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Success Secrets and Stories
Stress Relievers: Practical Tips from the Mayo Clinic
Feeling overwhelmed? You're not alone. Stress has become our constant companion, but it doesn't have to control your life. Drawing from the respected research of the Mayo Clinic, John and Greg dive into evidence-based approaches to stress management that actually work.
The body-mind connection is powerful, and physical activity stands as perhaps the most effective stress reliever available to us. Even simple movements—walking, biking, or housework—trigger endorphin release that can transform your mental state. What you eat matters too. We break down the Mayo Clinic's nutritional guidance for stress management, emphasizing whole foods that nourish both body and mind while identifying which substances to avoid that secretly amplify your stress levels.
Sleep quality directly impacts your ability to handle stress, yet it's often the first thing sacrificed during busy periods. We explore practical techniques for creating the optimal sleep environment and share the notepad trick used by Paul McCartney that could revolutionize your bedtime routine. Beyond physical approaches, mindfulness practices offer powerful tools for mental clarity. From meditation to yoga to journaling, these accessible techniques require minimal time investment for maximum stress-reduction benefits.
Perhaps most importantly, we discuss when self-help isn't enough. The Mayo Clinic emphasizes that seeking professional support signals strength, not weakness. The benefits of stress management extend far beyond momentary relief—enhanced productivity, improved mental health, and increased resilience create a foundation for navigating life's inevitable challenges. Whether you're facing temporary pressure or chronic stress, these science-backed techniques provide a pathway to greater calm and balance in your life. Try one today and feel the difference for yourself.
What stress management technique will you implement first? Connect with us at wando75.jw@gmail.com or gpowell374@gmail.com to share your experience or suggest future topics. Your journey toward stress resilience starts now.
Presented by John Wandolowski and Greg Powell
Well, hello and welcome to our podcast, success Secrets and Stories. I'm your host, john Wondoloski, and I'm here with my co-host and friend, greg Powell. Greg hey, everybody. And when we put together this podcast we wanted to put out a helping hand and help that next generation and help answer the question of what does it mean to be a leader? Today we want to talk about a subject that I think supports that concept. So this podcast is kind of an interesting subject. It's from the Mayo Clinic staff Stress getting to you.
Speaker 2:Try some of these tips for stress relief and they start off with is stress making you angry or grouchy? Stress relievers can help bring back the calm and the peace in your busy life. You don't have to put a lot of time or thought into stress relievers. If your stress is getting out of control, you need some quick relief. Try one of these tips and what I liked about it is it's coming from the Mayo Clinic. It is an opinion. These are pretty good medical people that understand the mechanics that are associated with stress relief and I give a lot more credence to an organization like Mayo Clinic. So the first one be active. Get active. Almost any form of physical activity. I get tickedver. Even if you're not an athlete and you're out of shape, exercise can still be a great stress reliever. Physical activity can pump up your feelings, your endorphins and other natural chemicals to boost your sense of well-being. It can also refocus your mind and your body movements. This refocus can improve your mood and can help you in terms of letting those irritations fade away. Irritations fade away. So go beyond just taking a walk, taking a jog, walking through your garden, cleaning your house. Do things like bike or swim or weight train or vacuum or anything else to get you up and get you active. That's the key.
Speaker 2:The next point that they brought up was eat a healthy diet. I always loved this subject. Now the Mayo Clinic made it very simple. They didn't want to get into the details. Eat a healthy diet is an important part of taking care of yourself to eat as many fruits, vegetables and whole grains as possible. So when I read this, it's like, well, what does that mean? Because that's one of the lines I keep on getting. So there's a little self-conscious piece of what does it mean to eat a healthy diet? And they went through some of the details and I'm just going to go over the subjects.
