Claim A Stress Recovery Mindset

Stress recovery is the perfect time to learn what your body needs in order to recover and stay healthy going forward. I started weight training when I was in high school and the effect it had on my body. For me, building strength helps keep my hypermobile joints in place. At the same time, I have to be careful not to go too high with the weight, or I’ll pull my joints out of place, and believe me, that’s the most painful. I encourage you to work with a trainer who can help you know which exercises to do and what weight is best for you. Always listen to your body. You might also prefer a strengthening workout without weights, such as abdominal or core strengthening. These isolated movements without weights make injury less likely while also building muscle and improving balance, both of which help with stress resiliency, as well as blood sugar optimization and bone health. For every minute, you’ll work hard for about thirty seconds and rest for thirty seconds. Just be careful not to injure yourself. Always listen to your body and don’t overdo it. For some, cycling is more of a sport and hobby, and they prep for road races or triathlons.

One Day Like This

My sister, a mother of three young girls, loves her Peloton bike, which she can ride from home. One of my patients with diabetes got her blood sugar back to normal by going to spin classes. I’m so inspired by her! There are many ways to cycle, and all are exercise. Start with a small amount of intensity and duration, increase from there, and notice how your body responds and adapts. Be careful, and wear a helmet when cycling outdoors. I encourage you to choose what helps you look forward to exercising, while also allowing you to stay safe by avoiding injuries. Count for thirty seconds and multiply by 2, or count for six seconds and multiply by 10, to get your heart rate for one minute. The target heart rate is the rate you are aiming for, to get the most benefit from exercising. Your resting heart rate is how many times your heart beats in a minute when you are at rest and not exercising. Check this when you wake up in the morning and before you get out of bed. It’s commonly between 60 and 100 beats per minute. Having a lower resting heart rate is considered more optimal.

Out of Control

Your resting heart rate is affected by adrenaline, stress, and medications, as well as how much you exercise. Getting to know your resting heart rate will help you know your body and how it responds as you start to exercise. You can do this with a device such as a chest band, wristband, or finger sensor. You’ll also know by how you feel after a workout. If you are exhausted and feel like you need to sleep the rest of the day, you overdid it. If you are so sore that you can barely move, that was too much exercise, too. Too much movement is not the point or ultimate goal. The saying no pain, no gain is not true. We are rewriting the goal for exercise. The goal is to move, even a small amount, as much as feels good and isn’t too much of a stress for your body. Then increase gradually, monitoring how your body responds. And if you feel worse, decrease how much and how intensely you’re moving, all while allowing your body to recover and adapt.

When The Time Comes

While, yes, exercising is a good way to relieve your stress, doing too much will work against you. Aim for ten to fifteen minutes of getting your heart rate up each day. If you tend to have high cortisol in the morning, wait until midday to exercise, but don’t do it too late, either. You may actually find that you’ll prefer two sessions of fifteen minutes each at different times of day. If you are exhausted from not sleeping, you may need to start with five minutes of gentle movement. Take it one day at a time and gradually your body will shift your cortisol output so that it is stronger in the morning than in the evening. This could be walking up a hill or stairs or using an elliptical trainer at the gym. You’ll know when you’re ready for more when you don’t feel worse the next day. You’ll know when your body is ready to exercise. It may then be tempting to do too much, so stick to ten or fifteen minutes, and notice how you feel the next day. Once there, though, how do we get out of these states? It’s a process that prioritizes your body’s stress recovery above all else. If you don’t approach it correctly, however, you could make it worse. One person’s yoga is another person’s nightmare. First there is a preparation phase in which the body gets ready. Second is the phase when the baby is born. Third is when the placenta, which has sustained the baby through pregnancy, is delivered. It is an amazing and beautiful process that our bodies know how to do naturally. It has a beginning, middle, and end, and it leaves us ready to move forward. We don’t need to teach our bodies how to deliver a baby, and we don’t have to teach our bodies how to recover from stress either. We simply need to provide the right environment and support, and our bodies will heal. First, however, I want to guide you in establishing a stress recovery mindset, which is essential for turning burnout into stress resilience. Success relies on identifying and changing the behaviors that contributed to your adrenal distress. I know it’s tempting to want to go back to how things were before you started feeling awful. I understand that it can be scary to think that your body has limits or that you won’t be able to get as much done as you used to.