According to the World Health Organization Stress is an epidemic in the 21st century. The way we live, work and socialise has rapidly changed over the last decade.
Stress can single-handedly drain you of your energy and make your well-being suffer long term.
Stress is simply too much output and not enough input.
But practically speaking it can be the lack of quality sleep, over stimulation (input>output), bad food choices, stress from work and our constant use of computers and smartphones.
A lot of people I work with start the day by stressing themselves out.
Do you ever wake up, check social media and scroll through all the negative stuff happening in the world? Then move on to checking all the work emails that came in overnight and stress about how you are going to get through them all?
You are already on the back foot and the day has just begun!
The stress response you get whilst in bed checking social media or going through all your emails trigger neurotransmitters in your brain.
Because your start feeling stressed your brain stimulates you to do something to release endorphins. In that moment the right thing to do is to choose a positive response such as exercise vs a negative response such as sugary foods.
But do you know what’s even better than a positive response?
Not needing a response at all. Because the next time you wake up you’re immediately going to go for a walk, or spend 10 minutes journalling and reflecting.
Aren’t you?
This is just one of the many ways you can start increasing your input vs your output – reducing the stress you put on your body which ultimately drains your energy and damages your well being.