Category : Stress Explained

HomeArchive by Category "Stress Explained"
blog-title-eating-better

5 Ways to De-stress in 5 Minutes

by on 14 July 2016in PipLife, PipUse, Stress Explained

Feeling stressed? Here are five ways to de-stress in five minutes.

 

1.Breathe deeply – often when we’re stressed we hold our breath. Even worse, you may not notice yourself doing this. Our minds and our bodies are integrally linked and when you hold your breath or take shallow breaths for long periods of time your body starts to panic which causes your mind to panic. Release stress with this quick breathing exercise that you can do at your desk:

Sit in a comfortable position, breath in as deeply as you can counting slowly as you do 1-2-3. Breath all of the air out slowly counting 1-2-3. Sometimes it can help to do this audibly (if you’re not in a crowded office!) so you can really feel the air leaving your body. It can also help to put your hand on your stomach and feel it rise and fall with the air. Repeat this at least 5 times.

 

2.Muscle relaxation – another symptoms of stress is tense muscles. If you are in the middle of a stressful task take a moment to notice your body. Do you feel how your shoulder muscles are clenched tight? Are your legs pushing tight against your seat chair and the floor? Try this quick exercise to relax your body and release stress tension:

Start with your toes. Bring all of your attention into your toes and clench them as tight as you can for 5 seconds. Count 1-2-3-4-5. Then release. Move on up to your calves, tighten the muscles and count to 5. Then release. Move all the way up your body in sequences like this working one muscle at a time until you get to your forehead. Often our facial muscles are tight when we are stressed. Clench your forehead into a frown for 5 seconds. And then release. Your body should feel relaxed and better able to face the task at hand.

 

3.Take a walk – another common sin when we are stressed, particularly at work, is to stay sitting for long periods of time without break. This is bad not only for our muscles which become tight but also our eyes which likely haven’t had a break and our minds. Taking five minutes to walk away from the situation is a great way to physically and mentally remove yourself from a stressful situation. Plus exercise increases endorphins so your mood will be improved when you return as well [1].

 

4.Laugh – laughing and interaction with others is one of the most important facets of human communication. Loneliness and isolation are key predictors of not only mental but also physical ill health [2]. When you are stressed it can be easy to isolate yourself thinking that only you can solve the problem. While it may be true that someone else can’t help with the actual problem they can help to lift your mood and make you feel that you’re not alone. Seek out a colleague, a family member or a friend who you enjoy spending time with and take a five minute break to talk to them. If you’re on your own look up a funny clip online that you know will make you laugh. This will release the tension and remind you that most problems are not the end of the world.

 

5.Take out your Pip – your Pip is a useful tool to help you relax and destress for five minutes. Sometimes it can be hard not only to know how to relax but to know if you really are relaxing when you are used to being stressed. Let the Pip apps guide you and teach you how to manage your stress and feel a sense of calm in five minutes.

Whether you’re staring at a problem on a computer screen, facing a tense interaction with colleagues or just feeling overwhelmed take a five minute break and try one of these five destressing tips.

  1. Sakuragi, S., & Sugiyama, Y. (2006). Effects of daily walking on subjective symptoms, mood and autonomic nervous function. Journal of physiological anthropology, 25(4), 281-289.
  2. Steptoe, A., Owen, N., Kunz-Ebrecht, S. R., & Brydon, L. (2004). Loneliness and neuroendocrine, cardiovascular, and inflammatory stress responses in middle-aged men and women. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 29(5), 593-611.
happiness-day-blog-image

The Positive Effects of Being Happy

by on 13 July 2016in PipLife, Stress Explained

We all want to be happy but sometimes it can be hard to  The Action for Happiness group have put together a list of key steps to incorporate some more happiness into your short and long-term futures. But first, what are the benefits of being happy?

