0:38
what's up guys
0:39
welcome to episode seven today we're
0:41
going to talk about stress management
0:43
now stress is not necessarily a bad
0:45
thing and we were just talking about
0:46
this before i hit record
0:49
people really demonize cortisol right
0:50
and it's like this evil hormone that's
0:52
going to mess you up
0:54
but today we're going to talk about what
0:56
it really does and how stress can
0:59
actually be a good thing in some cases
1:01
but also how chronically elevated
1:03
cortisol continuous stress can really
1:05
mess you up
1:07
so we're going to talk about what stress
1:08
really is what it means the different
1:10
types of stress and we're gonna get into
1:13
the allostatic mode basically in english
1:16
the overall stress load that you have
1:18
now we're gonna get into the nervous
1:20
system
1:21
and how you can manage stress and we're
1:23
gonna finish off with our personal top
1:25
threes of
1:27
how we like to manage stress for
1:28
ourselves
1:30
now related to this podcast i actually
1:32
wrote a article as well where i
1:34
mentioned
1:36
basically what we're going to talk about
1:37
today but also 20 methods that i think
1:39
can help you manage stress now it's
1:41
going to be personal once again it's
1:43
always going to be personal but i think
1:45
you're going to benefit from that
1:46
article and then christine also wrote a
1:49
post on that which we're going to also
1:50
link
1:51
in the description so i'll put my
1:53
article down there christine's post and
1:55
that post is about the effects of
1:56
chronically elevated cortisol so check
1:59
that out and yeah let's get into the
2:01
episode so christine is going to start
2:02
off with
2:03
what is stress
2:05
okay so
2:06
what is stress
2:10
i think many people
2:12
when they think stress they are just
2:14
thinking
2:16
more on the emotional side
2:19
um so maybe like family issues you know
2:23
relationship issues work stress
2:26
uh financial stress right those are
2:28
those are kind of like emotional
2:30
but there is many different factors
2:34
when it comes to stress that we often
2:36
don't think about so
2:38
those are all stressors for sure um
2:42
but
2:43
there is one part in within stress that
2:48
we call perceived stress
2:50
so
2:52
per se stress is how
2:55
we respond
2:57
to a certain stressor
2:59
um
2:59
[Music]
3:01
it's almost the feelings of like lack of
3:03
control or uncertainty within something
3:06
right so how we are responding to a
3:08
certain stressor um perceived stress can
3:11
also be
3:12
things like anxiety depression
3:15
um
3:17
just mental
3:18
stress in general
3:20
so
3:22
outside of that
3:23
there's other stressors we often don't
3:26
think about okay so
3:29
it could be i have a whole list here
3:31
so there's poor diet as a stressor blood
3:34
sugar dysregulation under eating or
3:37
overeating
3:39
nutrient deficiencies too much exercise
3:42
too little exercise
3:45
circadian disruption so
3:47
someone who is like a
3:50
um
3:52
a shift a shift worker
3:54
there's a lot of circadian disruptions
3:57
and stress happening there with that
4:00
lack of sleep poor gut health you know
4:03
inflammation
4:04
injuries these are all stressors
4:08
on the body can be
4:10
um
4:12
one major one i did kind of say here but
4:15
one major one
4:17
that a lot of people actually think is a
4:19
stress reliever is actually a stressor
4:21
on the system is exercise
4:23
i will say there are instances where
4:28
exercise may not be a stressor for sean
4:31
so someone that you know has a lot of
4:34
body fat to lose and they're
4:36
exercising
4:38
to you know lose that body fat that's
4:40
that is not going to essentially be a
4:42
stressor on someone like that
4:44
um but
4:46
in general
4:48
exercise is a stressor for most people
4:52
but we um
4:55
think about it more it's a stress
4:56
reliever from the mental health side of
4:59
things but it's still a stressor
5:02
from the physical
5:03
so a lot of the times when like
5:06
my clients are going through a really
5:08
stressful situation or they're just
5:10
stress cadets
5:12
in general um we have to
5:17
dial the exercise down a little bit
5:21
because to manage some of the stress on
