Ever feel like life stress is running the show, that you are simply rushing from one task one day to another, and that when you are asked how you are doing, you simply answer busy and that you don't have enough time to do all the things that you that need to get done.
This is what today's episode is all about. And in the previous episode, The Missing Key in Self-care for Chronic Illness, I focused on self-compassion as the missing key, especially for those with chronic conditions. But in this episode, I expanded to include any woman whose life seems to be filled with chaos and a never ending to do list. In other words, a life filled with never ending chronic stress. So in this episode, I share another approach that you can take to manage your stress, even if you're not into meditation. And if you are, you can incorporate this into your daily life so that you can turn your chaos into calm.
Also, at the end of this episode, I share details of an upcoming 7 day challenge "7 Days to Calm: Elevate your self-care routine" to help you implement this in a free Facebook community. Embrace your healing journey. So stay tuned for this episode of Embrace Your Healing Journey.
Welcome to Embrace Your Healing Journey, a podcast for women with autoimmune and other chronic conditions to help them navigate the illness without fear of isolation and uncertainty and find relief from their symptoms. Your body is your guide and ally in healing. If you're ready to embrace this journey with compassion and awareness, then the show is for you. Tune in weekly as I, a Functional medicine certified health Coach, deliver tips and insights that demystify the healing process, guiding you towards the relief you deserve so that you can feel healthy and happy once more.
In each episode, I share pieces of inspiring poems, stories, quotes that may help you to draw strength from and stay motivated on your journey. For today's episode, I've chosen to share a part of a checklist from the book The Rushing Woman Syndrome by Doctor Libby Weaver to help you identify if you are what she calls a rushing woman
You'll understand what I'm talking about. So the checklist goes goes like this. You answer, um, answers so busy or stressed when you ask her how she is, experiences challenges with menstruation, which might involve heavy clots, painful and or irregular periods, PMS, PCOS, or a debilitating menopause. Tends to crave sugar, particularly mid-afternoon or close to menstruation, often feels overwhelmed, has a poor short term memory, feels like they are never enough hours in the day. Overreacts easily even if she doesn't display it outwardly, can't sit down as she feels guilty unless she's beyond tired. Then she will sit but still feels guilty, does not get enough sleep, and sometimes cannot sleep. Restorative compromises sleep to get jobs done late at night has no solitude, no time for self and will tell you that selfish or a luxury she could never have has a to do list that is never completed and this bothers her, regularly fails to notice the special moments of life as it feels mostly chaotic. Laughs less than she used to. Beats herself up for not being a good enough wife, mother or a friend. This last one actually is more common than you would think, and I feel really bad. So for so many women out there who think they're just not good enough, they're, you know, they're not good enough mother or wife or friend, the daughter or daughter in law.
If any or many of these apply to you from this checklist, then you may be what she calls a rushing woman. And the reason I chose to share this checklist is because for so many of us, this is exactly what our lives look like as women. Is it then, any wonder that again, so many of us are struggling to find some peace and calm in our lives to, you know, live a life where we can thrive instead of just survive? I remember being this woman in many ways many years ago. My children were small and often my bathroom was the only place that I could get some peace and quiet. And there will be these faces in our lives, right? I mean, whether when we're going through a crisis or when we had very young children where we maybe genuinely have little choice in terms of how much peace and quiet we will have in our lives because we're taking care of our kids. We're taking care of family members, we have other responsibilities. The problem is when this because becomes your default way of life.
When you live like this for years and decades without being able to change anything about it, or without being able to take care of yourself emotionally, physically, or even spiritually, that's when things start to go downhill. And as one of my coaching clients once told me when I asked her what she wanted to achieve in my program, she said, I just want to feel like myself again. Is that something that you want to to feel like yourself? Have you forgotten what it feels like to be you, the you? That was 20 years ago, 30 years ago, 40 years ago, right? The girl who used to be smiling on the time. The girl who had so much of energy. The girl who was so creative in so many different ways. The girl used to dance. Who was to sing, maybe used to do art. Where has that girl gone, you wonder?
Maybe you're dealing with issues like high blood sugar, high blood pressure, uh, cholesterol, thyroid problems, weight gain, PMS symptoms, and, uh, menopause or menopause symptoms. Or maybe you're just simply exhausted all the time, but when you get to bed day or two while to sleep, what I want you to know is whether you have an existing diagnosis or not. I do get concerned when I hear this, because these are all signs that something is not quite right, that your body is screaming for you to pay attention in terms of these symptoms. These are the messages that your body is giving you, is sending you.
