It’s the time when our brains and our bodies can recharge. Sleep is often one of the first things to suffer when someone is stressed, but also one of the best remedies. The general rule of thumb for water intake is a half-ounce to an ounce of water per pound that you weigh. It’s really easy to forget to drink water when you’re go-go-go and busy, but next time you’re feeling a bit overwhelmed, try sipping a glass of water. But for managing stress, even a little bit of dehydration can increase cortisol levels. The brain needs water, just like all your other organs. The loving, motherly, nagging things I first check are water intake, sleep hygiene, eating, and body movement. While it may not feel directly related to the stressor at hand, our ability to handle situations mentally is directly impacted by how our physical health is doing. Sometimes stress and overwhelm can be very simply managed by taking an appraisal of the situation and making a plan.įor stressful times or worries that are a bit more pervasive, let’s do some practical self-care. Is this stress impacting your ability to focus? Sleep? Engage meaningfully in relationships? Are you irritable or feeling hopeless? Can any of the above resources help? Do you have time to prepare? What tools or people do you have in your life as you approach this obstacle? Have you handled similar situations in the past?įinally, we look at the consequences, so to speak, of our stress. Is this stress/worry thought/anxiety real and/or likely to happen? Are you stuck in the past, maybe chewing on a recent interaction, or are you worried about things that haven’t even come to pass? How do we manage stress, then? Stress self-assessmentįirst, we do some reality checking. Essentially, your brain says there’s a bear, but you’re actually safe and things are okay. Cortisol stays up, up, up - or you find yourself with a lot of “spikes” throughout the day. Where stress gets problematic is when it becomes all-encompassing, all the time, and bleeds into other parts of your life. Ideally, the stress passes, the cortisol drops, and your body and your brain return to baseline. Your focus narrows and your body prepares for whatever the task is at hand, often called the “fight-or-flight” response. The Fitbit on your wrist might be yelling at you. This is when all the fun stuff happens - sweaty palms, pounding heart, you might find yourself breathing more rapidly. When it perceives danger, it instantly sends a distress signal to the hypothalamus. The amygdala then interprets the images and sounds. What is it?The information (bear, for example) comes into the amygdala, an area of the brain that contributes to emotional processing. What is stress? (The science)īefore we talk about stress management and self-care, let’s look at what we’re dealing with. Stress is also our fight-or-flight response when we see a bear, smell smoke, or slam on the brakes to prevent rear-ending that Subaru on the highway. Stress is that little voice that tells you need to study, get home inspections, and stretch to prevent injury. In order to celebrate being an official CPA you have to pass that scary test.Ĭlosing on a house couldn’t happen until you went house hunting, made an offer, counteroffer, and then signed over a giant sum of money.Ī long race involves training, preparation, fueling. If we think of any of our joys, our successes, our wins, chances are there were stresses. Stress is an inevitable and even helpful part of life. Stress Management and Self-Care was originally published by the Oregon Society of CPAs.
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