5:23
the system
5:25
it's one thing we are in control of when
5:28
it comes to managing that stress
5:31
but
5:32
it's like it's the continual exposure
5:35
it's the
5:37
stress that ultimately creates
5:40
dysfunction in the body so
5:42
when we have all of these things piling
5:45
up all of these stressors
5:47
um
5:49
we'll see down regulations and sex
5:51
hormones you know thyroid
5:53
we can see it impacting sleep because
5:56
our cortisol is going all wonky
5:58
um you know poor gut health
6:01
downregulation metabolism
6:04
but it's it's cr it's the chronic stress
6:07
that does this and not the acute like we
6:09
need stress and and johan's gonna talk
6:11
about this um
6:14
but it's all of these compiling on each
6:17
other that does create
6:20
the dysfunction
6:22
um or the problems with our health down
6:24
the road all right and then we're gonna
6:26
move on to
6:28
how much can you handle and johan's
6:30
gonna hit that one up
6:32
yeah
6:33
and exactly like you mentioned the
6:35
prolonged stress like that's really
6:37
where it goes wrong right that's where
6:39
it starts to have a negative effect
6:41
because some temporary and you know
6:44
acute stress is actually you know
6:46
considered good stress it can
6:48
help you you know improve that's where
6:51
you know you stress the muscle
6:53
when you then recover you become bigger
6:55
stronger faster etc
6:57
you know acute stress can also help you
6:59
improve your immune system
7:01
while on the other hand you know chronic
7:03
stress can do the opposite right it's
7:05
more catabolic related to breaking down
7:08
tissue which we don't want right we want
7:10
to hold onto muscle as much as we can
7:13
it can also lead to chronic inflammation
7:15
insulin resistance
7:17
getting sick basically faster aging
7:20
and much more an injury is maybe a good
7:22
one to mention too because
7:24
that's maybe one
7:25
a lot of people who tend to over train a
7:27
little
7:27
might run into and that's being injured
7:30
right
7:31
i was a prison example of that
7:34
yeah exactly right and i mentioned this
7:37
i think in the first episode
7:38
like
7:40
at some point at the gym at crossfit
7:42
like back when i was two crosses still
7:44
it was like everyone was like walking
7:46
around with these little
7:47
weird like not full-blown injuries but
7:49
like it was getting there you know and
7:51
some people did have actual injuries
7:54
hey might just be too much stress you
7:55
know which we don't really think of
7:58
because it's like no i like exercise
8:00
right i like working out like for me
8:02
it's a stress relieving
8:05
um you know activity
8:08
mentally sure
8:09
mentally you know
8:11
but physically it's still a big stressor
8:15
we'll get into actual stress management
8:17
later on but like
8:18
that's also going to include you know
8:20
adjusting training load when you need to
8:22
but okay
8:24
it's all about finding the just right
8:26
amount
8:27
too little
8:29
it's not really gonna do much right
8:31
very little stress or no stress is gonna
8:33
just keep you in your comfort zone it's
8:35
nice and safe right but it's also not
8:37
where we actually grow and get better
8:39
etc
8:42
now too much for too long
8:44
starts to work against you
8:46
and the right amount can help you grow
8:48
physically and mentally
8:50
now back to you stress management right
8:52
what does it even mean i think it's a
8:54
term that's uh thrown around quite a lot
8:56
and um
8:57
without a lot of context like
8:59
people often say like you see these
9:01
posts like you need to manage stress too
9:03
much stress is not good for you how do
9:05
you do that is it about removing all
9:07
stressors or maybe not like let's talk
9:09
about that let's talk about the nervous
9:11
system and the sympathetic versus the
9:13
parasympathetic state
9:16
yes so
9:17
when we're talking stress so when we're
9:20
in a stressful situation
9:22
[Music]
9:23
it's
9:26
activating the sympathetic nervous
9:28
system which is fight or flight so
9:31
centers activity danger it's a threat to
9:34
the system
9:36
emotional stuff as well can create that
9:39
response
9:40
um
9:41
you can see like heart rate increasing
9:44
