2: Cortisol, Stress and the Art of Finding Everyday Happiness

Today we're tackling the connection between our everyday troubles and our hormonal health, specifically, cortisol imbalance. This invisible culprit may be responsible for a variety of issues. This discussion explores the effects of our modern lifestyle, blue light exposure, and other stressors on our cortisol levels. I also share some surprisingly simple yet powerful ways to regulate your cortisol levels and improve your overall wellness journey.

Few things are as precious as the moments of joy that we find in our daily lives, but did you know that cortisol imbalance can rob you of these experiences? We dive into the often overlooked art of finding joy in everyday moments. Drawing from the wisdom of my mentors, we discuss the difference between the pursuit of happiness and the experience of joy - and why the latter is more important. Understanding the role of cortisol in our lives can help you intentionally carve out time for joy, something that can often get lost in our busy routines. Listen in as we explore how to reset your cortisol balance and rediscover joy in your daily life.

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Transcript

Speaker 1 0:02

All right, episode number two. Something that has been on my mind a lot lately, been a hurdle that I'm trying to figure out, is genes. I need genes that fit me when I stand up and when I sit down, and if you're in this same boat, I know you know exactly what I'm talking about. If you buy genes that fit when you're standing up, then they're way too tight when you sit down, and if you buy genes that feel comfortable when you sit down, they're too loose and they sag off your butt and it looks like you're wearing a diaper and I need to know is it a certain brand, is it? I don't really think it's a sizing issue. Like, I think I need a specific brand of genes and I have tried multiple times to go gene shopping and it's usually a big fat fail. It's one of my least favorite things but, to be honest with you, it's one of the things that I'm willing to invest money in. If I can find good genes, I'll pay the bigger bucks for them because I have such a hard time with it and I feel like genes are something that lasts for like a long time. You know, you can wear them multiple years in a row unless something happens or you know, like we go through this big change, like we are right now, where it's like we're going from skinny genes to flare genes and, honestly, I still don't really have an opinion on that. I had a really hard time transitioning from flare genes to straight legged genes and now for skinny genes, rather, and now I'm having a very hard time going back to the thought of wearing flare genes, and it mainly revolves around the shoes I don't know what shoes to pair with them, anyway. So I would love to hear your gene recommendations. Do you have a favorite brand? Have you found with that particular brand that you need to size up or size down from your normal size in order for them to fit at all times? Because I don't really like tight things on my stomach. I have been that way since I was a child and it just feels uncomfy to me. But I need genes that look good. So send me all of your suggestions. You can do that on Instagram, I guess, at wellnesswiththeta.

Speaker 1 2:17

Okay, today we're gonna talk about cortisol, because cortisol imbalance is one of the most common imbalances I identify in my clients. To be honest with you, I have not worked with a client yet, and I've worked with many that have not had some level of HPA axis dysfunction. Now, sometimes this is referred to as burnout, sometimes it's just called cortisol imbalance. I don't care what you call it, we're all talking about the same thing. But basically cortisol is our stress hormone and it's no surprise in our go, go, go, go go lifestyle, where we are running from thing to thing, we have empty million responsibilities.

Speaker 1 3:00

Work is putting an immense amount of pressure on us to do more, do more, do more. Don't get paid anymore, don't take time off no, you can't be off with your sick kid. I can't believe you're calling in today because you have a sick kid All the things. It's no wonder that our cortisol is imbalanced. Plus we throw in on top of that the toxins that we're exposed to that have an effect there. Plus we get exposure to all this blue light. Many of us work jobs where we're sitting in front of computers all day. We're not getting natural light exposure. All of these things impact our cortisol levels and it's hard to regulate them, especially if you don't really have the tools and techniques that you need in order to be able to do this. So I am sharing with you today one of the more impactful things that you can do.

Speaker 1 3:55

But I'm gonna be honest with you, it's a hard habit to get into. It's something that I have worked on throughout the summer and bringing it on into fall with me and, to be honest with you, it's something that I still have a hard time doing consistently and once I get into what it is, you'll understand why. Because it's just hard. It's too easy to say no, I've got too much to do, I can't do that right now. So what is it? It's being in stillness and you're like what the heck did she just say Like what does that even mean? We have a really hard time as women specifically doing nothing. But it's really important for us to take time to do nothing and to relax, and it's just. It's really important for our hormones, because cortisol impacts the production and balance, or sex hormones, and I promise we're gonna get there someday, but not on this podcast episode, because, again, trying to keep these short, trying to keep them to one topic at a time but it's really important for us to take time, ideally every day.

