Stress management is a life challenge. Everyone is different and everyone handles stress in their own way, but management is a critical part to making it through the many stresses of life.
Lately my day job seems to effect every part of my life. I head to work each morning, waning optimism of a new day that fades entirely by dinner time, only to wake and do it all over again the next day. With all the huge changes, personnel issues, management issues, new software installations, new programs and the generational divide between the old staff and the new, and old and new systems, I leave with my head throbbing, shoulders sore, and deep breathing attempts manifesting to a guttural moan that only perpetuates into getting worked up again, when kindly asked as I walk in the door 2 hours later than I would normally get off work, "Hey Babe, how was your day?" Unfortunately my job, at this point in time, is all consuming.
We all know we need to manage our stress. Stress kills. Cortisol and adrenaline are the body's hormonal defense mechanisms in times of stress, be it temporary or long term. They are produced as part of the body's fight-or-flight reaction to stressful situations. The problem with prolonged stress, your cortisol levels don't drop. Cortisol curbs functions that would be nonessential
in a fight-or-flight situation such as immune system responses,
suppressing the digestive system, the reproductive system and growth
processes. This complex natural alarm system also communicates with
regions of your brain that control mood, motivation and fear. In a prolonged state, cortisol causes weight gain in the abdominal area, which left ignored can cause a multitude of health problems, such as stress on internal organs by the increased abdominal fat, trouble sleeping, heart problems, digestive issues, anxiety and depression, to name a few. We have a natural alarm system that is great for one-off intense instances, but the majority of us live in a more semi-regular fluctuation of stress, often triggering our fight-or-flight system more than it was ever intended to be needed.
So it is clear that temporary stress management is important to alleviate the long term ramifications of stress because there are some major health concerns that come by ignoring stress symptoms in the short term. There are clearly more healthy ways than others to help one manage stress and we all have our preferences depending on the type of shit dealt that day. Recommendations range from stress reduction (but who really has much control over that, especially when dealing with the overhaul of a company), exercise (makes sense), eating well (I don't know about you, but when I am stressed I want to eat all my food vices at once), thinking positively (ya OK!?) and being social (this too makes sense). For my daily stress management it comes down to 3 choices; two are on the "recommended list" (yay, me), the other, not so much.
Lately, my question to myself on my drive home from work is, 'yoga, wine or sweat?'
While the default for many is often booze, it is probably the worst choice for stress management, but we all turn to it. The running joke around the office right now is, "Is it whiskey time?," which basically is any time, minus some stupid no alcohol policy while on the clock, grumble, grumble. What happened to the good-ole-days of the Mad Men era when booze was permitted and encouraged for the daily workings of an office? So, we often blow off steam after work, saddling up to the local bar, bitching about the inner-workings, or current lack thereof, in the office. It momentarily helps. And trust me, there are days, and as any office-based TV show will reiterate; a favorite line in particular - Marty Kaan from House of Lies, "I need to drunk." And some days that is just the case, drunkenness helps alleviate the stress for the evening, or at least makes the bitching more tolerable for those around you. Bitching is always more amusing and bonding when encouraged by some alcohol, you come together over a buzz, a common enemy and the camaraderie of "us against them."
But then there is the good side that kicks in, the better conscious side, on my other shoulder saying, "Well now, I know that wine sounds good, but yoga is better for you. It will calm your mind and release the tension of the day." As I say to myself, "I know, I know, I know," and suit up in my yoga gear. Yoga has amazing powers to calm my mind. The stress relief and inversions, deep breathing, all really works wonders. The clarity of mind is more than any number of glasses of wine can create, well then again, wine does the exact opposite, fuzzing the clarity of mind (but that's the purpose, right?). Sometimes I will resist the know-better of yoga practice after a long, stressful day, but every single time my better conscious wins, I am happier, calmer, relieved, less tense throughout my entire body, more than any amount of bitching or wine drinking could ever fix. So while I resist the initial "zen-Buddha," of which some days I want to say fuck zen-Buddha, the difference for me is untouchable. More often than not, my reluctance gives way to the best form of stress management I have ever known.
Sweat. Sweat for me has been a stress management tool I have relied on my whole life. When I was a frustrated teenager, I would put on my running shoes and head out the front door to run along the beach for as long as my legs would carry me. I turned to sports to alleviate some of the stresses in school, and in college my gym routine was just a valuable as my study routine. Sweating to me always meant a hardcore workout that teetered on the side of slightly masochistic. I love the labored breathing, the slow but gradual burn of working muscles, the beats blasting in my ears, the itchy trickle of sweat running down my face and back, and the residual post-workout ache the next day. Working out is one of the few times in my life that my brain completely turns off. Somehow the accomplishment of kicking my own ass to a point of exhaustion where I can't think of anything else, other than how badass I feel, makes the shitty, frustrating, pain-in-the-ass day melt away. There are just some days that no form of yoga nor massive glass of wine will do what the endorphin rush of a hardcore workout will produce, (well that and maybe getting laid, but I am not sure that sex is on the "professionally recommended stress-reducing list," but it should be!).
So drink, mediate, breathe, sweat, be positive, get laid, be zen-Buddha, eat junk, get drunk, whatever it may be, because we all have shitty days and stressful weeks, and one way or another we have to get through (just maybe have most of your stress management tools be good for you than bad, but we all have to have a few bad).
