Dear Stress Let s Break Up. How do we deal with the health compromising, but unavoidable, evil of stress?!

Transcription

1 Dear Stress Let s Break Up. How do we deal with the health compromising, but unavoidable, evil of stress?! If you aren t sure why you should be thinking about ways to deal with your stress, that is another topic for another day! I might be a little late to the party but maybe I m not the only one. I just recently learned about a life changer called Mindfulness. Mindfulness has many well worded definition options. My favourite comes from Jon Kabat-Zinn and I figure he knows what he is talking about since he created the Stress Reduction Clinic and the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. Mindfulness is awareness that arises through paying attention, on purpose, in the present moment, non-judgmentally. It s about knowing what is on your mind. What does that mean? Mindfulness teaches your brain a new way to relate to the World around you. So, mindfulness doesn t take our daily stresses away, it helps us to deal with our daily stresses in a healthy manner. What can mindfulness do for me? 1. Activate the relaxation response. That sounds fantastic, for one thing. But, it s actually a physiologic response that will lower blood pressure,

2 lower heart rate, lower respiratory rate, and lower oxygen consumption. It also increases alpha brain waves, which can often improve a person s sense of mental and spiritual wellbeing. 2. Slow the stress response. A stressor, whether positive or negative, will activate stress hormones (cortisol and adrenaline). These hormones cause increases in heart rate, blood pressure, breathing rate, blood sugar. These hormones also divert energy away from non vital tasks like digestion. Activation of these hormones uses up a lot of energy and causes many unpleasant side effects. I m all for anything that will slow this process down. 3. Calm the anxious mind. Practising mindfulness helps train the brain. When the prefrontal cortex is trained by mindfulness, it creates a calm and attentive mind. 4. Increase focus. As mentioned above, mindfulness helps train the brain. As you practise mindfulness, you learn to tune out distractions and put your focus to one area. As with anything, the more you practice, the more skilled you become. 5. Develop stress hardiness. Several studies have been done that show the longterm benefits of incorporating mindfulness into daily life. I will call upon Jon Kabat-Zinn again because his team at the University of Massachusetts Medical School studied participants before and after mindfulness training and there were clear cut findings. Mindfulness makes a person better able to cope with what life throws their way. I also found it interesting that this and other studies found that character traits control, commitment and challenge could increase after beginning this practice. Okay, so how do I do it? What I instantly like about mindfulness is that anyone, and I do mean anyone, can do it. Immediately. If you can breathe, you can practice mindfulness. There s no right or wrong way to do it and it doesn t involve an enormous time commitment.

3 The easiest way I found to start was to take a few minutes to close my eyes and focus on my breathing. Feel the air going in and then feel it going out. Feel my ribcage expanding and contracting. If my mind wandered, no biggie. Acknowledge it and get back to focusing on breathing. Just 2-5 minutes in my day. Done! If you want to learn more about mindfulness or get some quick and easy ways to add mindfulness to your daily life, I have a few home grown suggestions. Klinic (in Winnipeg) has a booklet called Calm in the Storm: Coping with the Stresses of Life and it has many mindfulness practice ideas. Manitoba Farm & Rural Support Services has a booklet called Sleepless in Manitoba: Making Sleep Work for you. It is also full of great mindfulness practice ideas. Both of these publications can be found and printed if you enter the titles into your internet

4 search bar. You might even be able to snag a copy from your friendly neighbourhood Chronic Disease Nurse. I have also added the links below. If you are a techy person, I have a great resource for you: Calm in the Storm, that I mentioned above, has an app! I have it on my iphone and I use it daily. My kids actually ask for calm at bedtime. It has several mindfulness exercises you can choose and has a soothing voice that guides you through your 5-15 minute selection. I definitely recommend the body scan. One last thing I want to leave you with, in case I haven t convinced you that you need mindfulness in your life. Jon Kabat-Zinn s group at the Massachusetts Medical School did MRI scans on participants before and after practicing mindfulness. They found an increase in grey matter after practicing mindfulness. In non technical terms, the participants were able to grow their brains in key areas like awareness, concentration, decision making, etc. Does that sell you on mindfulness? It sold me! Mindfulness: A Practical Guide to Finding Peace in a Frantic World by Professor Mark Williams and Dr Danny Penman.

5 (also has a fantastic App) file:///c:/users/hboer/downloads/sleepless_in_manitoba_booklet_2013_final_web.pdf Contributor: Heather Boer RN BN Chronic Disease Nurse, Interlake-Eastern Regional Health Authority