Stress

Hello everyone. This week I wanted to do something on stress as I know everyone has exams approaching which can be really overwhelming. Added to that, trying to train well and managing the two at the same time can feel tough.

Good stress and bad stress

The word stress carries a negative connotation, but it’s not always a bad thing. In simple terms, runners and orienteers incur two types of stress: non-training and training stress. Both affect our bodies, energy, hormones, performance and mood.The hormone commonly linked to and increased with stress is cortisol. This hormone plays a role in multiple bodily processes such as nervous system/ metabolism regulation, anti-inflammatory properties, immune health, and others. In natural regulated amounts, this hormone can actually be a good thing for the body, as it helps regulate some of our daily systems. For example, it helps us naturally wake up in the morning.Our natural cortisol production is highest in the morning and tapers as our day proceeds. The issue with cortisol comes about when we encounter too much stress throughout our day. Too much and too little can impact the body in a negative way. Daily stress
– whether acute or chronic – will create a spike or elevation in our cortisol levels. The spikes we encounter are situational, so it comes down to how our body handles and adapts to stress placed upon it.Another factor and possibly one of the most influentially negative in terms of our muscles and stress has to do with the hormones cortisol suppresses. When we experience high amounts of stress, levels of anabolic hormones like our natural growth hormone, insulin like growth factor, and testosterone decrease. Overtraining or overworking (or both!) is felt in the body as chronic stress. When a stress response lingers, you are continually in fight or flight mode and it can interfere with digestion (so you have less energy), immunity (so you get ill more easily), and sleep (so your muscles don’t recover as well).

So what should I do when trying to train while stressed?

Your body can’t distinguish between training stress and life stress. All stress is stress on the body. Therefore, if you’ve had a hard day with uni work or a big life event and are then trying to hit an intervals session, be aware that your hard pace might be slower than usual. This is completely fine. Obviously if you are severely stressed, sometimes it’s best to opt out of a difficult training session, but if you do go for it, bare in mind its the perceived effort that matters and there is an entirely rational reason for your body not reaching the pace you’re expecting. If you’ve been putting a lot of stress on your body for a long time, whether from training or other factors, please listen to your body and be kind to yourself. You don’t need to burn out to give yourself a break.

Avoiding stress in the long run: Realistic solutions -Only sweat the big stuff.

If it doesn’t count towards the final mark, it really doesn’t matter. I assure you when we’re in our 50s we really won’t care about that mark we got in third year, second semester, week 5…. And if you’re in first or second year, please only focus on what matters. It’s really not worth your time and energy if it doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of things.

-Stop comparing.

This is a big one. Constantly comparing yourself to people on your course or your flatmates can bring so much stress and will leave you feeling pretty rubbish. The answer is to focus on yourself. Be happy with how far you’ve come since the start of first year. Work at your own pace. Be proud of whatever marks you get, because uni ain’t easy.

-Think of one good thing that’s happened each day.

We’re often told these days are meant to be the ‘best days of our lives’ but in reality when it comes to constant deadlines and approaching exams, it feels the opposite. When there’s little to look forward to and you’re feeling completely overwhelmed, ask yourself, what can I do today that will make me happy? And when everything feels completely rubbish, remind yourself ‘it’s good to be alive.’

-If you’re able, give yourself one complete day off at the weekend. Being a student involves no real separation between the week and weekend. If you’re able to, give yourself a complete day away from your laptop, away from anything that’s on your mind. The weekends are there for a reason!

-Clear your head.

Get yourself a monthly planner, and plan out your month and your weeks. Before you head to bed each evening, write a neat list of everything you need to do the next day. This will avoid you waking up overwhelmed and anxious.

-Take action.

If you find yourself worrying about something today, stop. Ask yourself, ‘is this something I can do something about?’ If you can’t do anything about it, then worrying is a waste of your energy.

-A proper mental distraction.

Sometimes a particular piece of work is the only thing you can think of. And although having a bath might be relaxing, it might not get the problem out of your mind. When you’re never getting a mental break from it, you need a distraction. One thing for that is some technical orienteering! When you’re thinking about how to get to the next control I doubt you will be thinking about your work. Another example would be something like paint balling but I’m sure you can come up with your own ideas. Although these are technically only short-term solutions, they are examples of ways to properly give your mind a break.

-One step at a time.

The stress of having little motivation but a ginormous to-do list can cause even more stress. You have no energy, you’re not particularly excited about the topic of your work and starting/ doing the work is hard. The trick here (once you’ve written down everything you need to do in a list) is to cover your whole to-do list with a piece of paper, except the first line. Then you’ve only got one thing to do, and it seems so much easier. Tick that thing off and move your paper down.

-Release the pressure.

Pressure from parents or expectations of what you were like in school? Drop em. Stop caring what people think of you. Give yourself your own things you want to achieve, set your own expectations and be proud whatever you do, regardless of what others want of you. It shouldn’t be up to other people to make you feel stressed about how you’ll do at uni. -Learn to say no.

Something to think about when you have too much on your plate. It is completely fine to say no to someone/something that won’t serve your mental health.

-Control the controllables.

When you feel yourself getting worked up about something, think to yourself, ‘Will worrying about this benefit me in any way?’ Control what you can, let what you can’t control go.

-Think about your response.

Stress isn’t what happens to us, it’s the response to what happens. And response is something we can control. If we can create stress, we can create peace. Other than these tips, which may or may not be helpful, i’m here to chat or go for a walk at any time, just drop me a message