How does stress impact our life?

Stress is a huge topic. I have tried to cover most of it, but there is still a lot left. 

The purpose is to create awareness and educate.

 

Stress, we experience it almost every day. Some handle it better than others. But everyone deals with stress. 

Stress is not a bad thing. Some stress motivates us to do the work, which is called Eu-stress. Some stress makes it difficult to focus on the challenge called distress. 

Both stresses lead to both physiological(increase in heart rate, sweating, feeling nervous, restless, and many more) as well as mental changes(confused, procrastinating, scared, zoning out, and many more)

The mind and body are connected. 

 For example, when you are stressed, your muscles contract causing stiffness in the neck or legs, trouble breathing, etc.

Constant stress affects the digestion of the body.

Foods we eat impacts our body and mind

There are two types of food:

Fresh and wholesome: these foods give us energy and a clear focus.

Junk, processed, and intoxicants: these foods dull our mind and makes our mental health even worse.

How does stress affect your behavior towards food?

Stress plays a role in eating behavior. People often choose high-calorie foods during stress, which is called emotional eating.

There is another side to stress and eating behavior where people are under food restriction. But later, they will crave high-calorie foods like chips, cakes, etc.

Constant stress can also impact the sleep cycle-having disturbed sleep or no sleep at all.

Sleep deprivation increases cortisol(stress hormone) and decreases the leptin hormone(satiety hormone). So, people tend to eat more on those days because satisfaction level is much slower.

Sometimes, there is too much stress that people don't feel like eating for an extensive period. But even in that case, the body compensates by eating a large portion of food in one sitting.

 

How to cope with stress?

Stress is subjective. It's the feeling we put on ourselves. 

Things that could help with stress:

Set realistic goals:

For example: If you have a 100-page project to complete. 

1. Divide it into small, manageable parts. Be specific with it. For example, "I will write one part of the intro today."

That's simple, right.

Our mind identifies stress when we are overwhelmed with work. That leads to procrastination.

2. Delegate the work:

There is a thing that I learned through time management:

If it's urgent and crucial: do it first

If it's important but not urgent: do it later

If it's urgent but doesn't require your expertise: delegate

If it's not crucial: don't do it

3. Breathing:

Most of the stress is us focusing on things that are worst-case scenario:

We all know we can't control the future or the past. But we yet worry about it.

Focus on the present(which is obvious, right?)

When we are stressed, we take shallow breaths. Next time, take a fuller breath with our stomach.

Take a break and go outside and be with nature.

Talk to someone for a while, watch comedy and distract yourself from the situation(You shouldn't procrastinate-I know who you guys are)

Word help:

Procrastinate-delaying the work because of fear to begin. 

End of this blog

 

Just my wanderings:(Source:Ankur Warikoo)

There is nothing called as bored or lazy:

"I got bored of studying."

"I got bored of working."

People call you lazy for it.

But, if it's a priority, you would do it.

What if I told you it's because of anxiety.

There is something called a state of flow. 

It means when you do the challenge and loses track of time.

level of skill=challenge= state of flow

level of skill> challenge=relaxation

level of skill<challenge=anxiety

Psychologist Mihály Csíkszentmihályi came up with it.