In this article, I’ve presented you with ways to bounce back after the overwhelm of the past two years and I hope that they help in your journey back to feeling well.
Put the Brakes on the Input
One way that we can preemptively respond to and recover from stress is by not allowing it into our lives. Three areas to look at are news consumption, social media and relationships.
News
Remember when there was just the 5 o’clock and 10 o’clock news? And remember when the news stated the facts with no political or fear-based spin? Currently, I believe the news media’s reporting is heavily based on stoking the fight-or-flight response. Stimulating this response keeps the watcher or reader engaged in their screen, waiting for the next update. The next update may be just rehashed information from the previous update. And, it may feel as though the news often serves to divide us from our family and friends by presenting questionable “us vs. them” scenarios. I recommend to many of my patients that they stop watching the news or limit news updates to once or twice a day, just like the good ol’ days!
Social Media
While I enjoy social media in its place, so much of it is toxic. I watch people getting their fight-or-flight reaction provoked by popular social media issues that really don’t impact them. Much of what I see on social media is people who are generally reasonable getting pulled into a mob mentality of absolute right vs. absolute wrong. Much of life is about nuance and shades of gray rather than black or white. The subtleties and nuance present in many issues isn’t something that is present on social media. I set time limits on my social media use every day, which helps me not get sucked into the time-wasting abyss of scrolling.
Relationships
Relationships with other people can be stressful, of course. It’s important to have solid communication and appropriate boundaries within our relationships when possible. Being relaxed and authentic in any relationship is less stressful than putting on a false front when interacting with someone. If there are political differences between family members or friends, it’s OK to have an honest conversation and come to an agreement as to what topics are off limits. Also, if someone is constantly getting a rise out of you on social media, unfollow them to lower stress.
Nurture Yourself with Stress Recovery Tactics
There are many ways to nurture and bring yourself back to center after two years of overwhelm. I gravitate toward using naturopathic medicine, such as herbal medicine and health basics to help myself and others recover.
Herbal Medicine
Plant medicine can be invaluable to heal after long periods of stress. Nervine herbs such as oat tops, skullcap, lemon balm and others soothe and nurture the taxed nervous system and, over time, will help to rebuild resilience. Our adrenal glands are responsible for the hormonal output when the fight-or-flight reaction is triggered. If this response is triggered constantly without time for recovery, these glands can become taxed. Herbs such as ashwaganda, rhodiola and reishi can, over time, help these glands recover and regain healthy function.
Nature
Never underestimate the restorative power of nature! Putting the phone away and going for a hike, walking barefoot in the grass, or lying under a tree looking at the sky takes us out of fight-or-flight mode. We were meant to live in and with nature and very few of us spend enough time in the natural world.
Sleep
While, culturally, we wear our lack of sleep like a badge of honor, it is detrimental to our health to be chronically under-rested. Without at least seven hours of sleep a night, we can’t heal properly and we put our health at risk. Prioritizing sleep will help build resilience that has been lost.
Exercise
Many people stopped physical activity over the past two years, which is terrible for health and wellness. Exercise is incredibly healing on physical, mental and emotional levels. Exercise is a stress relieving outlet for many people and having muscle mass helps with hormone balance, including those stress hormones!
Diet and Hydration
The Standard American Diet and its artificial food-like products does not lead to rebuilding health. Eating food that looks like it did when it came from the farm, as well as drinking enough water and electrolytes will truly nurture your system, giving it what it needs to heal after two long years of stress.
In this article, I’ve presented you with ways to bounce back after the overwhelm of the past two years and I hope that they help in your journey back to feeling well. There are many other paths to healing, so if there are other modalities that speak to you, don’t hesitate to try them! FBN
By Amber Belt, N.D.
Amber Belt, N.D. is a naturopathic physician and co-owner of Aspen Integrative Medical Center where she helps patients get healthy from the inside out. She is also co-owner of Sage Sirona, which focuses on natural first aid and education. Dr. Belt has been practicing naturopathic medicine for more than 15 years and can be contacted via aspenmedcenter.com or sagesirona.com. You can also call her office at 928-213-5828.