Stress management through fitness

We all experience stress at different times in our lives. It can be from work, family, illness, societal pressures and more. Often times stress can make getting out of bed a major accomplishment. Over time our bodies begin to go into survival mode and we are more prone to illness and injury. The increase in cortisol can disrupt sleep patterns, trigger weight gain and decrease motivation. Exercise can help manage stress if you use it as a healthy outlet. Too often I see athletes using exercise as a punishment by putting all of their frustrations into consecutive hard efforts. This not only sets you up for long term injuries but also increases cortisol production which can make your mental health decline.

So how can exercise be used as a healthy tool for managing stress and anxiety? First it is important to recognize how you react under stress. Binge eating, aggressive exercise, not getting out of bed and overly restrictive eating are some of the most common ways people deal with stress. Understanding your coping mechanism is important in proper management of your stress. Sometimes you can remove yourself from stressful circumstances while other times it is completely out of your control.  When you can’t make a meaningful change it is important to remember that you get to choose how you react to stress.

Mindfulness and meditation are great ways to find clarity and peace during stressful times. Journaling can help you sort out your emotions and you can use words or art to express your feelings. This is one way to recenter yourself. Exercise is an incredible way to help decrease your stress if you adjust your effort based on the amount of stress you are feeling. When under high levels of stress or anxiety your body needs easy workouts that are done at a conversational effort. The reason your body needs this is because it doesn’t know the difference between emotional and physical stress. From a biological level physical and emotional stress have the same response to the human body. Aggressive workouts will only create more stress, increase cortisol levels and ultimately lead to injury. Research has shown that emotional stress increases the risk of injury in athletes significantly.

You are probably wondering how easy workouts can help you feel better. We often choose to self sabotage ourselves in an attempt to make our bodies hurt more than our minds do. I used to use that technique and I spent so many days recovering from injury which led to depression. Under periods of emotional stress one hard effort every 7-10 days is okay. You may need to take an extra rest day (one a week is best for everyone but under stressful times two a week can have greater benefits, especially if you are doing a hard effort weekly). The rest of your workouts should be easy enough for you to have a conversation. This is called active recovery. Active recovery helps your body heal faster and you will have more energy to work through the emotionally challenging times in your life. When you are doing too many hard efforts you are constantly in a state of fatigue and end up in a cycle of never ending stress. When you have more energy your body can process the emotional stress better.

When you strategically plan your easy workouts to allow for recovery from your hard workouts your body will be able to repair itself by increasing blood blow and capillary production, building muscle and improve neurological connections in your body. It is your active recovery sessions and sleep that will allow this to happen. When we sleep our bodies do most of the repairs we need so sleep hygiene is another key piece to stress management. If you find yourself having trouble sleeping use that time to meditate. Allow thoughts to gently pass through your mind, focus on how your body feels, the breath coming in and out of your body and start to visualize yourself in a calming place. It can be anywhere and don’t be afraid to create a fantasy world as you may have when you were a child. Your happy place be anything you choose, even if it isn’t real! Reconnect with your imagination!

Human connections are another great way to manage stress. Whether you are working out together, going out for coffee or sitting in a park spending time with others can be healing. Focus on conversations that are uplifting, happy and inspiring. Observe everything around you and talk about it! It is okay to talk a bit about your stress but even more important to begin to focus on things that aren’t stressful. You can reprogram your mind to focus on the brighter side of everything and less on stressful situations. If you are able to remove yourself from triggers, do so. You need to protect yourself. If you are unable to remove yourself from the situation choose joy and find ways to see something good in even the worst moments. This is not easy but it can be seeing a sunrise, enjoying the smell of the office coffee maker or going home after a rough day. It doesn’t have to be anything amazing but each day find one thing that was nice.

When you are feeling overwhelmed and stressed be sure to track your daily stress levels and quality of your sleep. It will help you see patterns and do a better job of planning your harder workouts. Putting easy days around your hard days will decrease your bodies negative response to stress. If you are looking for a training app that can track your stress, sleep and workouts to help you learn more about the recovery process check out the Steady State Fit app. Sign up for free on the App Store! It was designed by coaches, athletes and physical therapists who see the effects of stress on their athletes and want to help teach athletes how to train smarter by listening to what their bodies are asking for.

Use movement to heal and adjust the effort based on how you are feeling emotionally. You will find that strategically placing your hard efforts into your routine with many easy efforts you will feel better. You will have more energy to mange emotional stress and you will begin to sleep better. Rest and active recovery is when the magic all happens so don’t skip these because they are the most important part of your training! If you need help reach out to see if coaching would be right for you.