Recovering from the alarm stage before you reach adrenal fatigue is where you get stronger. Being able to handle acute amounts of stress with a proper rest period teaches you physically and emotionally how to handle stress better. Mastering this teeter-totter between stress and recovery will keep your body resilient to long term stress, and you will be overall healthier and happier.
Some ways to do this are first recognizing your stressors. A lot of times, people live with a fixed amount of stress. You may not even notice when you are stressed.
Questions to help you recognize when you’re stressed…
- Are you having trouble sitting down and relaxing during a meal? Is there something or someone taking your attention away from your food?
- Where are your thoughts? Are they all over the place jumping from one thing to the next unable to focus solely on one task?
- Are you procrastinating on specific tasks to distract yourself from something that stresses you out?
- Are you unable to fall asleep or stay asleep at night?
If you answered yes to any of these questions, you are likely dealing with some acute stress.
Build Relaxation Techniques Into Your Routine
You need to recognize your stress and build relaxation techniques into your routine. It is crucial to identify areas of your life where stress is present almost every day. For example, if your commute to work is stressful or picking up the kids and dropping them off at activities is stressful, you need to build stress-relieving techniques into those areas of your life. During your drive, listen to inspiring podcasts or an audiobook. Go to a nearby coffee shop and read while you are waiting for your child at a school activity. There are so many little things you can do every day to make sure you are steadily recovering from your stress.
Simple Mindfulness
Meditation is preached as a stress-relieving technique for a reason. However, meditation doesn’t have to be you alone in a room for an hour in silence. Meditation can be as simple as you closing your eyes during your lunch break and listening to a five minute guided meditation on an app.
Stress Relief Is Really Just Selfcare
You may be the type of person who gets stressed by merely thinking about the things that stress you out. You may even feel stressed while trying to build in ways to relieve your stress. I believe an essential element to remember when dealing with stress is it’s really about taking a moment to do something you want to do. So many of us have families, demanding jobs, and we’re giving so much of ourselves all the time. While this can be wonderful, it comes down to making time for self-care, which in our society is not always encouraged.
You have to be the best version of yourself to help the people around you. Implementing stress reduction techniques while still in the “alarm” phase is how you prevent yourself from falling victim to adrenal fatigue.
Here’s To A Better Life,
Dr. Steve Puckette