Speaker 2:Obviously, eating more fruits and vegetables is really the key. You were talking about eating five portions in one of these health descriptions of fruits and vegetables every day. I don't eat five times a day, but their point was that there's minerals and there's fiber and there's vitamins that you can get from fruits and vegetables that you can't get from other sources, and that's really the idea of the whole list here. And then they have whole grains in terms of things like brown rice or whole wheat bread or whatever else that you can find a fiber in a grain product. Next one is lean proteins, being it fish, poultry, beans, nuts, eggs, whatever you can get for lean proteins and like anything else, all these things are in moderation they talk about. The next subject is dairy and dairy alternatives, so they're talking about milk or yogurt or cheese not cheesecake, but cheese. All those things are kind of the key of a healthy diet. So their number six was limiting unhealthy components such as saturated fats, obviously, sugars and salt. The last point that they brought up was hydration and drinking enough water, and I have seen a lot of answers to people who have literally drowned themselves by drinking too much water but having a lot more, because a lot of us are dealing with a minimum of vitamin D and water. Those are like the two things that you'll always hear that you'd have to do more, and hydration is one of the keys. So we're talking about avoiding unhealthy habits is the next subject from the article.
Speaker 2:Some people may deal with stress, with unhealthy habits such as drinking too much caffeine or alcohol or smoking or illegal substances. All these things can harm you in terms of trying to manage the stress level and exercise and being active and being social, making good choices, and I can tell you that anything that usually is coming from fast food is not a great choice. You have to be very careful in what you're picking. The other elements of painkillers and alcohol and smoking are all those things that we have found people that overdo. I'm not a fan of smoking period, but trying to find a ways of handling pain can't be found in a bottle. It is. It has to be something that you have to work on and nine times out of 10, it's the inactivity that you're chasing. Craig, why don't you take the next one?
Speaker 1:All right, john. So there's seven harmful habits folks could have pretty much at any age, right? The first one is smoking. I'll talk a little bit about that. I'm not a big fan of smoking either. Had some people in my family that had lung cancer because they smoked and passed away Excessive alcohol consumption John mentioned earlier.
Speaker 1:I believe everything in moderation right. It's a good rule to live by Overdependence on painkillers. We know people have to have painkillers for surgical procedures and that, but don't get hooked on those painkillers. Making unhealthy choices really contributes to obesity, diabetes. It may taste good at the time, it may seem like the right thing to do and they discount it. And a lot of cheese and barbecue sauce, but it's of cheese and barbecue sauce, but it's not always a good choice. It's rarely a good choice.
Speaker 1:Leading a sedentary life it means not sitting in the chair all the time. Get up, walk around, see people, not being social. Don't become a hermit. You've got neighbors or friends or family. Keep in touch. You reach out. Don't just wait for them to reach out.
Speaker 1:Poor sleeping habits Think about your sleep and think about it seriously. What can you do, whether it's the bedroom, a noise machine. Don't eat right before you go to bed. But what are the things that can help you get more comfortable and relaxing sleep? Meditate. And even I've got like John Younger, I guess older kids now that are adults and doing their own thing, and our parents as well. They still talk about meditating.
Speaker 1:During meditation, you focus your attention and quiet the stream of jumbled thoughts that might be crowding your mind and causing you stress, and my dad used to say stress will kill you. So if you can prevent some stress, do so. So if you can prevent some stress, do so. Meditation can give you a sense of calm, a sense of peace and balance that can help both your emotional well-being as well as your overall health. Meditation can empower us to enhance our well-being.
Speaker 1:You can practice guided meditation, guided imagery, mindfulness, visualization and other forms of meditation wherever, pretty much at any time, and, for example, you could meditate when you're out for a walk, riding the bus, riding your bike, going to work, waiting for your healthcare provider's office. You know how they make you sit, sometimes for a little bit right Good time to meditate. Try a nap to show you how to do the exercises, and you can try deep breathing pretty much anywhere. Think about prayer, and no matter what faith you have. It can be unshakable, it can be very serene for you, it can put you in a really good place and you think about the different religions around the world. There's enough options there for you to think about Laugh more. This is a good one, because I laugh a lot and my kids do and my wife does and John does. You know right, you know a good sense of humor can't lot and my kids do and my wife does and John does.
