If you are wondering why I am giving you stress busters to learn and use as often as needed is because, when some diabetics are stressed they eat and healthy food is not always available.
It could be whatever is easy and handy. I know! Food and what we eat is a major part of taking care of ourselves as diabetics.
Learn one or two of the techniques below and use them when you feel stressed. They are tested and they work.
Most of us are so accustomed to being stressed, we don’t recognize it until we are at the breaking point. To say we are all under some form of stress is a true assessment of living in our society today. Stress can change your quality of life, and over the long-haul cause a chronic illness to exacerbate.
It is best to have a few stress management techniques in your self-care arsenal to quickly control and eliminate your stress effectively without drugs.
Stress is your body’s response to an injurious situation, real or imagined. When you feel threatened, a chemical called cortisol is released in your body, which allows you to fight or take flight.
An example is a deer hear footsteps approaching, he runs to get out of danger, perceived or real. 10 minutes later, the deer is grazing on your tulip bulbs and the incident is forgotten.
Humans hang on to stressful events and relive them over again and repeat the trauma.
Some immediate signs of stress are:
- rapid heart rate
- increased breathing
- irritability
- muscle tightness
- increased blood pressure
- anxiety
- increased blood sugar
- sleep difficulty
- digestive problems
To minimize and eliminate this stress, use these techniques
4-7-8 Breathing
Deep breathing is good for your body because it gives your body a huge boost in oxygen. Rapid, shallow breathing is common when you are stressed. As you watch your breath, your breathing and heart rate slows, and your muscles relax.
4-7-8 breathing developed by Dr. Andrew Weil
The following steps should all be carried out in the cycle of one breath
- First, let your lips part. Make a whooshing sound,
exhaling completely through your mouth. - Next, close your lips, inhaling silently through your
nose as you count to four in your head. - Then, for seven seconds, hold your breath.
- Make another whooshing exhale from your mouth for eight
seconds.
When you inhale again, you initiate a new cycle of breath. Practice this pattern for four full breaths.
The held breath (for seven seconds) is the most critical part of this practice. It’s also recommended that you only practice 4-7-8 breathing for four breaths when you’re first starting out. You can gradually work your way up to eight full breaths.
YouTube video of Dr Weil performing the breathing technique.
Emotional Freedom Technique
You have heard of acupuncture. Acupressure points stimulate the same acupoints also called meridian points.
Acupuncture stimulates with the use of a needle, and acupressure stimulates the meridian points with firm pressure. This is how it works. It helps to recite a set-up phase that will help you acknowledge and accept yourself.
- Create a set-up phase to address your problem. “Even though I have this___________I deeply and completely accept myself.
- Example. “Even though I am fearful of the result of my medical test, I deeply and completely accept myself.”
- On a scale of 0-10, write down how much the situation is troubling you. 10 is the highest.
- Tap on the nine median points, (eyebrows, side of eye, under eye, under nose, chin, start of collarbone, and under the arm. Tap each point 7 times. Repeat the sequence two to three times.
- Rate your anxiety/ intensity of stress from where you started on a scale of 0-10. How do you feel? The goal is to get your stress, fear, anxiety level as close to 0 as possible. This is a winner. For details and visuals, go here.
Talk to yourself in the third person
It does not matter if you talk in the third person to yourself (self-talk) or to a friend. It is equally effective. You are taking control of your stress by bringing in a third person.
According to research done at Michigan State University (MSU)
“Referring to yourself in the third-person leads you to think about yourself similarly to how you think about others”
As an example, you may ask why did I get dismissed? Instead, ask, why did Harriette get fired? The study at MSU suggests third party self talk is an effortless form of emotion regulation.
Doing this can help you distance yourself from the experience. The best part is it required little effort.
Practice, practice and practice. Be armed with a stress buster technique the next time distress is upon you.
Let me now your thoughts on these techniques.
I have used them all and they work for me. When you have a minute let me know what topics you would like me to research and write about for you.
HWB