 

It may seem like an obvious question but actually some of the effects of happiness are surprising:

 

1) Happiness Reduces Stress – Of course, you may say that it’s just that those people who have less stressful lives are happier. Chronic stress does affect our outlook but it works the other way around as well. Researchers in 2009 measured how happy 65 university students were. They then stressed them all out by giving them a horrible task that was going to be assessed by their lecturers.

 

While all students had high blood pressure and pumping hearts as a result of stress, those who had a more positive outlook recovered much more quickly than those who were not [1]. So even if stress is inevitable in some situations paying attention to happiness in other areas of your life may help you to ride out the storm.

 

2) Happiness Affects Our Health – Happier people have lower heart rates, lower blood pressure and a healthier immune system [2]. To show how much our psychological health can affect our physical health let’s talk about a study done by researchers in Carnegie Mellon University in 2003 [3]. These researchers inserted nasal drops infected with the common cold virus into the noses of 350 volunteers (with their permission!).

 

Beforehand they had asked them to rate how often they experienced positive emotions such as happiness and relaxation. When they returned to these volunteers they found that those who had reported more positive emotions at the start were much less likely to have developed the common cold than those who were less happy. The immune systems of these happy participants had risen up to meet the challenge meaning the virus had a much harder time taking hold.

 

3) Happy People Live Longer – One team of researchers followed up a group of 180 nuns from their 20s to their deaths in their late 70s, 80s and 90s. They found that those who had been happier in their twenties, as assessed by essays they themselves had written, lived on average 7-10 years longer than their less happy peers [4]. This has since been verified by another larger study of nearly 4000 older adults [5].

 

So celebrating the International Day of Happiness is not important just for the feel-good factor. Of course we all have periods of happiness and unhappiness in our lives that we do not necessarily have control over but taking steps to improve your own happiness when you do have some control may help you to build up resilience to see you through less happy times. Take a look at the Action for Happiness 10 key steps here:

 

http://www.actionforhappiness.org/media/530511/ten_keys_guidebook.pdf

 

References

1. Papousek, I., et al., Trait and state positive affect and cardiovascular recovery from experimental academic stress. Biological Psychology, 2010. 83(2): p. 108-115.

2. Steptoe, A. and J. Wardle, Positive affect and biological function in everyday life. Neurobiology of Aging, 2005. 26(1): p. 108-112.

3. Cohen, S., et al., Emotional style and susceptibility to the common cold. Psychosomatic medicine, 2003. 65(4): p. 652-657.

blog-stress-kids

Stress , how can I help my child deal with it?

by on 27 April 2016in PipLife, Stress Explained

All children Stress about things in their life.

The word ‘stress’ is seen as a negative word but actually stress can be good for us. Not only does it sharpen our thinking to help deal with challenges but periods of stress can teach us important coping and resilience strategies. The same is true for children. Small challenges, stresses or worries in a child’s life can help them, with support, to develop the coping mechanisms they will need to deal with bigger stresses later on. The important thing is to stop stress from becoming distress.

blog-title-good-food-for-mental-health

3 foods that can help reduce stress

by on 25 January 2016in PipLife, Stress Explained

We’ve all done it. When we feel stressed or overwhelmed it’s natural to reach for the most unhealthy, comforting carbohydrates you can lay your hands on – chocolate, pizza, crisps and chicken fillet rolls have all filled that void. Stressful or emotional eating is a common means of coping with stress [1]. But while it may provide a temporary pleasure boost it’s probably not the best idea to eat a packet of crisps every time you’ve had a hard day at work. Luckily there are other, often healthier, foods which can help to temporarily reduce stress. Here we have 3 alternatives:

Chamomile tea:

Take a break from coffee and try chamomile tea. Chamomile is an ancient medicinal herb commonly ground down to make a herbal tea. Chamomile has been found to help alleviate symptoms of a number of different bodily complaints and even reduce stress hormones when inhaled in oil form [2]. Avoid another caffeine crash and try a cup of chamomile tea when you feel stressed. Just holding your hands around a warm cup is comfort in itself.

chamomile tea

Dark Chocolate:

Here’s the good news! No chocolate isn’t good for you but dark chocolate isn’t as bad as other kinds and it may help to reduce stress hormones in the body. Researchers gave a group of participants 40g of dark chocolate (74% cocoa and the equivalent of a small-size bar) every day for 2 weeks and found that their cortisol levels decreased. We’re not advocating eating chocolate every day but if you’re stressing out take a time-out with a small taste of dark chocolate. If nothing else it will at least be a tasty break from your stressful task.