Speaker 1 5:08

But I give myself a lot of grace with this habit and right now I'm trying to carve out specific time that I'm doing this, at least once a week, and that's where I would recommend that you start as well. And basically, what you're gonna do during this time is nothing. Doesn't that sound nice? Doesn't that sound just dreamy? You could just sit and be with nobody bothering you, nobody talking to you, no phone. You turn your phone off, you can't get phone calls, you can't get text messages. But here's the thing. It's hard and you're probably like well, how hard is it to sit and do nothing? But what happens is when you start to implement this habit, you sit down and you say, okay, I'm just gonna do this for five minutes, and five minutes sounds like nothing until you sit and try to do it, because, kind of the rules of this art, you can't do anything, you can't pick your phone up, you can't scroll your phone, you can't listen to anything, you can't watch anything.

Speaker 1 6:14

Ideally, this would be done outside, but I don't know where you live, but where I live it's cold right now and I hate the cold. So me going outside to do this through the fall and winter, unless we catch an abnormally warm day, is probably not very likely. But that's okay, I can do it inside and I can look out the window or whatever you can do it anywhere, there's just some added benefits to doing it outside, because then you're also, at the same time, you're killing more birds with one stone because you're also getting sunlight exposure. There have been studies done that show when you are in nature, just by being in nature, you don't have to do anything, you don't have to be around anything specific. Just be in nature and you're hearing. Nature sounds like bugs and the wind and birds flying and birds chirping. That your cortisol level levels lower. Isn't that incredible.

Speaker 1 7:13

So yeah, ideally you would do it outside, but it's okay if you can't, because I will also will not be doing that through the winter when it's cold. So I challenge you to sit a timer on your phone for five minutes Now. Ideally you'll be able to eventually work up to doing this for like 10 to 15 minutes. This, lets be real, we don't have more time than that because we're moms and we're busy, but everybody can carve out five to 15 minutes a day. I feel like, and if you don't think that you have that time, give yourself a little tough love and think about how often you're scrolling on your phone and for how long, and just make the decision for yourself that this is worth it to give it a try and see if you notice any difference in how you feel. So, anyway, you set your timer on your phone, set it to the side, get in your comfy spot and then literally do nothing and just observe what you notice going on around you that you normally are tuned out to Like.

Speaker 1 8:17

When you can do this outside, you'll notice all kinds of things about the animals that are around, the birds that are flying by, the crickets that you hear. Inside. It might be a little more challenging to tune into those nature related things, but that's one reason why I say you could do this, looking out the window but even noticing, like the cars that are driving by, the I don't know, the toys that are like in the room with you, the pillows that are in the room with you, how the couch feels that you're sitting on. It's like these sensory things that usually we're not paying any attention to you, but you're trying to purposely call attention to them, to force yourself to really like be in the moment and be super present and relax. So I don't want you to focus on things that stress you out, like the pile of laundry in the corner that needs to be folded and put away. But you can't do it right now because you're sitting here taking this time for yourself, like that's not what we're looking for. We're looking for things that are going to help you feel relaxed, help you feel connected to the moment and maybe bring you joy.

Speaker 1 9:30

Ideally, like I said I've said this like four times now but ideally you do this outside, because it's just easier to find joyful things in nature than it is inside our home. So I want you to give that a try and I also want you to kind of take mental note as you're doing this, especially the first few times that you do it. How long does those five minutes feel, and how many times do you catch yourself having the impulse or having the thought to pick your phone up? Oh, I need to send this text message. Oh, I need to put this in my calendar. Oh, I need to call this person. It will happen more times than you think, I promise, because it did to me. So that is pretty much all I have for this episode.

Speaker 1 10:18

I just want to reiterate how important it is to take care of our cortisol levels, and it's something that we're going to talk a lot about. I'm going to give you a lot of strategies on this podcast for little ways that you can incorporate more cortisol supportive habits Because, like I said, I have not worked with a client yet that did not meet cortisol support. So I do want to leave you with a mindset minute today. That kind of ties right into this and is really important, and I want to start off by sharing a statement that one of my mentors in my nurse coaching program shared several weeks ago and it's been on my mind quite a bit since then.

Speaker 1 10:57

She said don't worry about being happy, just experience joy. And like what she went on to say and what she went on to explain is that sometimes we get wrapped up in feeling like we're down and out or we're not as happy as we think we should be, or we're having mom guilt. But what we really need to focus on is finding little moments of joy in our day and being intentional in trying to carve out time for the little things that bring us joy and then, like, the happiness comes from that. And I thought that that was really interesting and really powerful and very applicable for us that are moms, because sometimes it's hard to intentionally bond joy for just ourselves in each of our days. So I'm going to read the statement again Don't worry about being happy, just experience joy.