Speaker 1:Yep, you know right. You know a good sense of humor can't cure all ailments, but it can help you feel better, Even if you have to force yourself to fake laugh through your overall grumpiness. When you laugh, it lightens up your mental load. It also causes positive physical changes in your body. Believe that Laughter fires up and then cools down your stress response. So read some jokes, tell some jokes, watch a comedy or hang out with your funny friends, but give laughter and yoga a try. So, John, let's talk about connecting with others.
Speaker 1:When you're stressed and irritable, you may want to isolate yourself, but instead reach out to family and friends and make some social connections. But instead reach out to family and friends and make some social connections. Even one good friend who listens can make a huge difference. Social contact is a good stress reliever because it can offer distraction, it can give you support, it can help you put up with life's ups and downs. So take a coffee break or for me, I take a tea break. Take that with a friend. Email a relative, Send them a text right. Or visit your place of worship. Got more time.
Speaker 1:Try volunteering for a charity and help yourself while helping others that need it. You might also want to do it all, but you can't, at least not without paying a huge price. Learning to say no or being willing to delegate can help you manage your to-do list and your stress. Healthy boundaries are important in a wellness journey. Everyone has physical and emotional limits. Saying yes may seem like an easy way to keep the peace, prevent conflicts and keep the job done right, but instead it may cause you inner conflict because your needs and those of your family come second. Putting yourself second can lead to stress, anger, resentment and even the wish to take revenge, and that's not a very calm and peaceful reaction. Remember you're the priority, yeah.
Speaker 2:The next one they came up with is try yoga, and I don't know if you've tried yoga I have, and it actually is beneficial. It's try yoga and I don't know if you've tried yoga, I have and it actually is beneficial. With a series of postures and breathing exercises, yoga is a popular stress reliever. Yoga brings together the physical and the mental disciplines that may help you reach the peace of body and mind. Yoga can help you relax and ease stress and anxiety. Try yoga on your own or find a class. You can find a class in many areas. They have different types of yoga. It is a great stress reliever because it is a slower pace and easier movement.
Speaker 2:Next is get enough sleep. Stress can cause you to have trouble falling asleep. When you have too much stress, you have too much to think about, too much to do. Your sleep can suffer. But sleep is the time that you have for your brain and your body to recharge. Most adults they talk about need seven to nine. No, you don't have to have the minimum of seven, but if you're in the two to three to four to five discussion, you're going to be paying a price for that and it's probably going to show up on a Friday faster than it's going to show up on a Monday.
Speaker 2:They go on in terms of how well and how long you sleep can affect your mood, your energy level, your focus and overall functioning. If you have sleep troubles, make sure that you have a quiet, relaxing bedtime routine. For example, listen to soothing music. On that note, I found music with no words helps the sleeping process. Words sometimes keeps you awake. Make sure that the area that you are sleeping in is cool, dark and quiet. Put phones and tablets away and stick to a regular schedule.
Speaker 2:There was a study where they talked about how tablets or computers, especially like 20 minutes, 30 minutes before you're supposed to be going to sleep just is too hard to try to purge. You need more time than that to at least create a barrier between your ability to sleep. So that was one of the interesting ads I'd like to throw through to the discussion. The next one was keeping a journal. Was keeping a journal To write down your thoughts and feelings can be a good release for an otherwise pent-up feelings? Don't think about what you're writing, just let it happen. Write with whatever comes to mind. No one needs to read it. So don't aim for perfect grammar or spelling. Let your thoughts flow on paper or on a computer screen, and once you're done, you can toss it to the side. Yeah, greg.
Speaker 1:So, John, I don't keep a journal. I mentioned once I went to China to visit my son and I kept a pretty copious journal. I look back at it every once in a while. But what I do? I write poems. I write poems mostly about family situations, whether it was my grandson being born, whatever, and I go back to them and they put me in a really good place because of how I was feeling at the time. I wrote them and I've written quite a few of them. So that's maybe my version of a journal, John.
