Stress belly - do you have it? And how to treat it.
Are you constantly working to deadlines, or a never ending to-do list?
And despite doing everything right with your diet and exercise you can’t get rid of the excess belly fat? Then, you might have a stress belly.
“Stress belly” is not a medical diagnosis, but rather a way to reference the root of the problem… your fight or flight hormone (cortisol) being turned on for too much and too long.
Now before you start feeling stressed at the idea of having a stress belly let me explain something important…
The goal is not to eliminate stress from your life, but to manage and recover from it better. It’s impossible to go through life with no stress, unless you’re in a coma, or dead. Some stress is good for you. (I’ll explain that another time)
So how do you know if this relates to you? Here are a few symptoms that might be happening:
1. You’re always hungry - despite how much you eat you can find room for more. Sometimes you may not feel like you’re hungry, instead you might find it comforting.
2. You feel overwhelmed - getting snappy, or irritable over the smallest things? Can’t stop fidgeting? All these things are often a sign of nervous or bottle energy leaking out in ways to either soothe, or relieve us.
3. Exercise makes things worse - exercise is a controlled way to create stress on muscles to encourage them to get fitter and stronger. However, if your stress levels are running high, then this can act as the straw that breaks the camels back.
If these start to sound familiar then it might be time to do something about it. Despite causing issues like high blood pressure, diabetes and tension pains/headaches, it can also be the cause for sleep problems, depression and weight gain. But all is not lost, you can fix it!
Below are 3 recommendations to get you started, but before you read on its important to understand THIS ==>> Everyone is different, and this is an area with many, many different factors, so you might want to find help from a trusted source. If you don’t know where to start, you can reach out to me and I will help you find the most suitable person for your needs.
Now, your recommendations:
1. Improve your sleep. Sounds easier said than done, and right now you might not be able to get any more than you are. If that’s the case it might be worth starting with improving the quality of sleep and reducing the amount of phone time you have before bed, especially if you take your phone to bed with you.
2. Eat well. Your body is likely craving nutritious foods to cope with everything it’s going through. An easy place to start is to eat the rainbow - add some colour to your plate and meals.
3. Walk more. Going for walks as short as 10 minutes have been shown to make big improvements in reducing stress levels by allowing you to remove yourself from stressful environments and allowing you to breathe deeper whilst moving gently.
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