Completing the Stress Cycle
Completing the Cycle
One important recommendation for completing the stress cycle is physical activity in the previous article on Fight, Flight, or Freeze. It’s a great first line of defense in the battle against burnout. Burnout offers six other evidence-based strategies to consider:
Breathing. The breath is one tool you have from beginning to end in your life. The quality of breathing is what makes a difference. Slow, deep breaths downregulate the stress response in the body, and a deep exhale helps trigger the release of oxytocin, the “tend and befriend” hormone.
Positive Social Interaction. Even casual but friendly interactions help us see the world as safe. Offer a “hello” to a barista, or compliment someone.
Laughter. It can be the best medicine. Deep belly laughs are helpful, as are memories that stimulate a sense of relationship satisfaction. Reading humor or watching a movie that invokes laughter can shift the stress response.
Affection. Connection often comes from an interaction with a person with whom there is mutual respect and trust. It doesn’t have to be physical affection, although a good hug does wonders. Research shows a twenty-second hug can change hormones, lower blood pressure and heart rate, and improve mood. Petting a cat or walking a dog are also ways to experience affection and exercise at once.
A Big ‘Ol Cry. A big cry can induce physical changes, produce a sigh of relief, and release the weight of a stressful situation. A tearjerker movie can also help complete a stress cycle.
Creative Expression: Painting, music, theater, are examples of creative expression. How many songs came through the pain of breakups? Works of art that emerged from times of depression? Processing trauma doesn’t have to result in an award-winning event but moving it through the body helps.
The Nike ad of “Just Do It” may be on to something. What we know is that telling ourselves that everything is okay doesn’t work. We need the physiological shift to complete the stress cycle.
How do we know if we’ve completed the cycle? Look for some of these shifts:
When we note a change in our mood or mental state.
We experience a physical expression such as a deep sigh, shuddering, or muscle relaxation.
A sense that you feel incrementally better than you felt before.
Stress is a predictable part of life. Some stress results in positive outcomes, including getting a job, a relationship, giving birth, or accomplishing an achievement. The problem is when we’re “stuck” in a stress cycle. Burnout states, “To be “well” is not to live in a state of perpetual safety and calm, but to move fluidly from a state of adversity, risk, adventure, or excitement, back to safety and calm, and out again. A reminder, “Wellness is not a state of being, but a state of action.”
Resource: Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle. Emily Nagoski, Ph.D and Amelia Nagoski, DMA. Ballantine Books, 2020.
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