What I don't want you to do is to wait till you're finally diagnosed with the disease, to pay attention and take action. I want you to stop whatever it is that you're doing and take action now. Not literally, but definitely figuratively, because no one else is going to do this for you, only you. No one is going to hand over a few more hours to you ever. That's something that I tell my clients. I tell my children, you will have to find a way to master the art of pausing every single day from here on, and take committed action to support your body. I too do manage your stress levels. No one can do it for you. And I'm going to show you how. And I'm going to show you an approach that you can take so that you can incorporate it into your daily routine.
As I mentioned, I have a upcoming seven day challenge coming up. It's called 7 Days to Calm. So the real problem causing the symptoms is chronic stress. We all know about it. We talk about it, but we don't realize how much of an impact it has on our body. So it's a the problem is not so much cortisol, which is the body's primary stress hormone. It's actually the persistently elevated levels of cortisol. And then your cortisol levels never seem to go down because your body is constantly in this fight or flight mode is in the survival mode. Chronic survival mode. So this not only contributes to weight gain if you are dealing with weight gain as a part of maybe perimenopause or menopause hormonal imbalances, it also disrupts sleep and negatively impacts energy levels. So that's why women often find themselves in caught in a cycle of rushing woman syndrome. As Doctor Libby Weaver puts it, with the demands of daily life continuously ramp up stress levels Without getting enough time to recharge and recuperate.
Of course, doesn't help because we don't often prioritize sleep. That's one of my pet peeves and something that I guard with dear life, my sleep. And when I've shared this before, my Sunday afternoon sleep is something that I guard fiercely. And my children know that, you know, I've like, sort of drummed into their head that they need to be very, very clear that if they are, you know, they need to prioritize sleep. Maybe exam time is different. One is in ninth, one is in college. But I hope that I have sort of, you know, give them enough and more reasons as to why they need to take care of the sleep for the rest of their life. I mean, that's something that I've done as a coach for my family because, you know, the I see and I understand that elevated cortisol levels can cause weight gain, especially around the belly. That's something that, you know, many of us struggle with, especially around the time when they're already hormonal changes going on, like Perimenopause and menopause, and by increasing appetite and changing how your body stores fat. It also disrupts hormones like estrogen and progesterone, and that can lead to irregular menstrual cycles and symptoms associated with hormonal imbalance. It has far reaching effects.
High cortisol can also dampen your sex drive by reducing the potential for the production of essential sex hormones and causing fatigue so you don't feel like doing anything right. And the problem is that the body is always in a heightened state of alert, and it leads to both physical and emotional symptoms. But they are never static. They actually usually worsen over time. So without addressing these stressors and finding ways to manage them, they can actually evolve into more serious health concerns. So understanding this connection is vital.
And as I mentioned in the upcoming 7 days to calm challenge, it will help you to manage stress and cortisol through simple self-care practices. As I said, it's called seven Days to Calm. Elevate your self-care practice. So many women try to tackle stress related health issues with quick fixes that don't really address the problem. The real problem. So, for example, they might go on strict diets to lose weight without understanding that stress induced cravings and high cortisol levels are the culprits. I talked to women. I recently I spoke to a few of my friends. They are all in their 40s, late 40s or so, and they are all struggling just like me to some extent, to lose weight because, you know, they've all put on a lot of weight and you know, they are trying to figure out what diet they should be going on.
So that discussion when I have with them, you know, I make them understand it's not about so much about the diet or is it about stress levels. And high cortisol levels are often the culprit. Chronic levels of chronically high levels of cortisol. The other thing that a lot of people end up doing, a lot of women end up doing, is getting into an intense exercise routine, thinking that this will end sometimes by doing extremely rigorous exercises. It can actually raise cortisol even more and add to the stress. And some women rely on sleep aids or supplements for exhaustion, forgetting again that the root cause is often stress itself. So focusing on hormonal supplements, not realizing that stress and cortisol are real disruptors, can be disruptors of hormonal balance is not helpful at all, not effective at all. And of course, you know, they can often turn to distractions like binge watching on TV or scrolling through social media, because that provides a short escape, and I understand, I truly do. I mean, I have done that from time to time, but it doesn't really reduce stress.
