Another negative effect of high levels of stress is that it prevents you from putting in the full effort in the gym. You don’t burn as many calories, and sabotage your weight loss efforts. On a more hormonal level, when you are stressed, you release the hormone cortisol. And if you are under short periods of stress, it’s a helpful hormone that brings you back to your normal, relaxed self. The problem comes when this hormone is chronically elevated or chronically depleted (both of which can happen under prolonged stress).
Cortisol interacts with a number of other fat-burning hormones that changes how those hormones behave, so they don’t exert their fat-burning effects as well as they should. This can lead to disappointing levels of fat loss. You might think you’re eating right, and you’re exercising quite a bit, but if your results are sub-par, stress may be the hidden element. So what can you do about it? There are various effective stress management techniques.
If you’re feeling extremely stressed, take 10 deep breaths. Focus on exhaling for as long as possible. You’ll feel calmer, and it’s something you can do anywhere. Another stress-reduction strategy is to name what is stressing you out. Very often people have a generalized feeling of stress, and can’t quite put their finger on it. It’s intangible and doesn’t have a form. Once you identify precisely what is stressing you out, you give that stress a form. The simple identification of the stressor will ease a substantial amount of stress.
That’s important because once you give that stress a “shape”, you can devise a plan to tackle the problem. This will get rid of the rest of your stress. People tend to feel better when they focus on the solution rather than the problem. The last part to the stress-busting process is executing the plan. Another fantastic stress-reduction strategy is simply asking yourself “what’s the worst that could happen?” Sometimes the worst that could happen is a fairly dire consequence, but the majority of the time the worst that can happen is something very frivolous, or nothing at all. Presto! Stress is gone.
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