively combatting stress. One of the most common mistakes I have seen people make is they prematurely consign themselves to the scrap heap, ” well I’m getting older aren’t I?, that’s why my knees creak and I’m over-weight and out of breath!”, unless you actively challenge your assumptions about aging you may become their prisoner.

Unfortunately these self limiting attitudes are common amongst  health professionals too, the only elderly people they see are sick, they never get to meet the health ones ! I have known many older people who have had a visit to a health professional and have left feeling like they don’t really matter because they won’t be around much longer anyway. If you are stressed and unfit don’t be embarrassed about it (another apathy trap!) you are not alone.

It is bad enough to have a big serious issue infront of you, it is worse when you cannot take your mind off it, even walking can clear your head about your problems.

Headaches

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At some time most of us will suffer headaches for the good reason that there are so many things that can cause them, some causes such as head trauma are obvious but did you know that constipation, allergies, sitting in the wrong chair or even the wind can do it to you.

Headaches can be and often are connected to other things that go on inside your body. In the case of headaches that are caused by constipation for instance, the cause of your constipation may be dehydration, dehydration in itself (without any accompanying constipation) can also be a cause of headache, therefore drinking more water may fix both problems at the same time. If having a bowel motion makes a headache suddenly vanish the chances are that your headache may have been caused by too long an interval between trips to the loo.

Stress is a very well known cause of headaches,  stress hormones change blood chemistry, stress also changes your posture and body language because our bodies instinctively tighten up as part of the fight and flight response, these postural changes can stiffen neck muscles that then refer pain to your head- remove the stressors and the headache improves.

Jaw tension is a common stress response that can cause severe headaches, some bodyworkers believe that jaw tension is usually the product of really wanting to tell someone else how their behavior causes you  anger or worry but you decide that “spitting the dummy” will only make matters worse so biting down even harder is an unconscious way of keeping all your frustration on the inside. If your partner has ever complained that you grind your teeth in your sleep or your dentist comments that clenching your teeth is wearing down your tooth enamel you are a likely candidate for jaw tension headaches. Maybe you should speak your mind more.

Eye strain and bright light can give you some pretty fierce headaches too, if you work indoors and are reading all day (like off a computer screen) give yourself frequent short breaks where you are looking at distant objects, this helps to not only give your short range eye muscles a rest but also to sit straight again when you return to your desk thereby reducing the chances of a posture induced headache. If you work outside always remember your hat and sunglasses.

Hormonal headaches can get severe too and can be similar to migraine headaches, the difference being that men don’t get hormone headaches and some say that hormone headaches are usually one sided. Changes in the estrogen/progesterone balance that precipitate hormonal headaches can be brought on by being premenstrual, menopausal, the commencement or cessation or altering of oral contraception and after having babies (especially if the baby doesn’t sleep well!).

Headaches can be diet or allergy related too-, alcohol, caffeine, chocolate and chilli are often completely off the menu for migraine suffererers and there are other  times that people discover to their amazement  other seemingly healthy foods can do it too, I once knew a naturopath who had a client who tested positive to carrots in an allergy test- her client stopped drinking carrot juice and her headaches stopped!, sometimes the cause of headaches can be quite surprising.

The neck and jaw techniques in Self Massage can help you a lot.

Stress

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Our stress hormones (catecholamines) are there to protect us because they facilitate the fight and flight response. When adrenaline predominates we get scared and run and when our noradrenaline predominates we get angry then stand and fight. In either case there is a cascade of physical reactions.

Our pulse quickens, more blood is pumped into our arms and legs, our breathing gets shallow and rapid, pupils dialate, physical senses become more alert, the muscles in your neck go into a rigid guarding mode, fine motor skills diminish and some times we become scared stiff like a statue. In the short term stress hormones enhance our immunity and are physically energising.

In the longer term our catecholamines don’t serve us as well, long term heightened stress hormone levels weaken our immunity to disease, raises blood pressure, causes neck tension, create relationship conflicts and makes you tired. High sustained levels of the stress hormones  can also fatten you, keep you awake at night, make you emotionally over react and deplete your libido.  High stress levels can trigger heart attacks, strokes and platelet clots in our blood stream

Moderate stress levels are a normal response to a foreign situation and it can help us learn new things and can even be exciting. Stress becomes problematic when we are unable or unwilling to calm down properly, it’s like over-revving your car’s engine, it will wear out and break down sooner than it otherwise should. In yoga it is believed that the body has a finite number of breaths and heart beats, the sooner they are used up the quicker you die.

Some of the ways we attempt to cope with stress can become part of the problem- smoking, gambling, drinking, drug taking and other forms of risk-taking behavior might make us happier in the short term but long term it further compounds health risks.The challenge for us is to only use our stress hormones when necessary.

The feel good hormones like serotinen, oxytocin (the cuddling hormone) and dopamine on the other hand make us feel relaxed, loved and happy. It is basically a balancing act between fear and love.

Exercise, massage, acupuncture, aromatherapy, hugs, patting a dog, singing, laughter, meditation, slowing your breathing, the colour green, being creative, anti depressants, being creative and breathing deionized air (as found at waterfalls and at the sea side) all help to lower high stress levels. There are actually many things we can do to calm down and lighten up. 