Speaker 2:Nice and I think for me. I found the journal helpful. When I was doing, when I was under a lot of stress and I was forgetting points, I had a pad of paper and a pencil by my nightstand. I would turn on a nightstand, I would put the thought on paper and I could go back to sleep Because I had that. I want to get back to it. I need to remember this and when I found out that I could just use the paper and the pencil to be honest, when I got the information it was from a comment that Paul McCartney did that and Let it Be was one of those songs that, in a dream, his mother told him let it be, and he wrote down the words and went back to sleep and slept on the concept of his mom speaking to him.
Speaker 2:So it's a powerful tool in terms of stress management, of keeping a journal, the different ways for you to do a poem. For Paul McCartney, it was to remember a song lyric that he wanted to try to use in the future. For me, a project, you know, loose end that needed to get followed up on and I had somehow missed it and I wanted to make sure it was going to be addressed the next day. All these things in terms of stress. If you can get it out of your mind, you can get back to resting. That's the key. Greg, why don't you take us to the next point?
Speaker 1:So you spoke about it briefly, john. But get musical and be creative. Listening to or playing music is a good stress reliever. Yeah, years ago I used to play drums in high school and a little bit afterwards. I've been playing guitar more recently and I know John likes more instrumental kind of music and I like all kinds of music. But we have the mutual love for soft jazz, new age jazz, smooth jazz, which can really put your head in a really great place. It can provide a mental distraction, lessen muscle tension and lower your stress hormones. If you turn up the volume you can let your mind be absorbed totally by the music. It puts you in a whole different space, a whole different world, very comfortable, very peaceful world.
Speaker 2:For my kids. They hear jazz and they remember all the times in the car listening to jazz and it just drives them nuts. So it can have an opposite effect. So you might want to just do this for yourself in terms of stress management Pull out your AirPods for this Exactly.
Speaker 1:So if music isn't one of your interests, turn your attention to another hobby that you enjoy. For example, some people like gardening, sewing, reading, sketching I mean painting or try anything that makes you focus on what you think you'd rather be doing than what you think you should be doing. Give your mind that break and then seeking counseling If new stressors are making it hard for you to cope or if self-care measures aren't relieving your stress, you may want to go to that next step and that's think about therapy or counseling. Nothing wrong with that. For some people, a lot of people, it's the right way to go. Therapy could also be a good idea if you feel overwhelmed or just plain trapped. You know you need help getting out of that trapped feeling. You also might think about therapy if you worry a lot or if you have trouble carrying out daily routines or meeting duties at work, home or school.
Speaker 1:Counseling can be extremely helpful. Professional counselors or therapists can help you find the source of your stress and then give you some kind of new coping tools. Okay, and there's benefits to the stress management programs. One enhanced productivity, no question. You reduce stress and that energy you're burning negatively can help you do something positively, move things forward, improve mental health yes, you're going to get some balance If you get rid of stress. Overall, your head's going to feel good and your attitude toward things is going to be much more positive. And then increase resilience. Because one thing we all know about sometimes you get knocked down, you got to get back up again and you reduce that stress, you have the better ability to be resilient to bounce back up and take on the next challenge. John.
Speaker 2:So I found this article. We've talked about stress before, but from the Mayo Clinic's point of view, they're very specific in terms of the medical science that's associated with the different options that are available, the kind of things that have worked and their recommendations to their patients. I think that's an important element that sometimes, when you look at it just from a business perspective, you lose the human perspective. So I hope that this article helped. I hope this podcast helped and, if you like what you've heard, you're going to learn a little bit more about leadership in my book called Building your Leadership Toolbox. It's available on Amazon and Barnes Noble. Our podcast, success Secrets and Stories, is available on what you're listening to, thank you. It's also available on Apple and Google and Spotify. A lot of what Greg and I talk about is the MBR program by Dr Durst, and you can find more out about that on successgrowthacademycom. If you want to contact us, my email address is guando75.jw at gmailcom, and Greg.
Speaker 1:I can be reached at gpowell374 at gmailcom.
Speaker 2:And the music has been brought to you by my grandson. So we want to hear from you. Give us a ring, drop us a line. We would appreciate it, because it's your input that helps us decide what we want to deal with on our program. Well, greg, thanks.
Speaker 1:Thanks, john, as always.
Speaker 2:Next time yeah.