Dark choclate

Rye Bread:

Or any complex carbohydrates. One team of researchers fed people either a breakfast made up of complex carbohydrates like rye bread or a breakfast of simple carbohydrates including white bread. Those who had the former had lower levels of fatigue 3 hours later and were satiated for longer [3]. If you feel that toast and butter is the only thing that’s going to get you through this next deadline why not try wholewheat toast instead.

Rye-bread

 

In the most recent stress and food news a group of researchers found that a bacteria called Bifidobacterium longum 1714 fed to participants over four-weeks reduced their levels of stress [4]. We might wait for further developments on this one though, Bifidobacterium longum 1714 doesn’t sound quite so appetizing as chocolate.

While these snacks may provide enough tasty distraction to get you over a short stressful hump it’s never a good idea to ignore chronic stress. There are many coping strategies out there from mindfulness to relaxation techniques that can help you to reduce stress. But if it’s just a short term pleasure boost you’re after try some of our healthy alternatives next time you’re reaching for the bag of crisps.

 

 

  1. Oliver, G., J. Wardle, and E.L. Gibson, Stress and food choice: a laboratory study. Psychosomatic medicine, 2000. 62(6): p. 853-865.
  2. Srivastava, J.K., E. Shankar, and S. Gupta, Chamomile: A herbal medicine of the past with a bright future (Review). Molecular medicine reports, 2010. 3(6): p. 895-901.
  3. Pasman, W., et al., Effect of two breakfasts, different in carbohydrate composition, on hunger and satiety and mood in healthy men. International journal of obesity, 2003. 27(6): p. 663-668.
  4. Allen, A, W Hutch, P Borre, P. J. Kennedy, A Temko, G Boylan, B Kiely, G Clarke, J.F. Cryan, T. G. Dinan. Towards psychobiotics for stress & cognition: Bifidobacterium Longum blocks stressinduced behavioural and physiology changes and modulates brain activity and neurocognitive performance in healthy human subjects. Program No. 162.05/R8. 2015 Neuroscience Meeting Planner. Washington, DC: Society for Neuroscience, 2015. Online.

 

blog-title-stress-yellow-cloud-lightning

Your body’s reaction to stress -The HPA Axis

by on 22 January 2016in PipLife, Stress Explained

You’re sitting in your office happily staring out the window when your computer pings. It’s a reminder you set yourself a month ago. Remember? That really important task your boss set you? No?

Well, it’s due today…

Your heart starts racing, the palms of your hands get sweaty and you feel far too hot. This is the feeling we all know too well as stress. But what actually happens in your body that can turn a simple thought such as “I forgot to do that task” into a heart-pounding physiological reaction?

95cdfeef-1024x526

Stress, Stress, Stress… Well here, we’ve outlined what steps happen to cause the unpleasant sensation of stress in the human body:

  1. Evaluating the threat.

    Every day our brains are bombarded with information from the different environments we are in, the people we meet and the thoughts we have. One of the most important jobs our brain has is to filter this information to figure out what is important and what is not. The lady pushing a pram on the other side of the road is not a particularly important signal for our brain but the car hurtling towards us at high speed is. Our brain evaluates the latter as a threat and we jump out of the way to avoid being hit. There are lots of parts of the brain that are involved in this process but the most important is called the amygdala. The amygdala is the Greek word for ‘almond’ because early anatomists thought part of it looked like an almond. When the amygdala detects something which is threatening it sends out alarm bells to the other parts of the brain that it is connected to telling them to be ready to respond.

