“I’m not stressed. I have very little stress in my life…. I have 3 kids under the age of 8, I work 2 shifts as a nurse (12 hours each) and I run my husband’s business. I’ve got my life managed I really don’t have any stress.”
This is what I recently heard from someone who wanted to know why she couldn’t lose her last 10 pounds.
She didn’t want to lose the weight for health issues, rather it was about achieving a specific number on the scale. This mindset is an entirely different topic for another time.
But it reminded me of why I take adaptogens and natural anti-inflammatory supplements like tumeric on a regular basis.
Just because you don’t feel “stressed out”… or overwhelmed, or frazzled, or like you’re always on the go, doesn’t mean that your body is not stressed.
Every living organism experiences stress. But have you ever noticed that humans are the only ones that experience chronic, long term stress?
Why is it that a gazelle can be hunted by a lion, run frantically and escape death, then within seconds, peacefully grace in the field?
But yet if a human is hunted by a bear, we run frantically and escape death, then recount this event and experience it over and over again every time we retell the story. And every times we go for a walk in the woods we worry about encountering another bear?
Look at this list of different types of stress:
> Physical stress: exercise, infection, starvation
> Emotional stress: anxiety, anger, guilt, shame
> Acute: heartburn, rapid hearbeat, back pain
> Episodic: nervousness, hostility, impatience
> Chronic: poverty, dysfunctional relationship, stroke, cancer
What does this mean? It means that you need to intentionally choose to help your body de-stress.
For some that may be making meditation part of a daily routine….. or adding specific supplements…. or meeting up with a friend for dinner…. In other words, making time for self care.
Some of the supplements that I add to my routine are ashwaganda root, rhodiola, tumeric and medicinal mushrooms. HOWEVER…. I do not use all of these every day. I rotate what I use and I don’t always take them.
The one thing that I’ve come to discover about the human body is that it’s pretty phenomenal and it can often take care of itself… but sometimes it needs a little love.