It might not have anything to do with what you eat…
Yet, it can:
* Decrease your ability to handle sugar and fat (making you blame your ‘slow metabolism’)
* Make you feel tired and sleepy (so you can’t be bothered to do anything and lack motivation)
* Impact your hormones (both thyroid and sex hormones…)
* Make you gain weight…
I’m talking about stress…
And the fact is
We all have it in life.
Because life throws some weird and wonderful stuff at us.
We can’t control this ‘stuff’ (more often than not)
But…
The good news is that we CAN control how we respond to it.
I saw a brilliant quote yesterday:
‘The time to relax is when you don’t have time for it’
And here’s the thing:
Rest is actually a PRE-requisite for success in anything
And NOT a reward
^^^ Ever wondered why athletes like Usain Bolt have ‘introductory’ and ‘deload’ training weeks where they don’t push themselves?
Getting fitter
Stronger
Losing weight
Making better-informed, more intelligent decisions about your food choices (which will help you feel better and lose weight)
How you respond to situations in life…
And how you treat loved ones.
^^^ All impacted by STRESS
‘So how do I relax?’
Well, you just DO IT (stay with me as I was feeling pretty ‘p*ssed off’ when a previous coach I had told me to just DO IT, too)
First off, just think about how tensed you are.
Do the following:
1) Make a fist as hard as you can and then relax your hand (release all of the tension)
2) Do the same with your bicep (front of your arm). Tense it as hard as you can for 5 seconds and then just let all of the tension come out with a deep breath.
3) Finally, do the same with your thigh muscles. Squeeze it as hard as you can for 5 seconds and then just let it relax with a deep breath out
WOO-WOO stuff, I know.
But, just by taking a deep breath and noticing the difference between when you’re tensed and when you’re not can help you feel more relaxed
How?
By doing the stuff that makes you feel relaxed MORE often.
Even when you’re busy.
Perhaps in a meeting at work <<< you'll probably come out with a rational suggestion and be called a calm and collected 'genius'
Notice how you feel when you relax.
And take some time out.
Notice the sounds (in my case right now, it’s Dora moving her food bowl to remind me to feed her!)
Do you find this type of relaxing stuff to NOT be your thing?
Here’s a few other suggestions:
* Yoga
* Meditation (check out the FREE Application ‘Insight Timer’ on your phone)
* Go for a walk OUTSIDE (as opposed to inside…LOL…come on Matt, you can do better than that…)
* Have a bath (try some epsom salts to get some magnesium…It might help relax your muscles and release some tension. Stiff neck?)
* Drink a hot drink (decaf if possible)
* Get divorced (Just kidding…but I bet that one woke you up, right?)
* Watch a film (I’m off to see the Ricky Gervais film soon)
* Listen to music (Yep, I’m a secret ‘Belieber’, too)
* Have a glass of wine (yep, I said it…)
You know what?
All this stuff is great.
But none of it comes close to a good night’s sleep (something that many of us like to ignore…)
So, how do you go about chilling out?
Let me know,
Matt ‘stress-head’ Fruci
PS. One task for a member on my Fit For Life Body Transformation is to actually spend less time on social media.
She’s more productive.
Stops constantly comparing her life to others.
And feels more content and confident about what she’s achieved on her journey.
After all, not many people will post about their struggles and bad times, right?
We only see the ‘perfect’ picture (which in this case, probably isn’t a 1000 words)