the body tightening up right so it's
9:46
fight or flight you're ready to
9:50
essentially
9:51
get after something right it goes back
9:53
to like our ancestors when
9:56
this was really important for them when
9:58
they were hunting right and gathering
10:00
food
10:01
now the parasympathetic system is
10:04
it regulates the rest and digest
10:07
so it brings the body into a relaxed
10:09
state
10:10
heart rate decreases and this is where
10:13
we can rest relax repair
10:15
so
10:16
we want a balance of both of those
10:20
right if we have if we are constantly in
10:23
the sympathetic state in that fight or
10:25
flight
10:26
we are going to like i said start to run
10:29
into
10:30
dysfunction
10:32
we have to come back to
10:34
remembering that the body cares about
10:37
two things
10:39
right it cares about survival and
10:41
reproduction
10:42
so
10:43
when we are in a constant stress state
10:47
it's going to start to
10:49
down regulate hormones like sex hormones
10:52
you'll notice things like you could see
10:54
like libido decreasing
10:57
right all of these things start to down
10:59
regulate because it's just not a
11:01
priority for the body right when we see
11:04
sex hormones down regulating
11:06
the body doesn't want to be
11:09
bringing a baby in the world that you
11:11
cannot care for if you're under this
11:13
amount of stress right so it does that
11:16
on purpose it's a survival mechanism
11:19
right
11:20
um
11:20
[Music]
11:21
so important to like johann said we need
11:25
this stress but we also need to be
11:26
making sure we are tapping into that
11:29
parasympathetic state because that's
11:31
where we are
11:33
repairing right so even something that a
11:36
lot of people don't think about too is
11:38
being in the fight or flight state um
11:41
it will impact things like digestion too
11:44
right just not a priority when we're
11:46
under a threat
11:47
so we tend to see digestion issues pop
11:50
up
11:51
and so like someone who's working on gut
11:54
health
11:55
that is always a main focus is
11:58
where can we manage the stress
12:01
right so then once they start doing that
12:04
we see you know bloating just gut stuff
12:07
in general start to improve it's one of
12:09
the biggest factors i would say
12:11
in
12:13
society as a whole we have a lot of gut
12:15
health issues right now but we're also
12:17
really really stressed
12:19
right so yes there's so many different
12:21
factors playing into that but stress is
12:23
one major one
12:26
when you're in a chronic sympathetic
12:28
state so fight or flight
12:30
like i said you can see some sex
12:32
hormones down regulating thyroid down
12:34
regulating
12:36
um you can start to see like women
12:38
losing their cycle or like running into
12:40
pcos or men low teeth
12:43
women can have low t too
12:45
um but it will impact your sleep it will
12:47
impact your mental health and it can
12:50
have an impact on fertility
12:52
um but again it's the continual
12:56
uh state of being in the sympathetic
13:00
right the fight or flight
13:02
and this also shows up when
13:04
two examples when in crossfit for
13:07
example or any sport
13:09
people over train continue to diet and
13:11
diet and under eat
13:14
or on the bodybuilding side of things
13:17
you get too lean
13:18
keep eating very little keep dieting
13:21
we run into reds relative energy
13:23
deficiency in sports
13:26
where
13:27
there's not enough food right there's
13:29
too much stress on the system
13:31
that's where women can for example run
13:33
into loss of menstrual cycle right
13:35
men as you mentioned super low t it's
13:38
not going to be great just
13:39
for overall health and performance
13:42
pretty common i think right
13:44
within sports in general but also
13:46
bodybuilding
13:48
how do how would you fix that when
13:50
someone
13:51
runs into that right where they've been
13:53
stressing the system too much there's no
13:55
menstrual cycle for example or there's
13:56
low testosterone we know someone is you
14:00
know not eating enough over training
14:01
over stress
14:03
how would you go about that
14:05
you're getting this fought here oh
14:06
that's okay
14:07
um
14:08
well you have to figure out where it's