 

  1. Sending out the Army.

    The amygdala sends a message to another part of the brain called the hypothalamus which sends a message further down in the brain to the pituitary gland which then sends a message all the way down to the adrenal glands on top of the kidneys. This is called the Hypothalamic Pituitary Adrenal axis or the HPA axis. When the signal gets to the adrenal glands they release two types of hormones: adrenaline and cortisol. Adrenaline underpins our ‘fight or flight’ response by constricting blood vessels and making the heart pump faster to rush blood to the body and brain. This means our muscles are primed to run away or to stay and fight. It’s probably not the best solution to just run away from your boss when s/he comes to collect your work or, in fact, to fight them, but it would be a useful response if, for example, you came across a tiger in the jungle. Cortisol is the other stress hormone which is released by the adrenal glands in times of stress – this stops the body doing anything which isn’t necessary, such as digesting your lunch, leaving you ready to put all of your resources into dealing with the threat.

  2. Returning to normal.

    You tell your boss that you haven’t yet completed the task, s/he understands and gives you another week. Now that the threat is over your stress response system can calm back down. A signal is sent back through all the levels of the brain telling it to switch off the HPA axis. The adrenal glands stop producing cortisol and adrenaline which means heart rate returns to normal, you cool down and your stomach can start digesting your lunch again [1, 2].

 

page1-1280px-Brian_M_Sweis_HPA_Axis_Diagram_2012.pdf-300x232

 

Acute vs Chronic Stress.

The situation above is an example of acute stress. It’s short-lived and quickly resolved. Acute stress can actually be good for us as it sharpens our attention and helps us to perform better, whether that’s running away from a tiger or coming up with some good suggestions in a work meeting [3].

Say, however, you got a reminder every day about a task that you had forgotten to do in work or say your work was piling up so much that you were constantly feeling stressed out all of the time. This is called chronic stress. The HPA axis is a healthy response to short bursts of stress but if we are constantly stressed then our HPA axis is telling the body to increase blood pressure and suppress functions like digestion all of the time. Chronic stress can therefore have damaging effects on health [4]. This is why it’s so important to learn to manage stress.

The good news is that lots of stress management programmes including mindfulness have been found not just to stop you from feeling stressed in your head but also to stop your body’s stress responses from over-activating [5, 6].

Emotional-Resilience-field-1024x683

So don’t ignore the signals. Managing your stress is not important just for your head but also for your body.

 

Next in the blog – Understanding your Pip Statistics

 

Check out our other blog posts on dealing with stress and see how the Pip can help you kickstart a life in control.

 

  1. Smith, S.M. and W.W. Vale, The role of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis in neuroendocrine responses to stress. Dialogues in clinical neuroscience, 2006. 8(4): p. 383.
  2. Herman, J.P. and W.E. Cullinan, Neurocircuitry of stress: central control of the hypothalamo–pituitary–adrenocortical axis. Trends in neurosciences, 1997. 20(2): p. 78-84.
  3. Schilling, T.M., et al., For whom the bell (curve) tolls: Cortisol rapidly affects memory retrieval by an inverted U-shaped dose–response relationship. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 2013. 38(9): p. 1565-1572.
  4. Miller, G.E., E. Chen, and E.S. Zhou, If it goes up, must it come down? Chronic stress and the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical axis in humans. Psychological bulletin, 2007. 133(1): p. 25.
  5. Hammerfald, K., et al., Persistent effects of cognitive-behavioral stress management on cortisol responses to acute stress in healthy subjects—a randomized controlled trial. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 2006. 31(3): p. 333-339.
  6. Matousek, R.H., P.L. Dobkin, and J. Pruessner, Cortisol as a marker for improvement in mindfulness-based stress reduction. Complementary therapies in clinical practice, 2010. 16(1): p. 13-19.