As humans, we are always reminded to minimize stress as much as possible because…because it makes us feel better, right? As exercise nuts, we just want to know how this will improve our lifts. Today’s post is going to give a few suggestions on how to minimize stress and how it will make you a stronger, safer weight lifter, with all the longevity you can desire.
There are two types of stress on my radar. Acute stress and chronic stress. Animals are wired for acute stress. The sympathetic nervous system (fight or flight) enables our bodies to properly react to a sudden intense situation. Heavy dead lifts, running after the bus, rocking a drums solo, dancing at Coachella all require recruitment of the sympathetic nervous system. This is acute stress. It is short lived, it is intense and after a few moments, it is gone. Once you finish crushing that dead lift, its chill time until your next set.
“When an acute stress reaction is prolonged for many hours, the effects will make its way into many aspects of life...”
Chronic stress is what our bodies are not made for. Chronic stress is constant, throughout most hours of the day, and feels like it never stops. Rev yourself up for that heavy dead lift, but if you stay revved up after your workout, and continue in that manner throughout the day, you are experiencing chronic stress. When an acute stress reaction is prolonged for many hours, the effects will make its way into many aspects of life, and life affects our performance in the gym, so this is obviously where the important stuff comes into play.
When stressed, either physically or emotionally, tons of processes occur. These processes occur via stimulation of the sympathetic nervous system and the release of stress hormones such as cortisol and epinephrine. These hormones affect pretty much everything important, such as sleep quality, metabolism, auto-immune strength, sex drive, concentration and thought processing. Cortisol also has an effect on a hormone called leptin. The job of leptin is to keep your appetite at bay. Without it, you’d be hungry 24/7. When cortisol levels are unstable, leptin levels are low, meaning appetite is high. If you’re hungry, you are going to eat, period. If you’re on a strict meal plan and think you can adhere to it when your leptin levels are in the basement, good luck. If weight loss is your priority, get your chronic stress under control, you will need it. I mentioned sleep quality and auto-immunity. Without getting into any more specifics, poor sleep quality will translate to poor recovery from exercise and cut short the processes of metabolism. A weak immune-system will lead to systemic inflammation and illness. Told you this stuff was important.
Okay, you read all this and are saying to yourself, “Bro, I crush work outs almost every day and am a sympathetic beast! I stress a little at work, but then I go home and relax with some Game of Thrones and become a parasympathetic beast! What else can I do to decrease my chronic stress? I don’t think I’m stressed but I lift heavy and need my recovery processes to be on point.”
Bro, do you even lunch? One of the biggest problems I’ve encountered with my clients is that they eat lunch while working at their desk. Their mind never leaves work and they spend 8-9 hours/day locked into sympathetic tone. These same clients then come to the gym and hammer home that sympathetic tone even more with squats and pullups. How do you think their workout sessions are going? To say the least, they could be better. My best advice to these clients is to take a lunch break. Go somewhere else, put on some headphones, read a book, people watch, go for a relaxing walk. The idea is to let your brain switch off (parasympathetic) and drift someplace else. When you get back to work, switch on (sympathetic) and get that money. Experience some variability.
Food is a major factor that can also contribute to stress. Think of it as GI stress. Processed, factory-created, refined foods will cause systemic inflammation. This inflammation can be experience anywhere, from the gut to arthritic fingers. This same inflammation will trigger an immune response. Coupled with that is the release of stress hormones. We have enough physical and emotional stressors already, don’t let your meals be a contributor. Limit your processed food intake, keep your digestive system happy, and your meals will help you, not hinder.
Slide that scale. Picture stress on a scale. You have sympathetic tone to the left, 10 on the scale, revved up, ready for those front squats. To the right of the scale you have a 1, parasympathetic, relaxed, introverted, and creative. Visit both sides on a daily basis. When you’re revved up, be a super-fast, insane-crazy front squatting savage. When you’re chillin out, absolutely crush that chill time. You don’t have to achieve a state of excitement and relaxation the same way every day, and it doesn’t always have to be for super long, but it should be something to strive for. Also, when visiting the relaxed, parasympathetic side, don’t use it as your cue to wind down before going to sleep. Come out of the parasympathetic tone at some point and return to the middle of the scale. Again, variability. Game of Thrones isn’t very parasympathetic anyway. Lastly, throughout the course of your day, try to stay in the middle of that spectrum. Not too revved up, not too relaxed. Controlled and on point.
Lastly, I want to ask, do you even breathe? If you’re reading this, you’re a exerciser and are more than likely exhibit the ever common posture of chronic spinal extension. If that is the case, you are a neck and shoulders breather, no offense. Go ahead and take a deep breath if you don’t believe me. When the neck and shoulders become your primary respiratory muscles, and take over the job of the diaphragm, your brain will be in sympathetic tone, thinking you’re suffocating. Not cool! There are tons of other negative effects caused by this phenomenon that I will describe in a future blog post. My recommendation? Perform some sort of mindfulness/breathing exercise a few times a day. Not only will the breathing exercises decrease your overall stress, it will improve your sleep, lung function, reposition your joints to neutral, and improve overall recovery.