14:10
coming from
14:12
you have to get to the root of where
14:14
it's coming from so
14:16
if it's coming from someone who's under
14:19
eating
14:20
and
14:22
over training we have to
14:24
start eating more and pulling back on
14:26
training um if it's coming from
14:29
you know
14:30
work stress
14:32
it just it kind of depends it's hard to
14:35
say exactly like how i would attack it
14:37
because everyone's gonna be
14:40
totally different right and what's
14:43
causing this
14:44
um
14:46
i do run labs with my clients and things
14:49
like that
14:50
um
14:52
but again it totally depends
14:54
it's hard for me to answer that question
14:56
true true you know it just it kind of is
14:59
because
15:01
if i have a female who has reds and
15:04
doesn't have a cycle or anything like
15:06
that the the simple answer is to start
15:09
increasing calories and pulling back on
15:12
training and adding in you know
15:14
parasympathetic movement like yoga
15:18
um
15:19
adding in
15:20
um
15:21
stress management that like works for
15:23
them it's all about controlling the
15:25
stress
15:28
i wanted to add a scary one and that is
15:30
gaining body fat
15:32
sometimes we have to as well when we get
15:34
too yes
15:35
yes we do that's a big one
15:37
and um
15:39
that's why i wanted to bring that one up
15:40
actually
15:41
because
15:42
that's a scary thing right and it's not
15:45
something a lot of people want to hear
15:47
it's luckily by the way like it's likely
15:48
not something that's super common either
15:50
right
15:51
but it does happen and you know i know
15:54
quite a few people are into bodybuilding
15:56
and stuff and who do run into that right
15:59
not necessarily very healthy to be super
16:01
lean
16:02
no
16:03
and it doesn't it doesn't necessarily
16:06
have to be super lean people either
16:09
like i've seen people who
16:11
just simply need to add more body fat
16:13
not because they're super lean just
16:15
because to optimize hormonal health
16:17
right it can happen regardless if
16:19
someone's super lean or not
16:23
another reason to not keep dieting right
16:26
right
16:27
okay
16:30
i was going to add one more is that cool
16:32
yeah let's stress
16:33
in relation to sleep
16:35
because stress can really mess with your
16:37
circadian rhythm
16:40
cortisol kind of blocks melatonin
16:42
production
16:44
which then makes it very difficult to
16:45
fall asleep if not impossible sometimes
16:49
which once again is a big stressor to
16:51
the body right
16:52
disrupted you know circadian rhythm not
16:54
enough sleep
16:56
it's gonna lead to recovery as well
16:58
we kind of end up in this vicious cycle
17:01
another reason to
17:02
manage stress right
17:04
to balance those two parasympathetic and
17:06
sympathetic
17:08
and a little
17:09
exercise that i learned from sam miller
17:11
our mutual friend
17:13
and that's the drains that charges
17:14
exercise you know what that one yep
17:17
right yeah i do that with some clients
17:18
every now and then basically take a
17:19
piece of paper we write it down drains
17:21
the charges
17:22
and i just asked him like write down all
17:25
the things that drain you right
17:27
physically and mentally on one side and
17:29
then on the other side
17:31
write down what you do to recharge
17:33
also mentally physically etc
17:36
more than often there's a whole lot on
17:37
that stress side and not that much on
17:39
the parasympathetic side
17:41
and
17:42
that's really my point here
17:44
we can just start looking at that stress
17:46
side and say we got to remove all this
17:47
right because that's
17:49
pretty much impossible in many cases
17:51
maybe some here and there right
17:54
but i would say let's focus more on the
17:56
parasympathetic
17:58
activities right where we can bring you
18:00
in that rest and digest state we can't
18:02
try to lower cortisol
18:04
which by the way another way to do that
18:06
lowering cortisol
18:08
might be eating carbs right because
18:10
spike insulin or cortisol can then help
18:12
you sleep which is why with some people
18:15
and this is one of those stress managing
18:17
methods basically that i mentioned in
18:18
the article so with some people
18:21