So recognizing these common mistakes is the first step towards adopting genuine stress management and self-care routines, because now what you're doing is actually moving from living in chronic survival mode all the time, to a mode where your body can actually thrive. So to ease stress without relying solely on meditation because. Meditation may not be your cup of tea, and that's why I chose to tighten this episode using stress without meditation. If you are, of course meditating, continue to do that. But you can consider these approaches that can create the calm that you have been seeking in your life. The calm comes from addressing the stress and figuring out how to manage it in many different ways on a daily basis, because that can help ease and address your high levels of cortisol and that has cascading effects on all your other hormones. So few things that I will be covering in the challenge, and I'm talking about today is one embrace mindful eating. We are so focused on what foods can be a consuming, balanced meal. All that is very important. But also making sure that you are eating our meals in a calm and unhurried manner. And of course, the foods that are actually nourishing our body can help manage stress naturally. So nutrient rich foods like fruits, vegetables, whole grains and, you know, helps us support cortisol. Regulation. Regulation beyond restrictive time dieting, incorporating gentle movement. Of course we need to do cardio. We need to do weight training, but we also need to engage in stress reducing activities such as yoga or walking. And actually, unlike what most people think, they do assist in weight management by addressing the high levels of cortisol and also provide a promote relaxation without any need for meditation. If you are not doing that and even, you know, I, I find that when we are very stressed and mind is all over the, uh, all over the place, our bodies are always in the present moment. So it's often much easier to, take a walk or do some stretches than it is to sit down and start breathing right and doing breathing exercises.
So just one suggestion for you, of course. Sleep. I just talked about sleep, but to get good quality sleep and sleep naturally, you need to develop a calming bedtime routine and adhering to regular sleep schedules so that you don't have to. You know, you don't have to resort to Aids to achieve restful sleep. It's okay. Once in a while, you know, everyone's time does get disrupted by figuring out some of a very calming routine can really help, and that is something that I follow, and I really brainstorm with my clients and help them to do that. And some other stress reduction habits, of course. Well, meditation can be really powerful, but other extremely powerful practices are journaling and deep breathing.
Journaling is one of my by far one of my favorites, where you are putting down all your thoughts on paper. So one example that I can give you is that before going to bed at night, you can actually have a worry. Jordan. So you put down all your worries if you, you know, a lot of times we have all these variants coming in just when we are about to go to sleep. So you can put down or jot down all your worries on the journal. And that can really help us take from away from our mind. And. Of course, using technology wisely. Last but not the least, where we figured out ways to minimize screen time, especially before bedtime, because that is a stimulatory activity and it does not, um, you know, help us sleep better. So choosing to spend time in activities that can truly relax and recharge you is very important. So whether it's spending time with your family, with your better half, reading a book, listening to some music can really help.
And I'll be doing some of these. I'll be helping you to implement some of these in the 7 days to calm challenge that I mentioned. I will be sharing the link below also, because these strategies will not only target the root cause of stress related issues, but they will also provide you different options for creating calm in your life, in your day to day life, without having to do an additional, uh, you know, work or a chore or feeling like it has to be added to your to do list. So by tackling stress at its root through these kind of exercises, you can stabilize moods, you can improve sleep and enhance your natural health because what you are doing is creating moments of calm in your daily life. That's what you're doing.
And this transformation, you know, this, this feeling of balance and calm can make you feel more control and at peace. This is what helps you to thrive. And then just survive or just go from one day to another. And as I mentioned, uh, you know, move from being a rushing woman to a person, to a woman who's calm and balanced and at peace with herself and her life and her body.
So on the seven day challenge that is coming up, the 7 Days to Calm : Elevate your self-care routine, you can sign up for that. If the date has already passed and you're seeing it now, I would be having this again in the future, so I will be getting back to you. It offers you a structured pathway to implement these strategies for effective stress management and lasting tranquility and calm.
If you have any questions coming up, I feel eager to learn more about functional medicine health coaching. Let's connect. You can write to me at an editor at the rate and in the toronto.com. I would love to hear from you. Thank you so much for joining me today on this episode of Embrace Your Healing Journey.
In the next episode, Activate Gratitude: Turn Daily Stress into Lasting Strength and Resilience, we are taking this topic one step further. We are diving into a powerful emotion of gratitude that we might be missing out on, because I want you to see how unlocking gratitude can turn your challenges into stepping stones towards resiliency. So whether you are navigating lives up in ups and downs with or without chronic conditions, this episode will empower you to rewrite the story of your life.
So join us next week! Uh, again for the next episode of Embrace Your Healing Journey. Your body knows how to heal. Are you ready to support it?