Stress can be strangely addictive though, in acute work environments like hospital casualty wards, accident rescue, combat and policing a hyper-realism can make ordinary and safe work boring and uninteresting. We call these people adrenaline junkies, they almost seem to be that way out of choice at times.

The stress that comes with job insecurity, homelessness, financial pressure, poor health, family breakdown and the death of a loved one is much harder to enjoy (even for an adrenaline junkie) but cope we must particularly for our children and grand children. No matter how difficult life gets if we don’t use coping strategies like those above we have even more to stress about.

 

 

Posture III- Self Esteem

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Frederick Alexander was an actor who became so interested about the effect of posture on the mind and body that he pioneered his own form of postural therapy and called it the Alexander technique. It is easy to prove for yourself, stand in front of a mirror nice and straight with your chest out, shoulders back and chin in. Now do the opposite and ask yourself how standing straight compares to slouching. Being upright looks healthier, more confident, distinguished and even more intelligent than assuming poor posture.

A bus driver I knew did a work related self defence course, during the course he was shown a series of  CCTV recordings of muggings and bag snatchings in public places, at the end of the video presentation the course instructors turned the lights back on and asked everyone what all the victims had in common. This was not an easily answered question (infact no one got the answer right) because some of the victims were men, some were women, some older and some younger and no common denominator was immediately obvious.

The course instructor then told his instructees ” look at the posture of the victims”. Sure enough they watched the same CCTV footage again and it was true, the assailants did not seem to choose their victims just because they were small or old or female because prior to pouncing, there were people who safely walked past the muggers who were not that big and strong looking atall but they did have straight backs and a confident looking way of carrying themselves. The victims looked like victims before they became victims, and none fought back.

A good posture looks confident, when people prepare to be bullied they shrink and look like easy targets. Kids who get picked on at school try to take up as little space as possible so they don’t get noticed by the playground thugs.

Actors, singers, public speakers, politicians, anybody who performs infront of others consciously use posture and body language to communicate, the rest of us tend to unconsciously do it. A person’s poor posture might be the result of low self esteem, if your posture is poor you might need to remind yourself of your achievements and the things you do well, this may be what you need to stand straighter.

It is not just for health reasons that good posture is worth the effort, the muggers in the videos may consciously know nothing about body language atall but instinctively we all do. When people carry themselves well they are usually treated with more respect and deference (and appear  fitter and more attractive) than they do when they have that tired and defeated look about them.

Replacing bad postural habits for good ones is not easy, it is always a work in progress and like doing other forms of exercise if  you don’t use it you lose it,  it is hard to see ourselves from the outside objectively so look at the posture of others and ask yourself “do I want to look like that?” and do something about it.

Arthritis

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There are many forms of arthritis ( the word means joint inflammation), by far the most common form is osteo-arthritis (OA) characterised by cartilage thinning at the ends of the bones where they meet other bones to form joints. All the joints are lined with cartilege, the smooth, slippery-when-wet nature of cartilege allows the bones the slide easily against one another and they can absorb shock. Considered to be a normal process of aging if you live long enough, OA can interfere with smooth joint movement.

If your genes have been passed on by OA sufferers it can predispose you to it, contact sport will greatly increase your chances of getting it as will being chronically overweight and unfit.

OA is the number one cause of needing hip and knee replacement surgery, you can sometimes actually hear and feel the bones grinding against one another in OA sufferers- when it gets to that stage it can get quite debilitating and very uncomfortable.

The good news is you can help yourself by following some sensible strategies. Walking and running on grass is easier on knees than the pavement. Wear good joggers check your running posture. Getting regular massage is useful, it helps free up muscle and joint action. Sometimes muscles tighten and increase the pressure inside your joints reducing your comfort and performance. Physio, osteopathy, chiropractic, massage and acupuncture are useful in combatting the effects of OA. Alkaline diets can reduce joint inflammation too.

There are other less common forms of arthritis such as rheumatoid and psoriatic arthritis and unfortunately some people can suffer from more than one type at the same time.

Climate can play a part in the severity of arthritis, OA for instance usually feels worse during cold weather where rheumatiod arthritis (RA) will be more acute when the weather is hot.

Arthritis can also be compounded by other problems such as weight gain, tendonitis and shin splints, causing pain to radiate further from the joint itself along your legs, a common location for OA. Arthritis often effects people’s spines and hands too which can be extremely debilitating, basically where ever you have cartilege you can get arthritis.

Some arthritis sufferers find pharmaceutical medications quite satisfactory in controlling their symptoms but for others the side effects just aren’t worth it, if your stomach lining is a little on the sensitive side for instance you may be one of those people.

If you do get aching joints don’t just fob it off as getting older, be open to the possibilities and try them enough times to show some results.

Please remember to massage your “good side” too, when you are limping it adds to the wear and tear of the good side. It is common for knee and hip replacement patients to have a second joint replaced in fairly quick successuion so make a point of looking after both sides.