we incorporate a bedtime meal which is
18:23
pretty high in carbs for that reason can
18:25
help you fall asleep
18:27
now it's not 200 grams of carbs right
18:29
before bedtime
18:30
but you know some in the evening can
18:32
probably help you quite a bit
18:34
that being said
18:36
let's get into our top three favorite
18:38
ways to manage stress with first of all
18:40
ourselves so
18:43
what i will say about stress management
18:46
is that
18:48
i think we often
18:50
think it needs to be like
18:52
reading and journaling and like
18:54
meditating and and there's nothing wrong
18:57
with those things
18:58
um but for some it doesn't recharge us
19:02
um
19:04
or it doesn't bring us joy i think that
19:07
you need to do things that bring you joy
19:10
when it comes to stress management
19:12
um
19:14
so for me it's
19:16
getting out and shooting my bow
19:18
right that is a very it's an activity
19:22
that makes me very present right i love
19:25
it i'm like focusing on just that
19:28
um
19:28
and so that's one of them for me i love
19:31
shooting my bow with eric
19:33
another
19:35
really big one for me is walks in nature
19:40
it just brings me so much peace i enjoy
19:43
it
19:44
um
19:45
i also find i'm like very creative when
19:47
i'm in nature
19:49
which is which is great
19:51
and then
19:51
[Music]
19:53
last but not least is i like doing
19:56
absolutely nothing
19:58
uh and i think a lot of people struggle
20:00
with this
20:02
but i like just laying down
20:05
all my coach with eric and rose and
20:08
watching a show like that to me i am
20:11
just totally relaxed
20:13
it brings me joy
20:15
and i'm present and
20:18
that's those are my my top three it
20:21
it doesn't for me i've really tried to
20:23
get into
20:25
meditating
20:26
um i'm more of like an active meditator
20:29
i think more or less
20:31
um but it just it just i couldn't get
20:34
into it
20:35
and so i i think
20:36
a lot of people are in my shoes and they
20:39
probably and now they're stressed
20:40
because they can't
20:42
meditate it's like okay no we need to
20:44
figure something out so like
20:47
for example my client one of my clients
20:49
i checked in today
20:51
um
20:52
like her and her husband took a weekend
20:54
and they went and i think they stayed in
20:57
a hotel like even where they lived and
20:59
they just had dinner and like
21:01
there's an amazing stress reliever for
21:03
her
21:04
right it doesn't have to be
21:07
reading
21:08
it doesn't have to be journaling so just
21:10
want to give you guys examples
21:12
of that
21:14
very good point i was laughing about the
21:16
the the meditation one because
21:19
i mean there is something to be said
21:20
about giving it a shot right because for
21:22
everyone it's gonna be super weird in
21:24
the beginning
21:25
because we're not used to that yeah i've
21:26
tried it so many times i just can't do
21:29
it yeah no
21:30
that's fine like you should try you know
21:32
but like
21:34
i think it's very uncommon these days
21:35
for anyone
21:36
almost no one does this but like you sit
21:38
down with your thoughts and
21:41
with your eyes closed and it's just you
21:43
and your totally what's going on in your
21:44
mind yeah no one does that well not no
21:47
one
21:48
barely anyone does it yeah
21:50
because it is weird right we're not used
21:52
to that so anything that we're not used
21:54
to is going to be uncomfortable in the
21:56
beginning so
21:59
i would say
22:00
if you want to try it out go ahead
22:02
because it might be great but like you
22:04
said as well could also just be not for
22:06
you
22:07
i like it personally i haven't been
22:09
doing it recently i will admit but i
22:11
like it from time to time you know
22:15
on the other hand
22:16
for me it doesn't work you know for
22:18
sleep
22:19
and yeah i had a time a while ago where
22:21
i could not sleep i actually don't know
22:23
what it was probably stress but
22:26
i just couldn't sleep you know
22:28
um
22:29
and i would try to use the head space i
22:31
would like put on like the sleep
22:33
meditation thing
22:34
and i would get so frustrated
22:37
i would
22:38
like just get more stressed from using
22:41
that f you know yeah and i was like
