Notice anxiety induced stress
Why do we need to proactively look after our central nervous system?
Well, our biology is constantly changing and responding to our environment. While adaptability is an amazing trait, it has its dark side when it comes to stress especially during a pandemic.
We have neural pathways formed in our brains that cause stress to keep happening. As our nervous system becomes more and more familiar with anxiety, we can get stuck in the stressful mode without replenishing our mind or body.
Here are some signs for anxiety induced stress:
- If you notice that you are more reactive than responsive, such as easily angered, mood swings, irritable or overwhelmed by life’s everyday demands.
- Exhaustion or feeling particularly groggy getting up in the morning even after a good night’s sleep
- Difficulty making decisions, feeling as though you can’t cope, lacking motivation or having difficulty controlling excessive worry
- Feeling restless, panic attacks, unexplained sweating or trembling, having trouble to focus despite your best intentions
These signs are typical but not exclusive. Often we shrug them away, but please don’t ignore them or let them build. 💐
Living with stress means constant activation of the stress hormones, such as increased cortisol and adrenaline.
The steps which can reverse the effect are simple:
1. Cut sugar intake
Intellectually we all know that it is important to reduce our sugar intake, but emotionally it is not always easy to control.
The key is to know your triggers and replace them with positive ones. For example, I crave for something sweet after reading overwhelmingly difficult news, in order to get out of the news-cake-inflammation-more news-more cakes-more inflammation cycle, I have a book right by my side when I’m checking updates. If the news isn’t good, I’d turn to a well-written and insightful book for comfort.
2. Avoid stimulants after 5pm
This will give your body sufficient time to get into its calm state. In this fast paced modern world, we often forget about the fact that our body needs time to wind down first, only then it can work on its proper recharge and rejuvenation.
Aside from their addictive nature, stimulants are often used as a quick fix instead of solving the underlying problem.
3. Increase vitamin B intake
If you regularly suffer from fatigue, poor memory or exhaustion, it’s too easy to put it down to “oh this is just me”, but it’s worth checking and reviewing your diet and see if you are having vitamin B deficiency. For example, here in the UK, B12 deficiency is very common.
Leafy greens, seeds, cereal and nutritional yeast…they are all good source for vitamin B.
4. Regular conscious movement
Conscious movement is less about how we look but more about how we feel.
Whether we like it or not, we can get a lot of trapped emotions and let them build up in our body, which block our Qi and vitality.
Conscious movement gives our body a voice so that we can express our truth freely. It elevates us from the past and helps us engage with the “here and now” – the only time and place that we can get access to our divine presence.
5. Increase opportunities for rhythmic mindful activities
Our parasympathetic system is responsible for rest and digest, and rhythm is its good friend. Gentle repetition provides a sense of normality and safety, which is usually undervalued.
Pick 3-5 activities which you enjoy and put them into your routine throughout the day. Bear in mind, if it is a new activity which you haven’t built into your routine yet, it might take you a while to get started, so allow at least 15 minutes for the benefits to kick in, until it naturally becomes a part of your day.
As for myself, in the past year, I’ve benefited a lot from walking and running laps of my local area, deliberately and slowly chopping veg in tiny pieces, and learning various homemade crafts.
Rhythmic activities are very similar to our meditative states, they are very simple yet provide much needed relief for our overwhelmed emotional subtle body.
✍🏻I made this infographic, which I hope can serve as a quick & helpful reminder if you need.
Soothe your central nervous system creatively
If, in this turbulent time, you feel fragile, exhausted or numb, you are not alone. News, events, conflicts or daily challenges… all takes a toll on our central nervous system.
We can lean back to rituals, nurture our creativity and also let our imagination take care of us emotionally and spiritually in the midst of everything.
We can creatively find ways to calm it throughout the day, which may even require switching up or exploring new self-care routines, given many of us have no or little access to the support network that we used to rely on.
I know that I certainly miss visiting galleries to enjoy art dearly, luckily I found some clips from my archive and made this little video, which I hope can add a little peace to your day.
Much love,
Yiye Zhang 章一叶