22:43
i can't fall asleep you can't fall
22:44
asleep can't fall asleep so just making
22:46
it worse
22:48
and it's like 4am you're still trying to
22:49
like meditate you know but then it's
22:51
like okay just never mind right but
22:53
anyway
22:54
things that i do at the moment
22:58
being in nature that's the number one
23:00
walks in general are nice but when i'm
23:02
in nature and especially up here in
23:04
norway which honestly is why i stayed
23:06
here you know is
23:08
so good for me just being outside
23:10
especially if it's on the coast in order
23:12
to hear the water
23:13
or be up in the mountains
23:16
just have you know put up a tent
23:18
somewhere and just chill make a campfire
23:20
or something like that's the best
23:21
you know it's so good
23:24
that's my number one favorite way
23:26
and i gotta do more of it to be honest
23:29
second is journaling and planning and
23:31
this might be a useful one because i
23:33
think a lot of times when we're
23:35
being unproductive or kind of like our
23:38
thoughts tend to go everywhere
23:40
like sit down and write down right
23:43
well you just want to plan for your week
23:45
right these are the things that need to
23:46
get done today tomorrow etc
23:49
whether that includes your nutrition or
23:51
not right meal prepping etc you can plan
23:53
for that because then you're less likely
23:56
to forget if you don't forget you're
23:58
maybe less stressed about forgetting
24:00
your meal prep right
24:02
or journaling in general i like to write
24:04
down you know stuff that i'm grateful
24:06
for in the morning i do do that every
24:08
morning
24:10
how i can do better personally right
24:12
and a couple other things but anyway
24:14
long story short like you said it's not
24:15
for everyone so i want you guys to think
24:18
about the stuff that we mentioned and
24:19
also go into christine's post and my
24:21
article and look into those different
24:23
methods because it's going to be
24:24
different for every
24:26
person out there
24:28
now
24:28
lastly going for walks i kind of put
24:31
that it's kind of double but like i
24:32
often go for a walk in the city too
24:35
just going for a walk five minutes 10
24:37
minutes it usually kind of recharges me
24:40
quite a bit if i
24:42
really struggle riding
24:44
i go out
24:45
before you know it i'm like on my phone
24:46
i'm like writing down yeah i'm the same
24:48
way i'm the same one like as i'm walking
24:50
i'm like getting good ideas you know on
24:52
this morning i wrote like half an
24:53
article like walking basically
24:55
[Music]
24:56
so yeah
24:58
very basic like nothing crazy nothing
25:00
hippie right
25:01
no like weird stuff there
25:04
there there's even like some supplements
25:06
that can help us manage cortisol but i
25:08
purposely didn't write those down
25:10
because i think
25:11
we tend to kind of go for those options
25:13
right yeah we're like yeah no let me
25:16
just try to supplement first but no just
25:18
go outside a little bit more first right
25:21
do less
25:22
or chill on couch whatever
25:25
whatever works for you
25:27
so to kind of recap what we talked about
25:28
today
25:30
we talked about what stress really is
25:32
right he perceived stress as well as
25:34
physical
25:35
acute stress versus chronic and how it
25:38
affects the body how much you can handle
25:41
and how you can manage that loan right
25:44
if you look at those two different
25:45
states right rest and digest the fight
25:47
or flight how much are you doing on the
25:50
stress side and how much are you
25:51
actually doing to counter that
25:54
now we also shared some of our personal
25:55
favorites
25:57
and we talked a little bit about sleep
25:59
and you know loss of menstrual cycle etc
26:02
once again
26:03
stress becomes a problem when it's
26:05
prolonged
26:07
too much for too long right just like
26:09
with dieting and all that stuff
26:11
if you want to learn more about this
26:13
learn more about stress if you want a
26:15
little recap check out my article i'll
26:17
link it in the show notes as well as
26:18
christine's post
26:20
which will also link
26:22
and we will talk to you guys next week
26:24
thanks for listening