Book Freak 174: How to Understand and Deal with Stress
A guide to managing life's pressures
Do you sometimes lie awake at 3 AM, heart racing, mind spinning with tomorrow's to-do list? You're far from alone. According to a number of studies, stress is the leading cause of a high percentage of doctor office visits. But here's something important to understand: stress isn't just one thing. As Katy Georgiou explains in this accessible guide, our bodies have five distinct stress responses — Fight, Flight, Flop, Freeze and Fawn — each serving as a different survival strategy. By understanding which response patterns you tend toward, and learning practical ways to work with them rather than against them, you can start to take control of your stress rather than letting it control you. From breathing exercises and lifestyle changes to therapeutic approaches and medical interventions, this guide offers a toolbox of strategies to help you feel like yourself again.
Here are four key pieces of advice from the book:
Know your Fs
“Many people are aware of the fight-or-flight response: it’s the primal response to danger activated in times of stress that prompts you to flee or combat a situation for survival. But there are actually five Fs: Fight, Flight, Flop, Freeze and Fawn. Each of these is described in more detail on the following pages. Your reaction depends on many factors, including what you did in your very early development in response to being frightened. Research shows that whatever we did the first time to keep ourselves safe from danger gets hardwired into the part of the brain called the amygdala — that’s the primitive part of our brain that we short-circuit to in times of trouble. That’s why it can sometimes feel like our responses are out of control. The good news is, it doesn’t have to stay that way.”
Play ball
“If too many things are mounting up at once and you feel overwhelmed, this mental exercise can be helpful. Imagine a game of baseball with different bases. At each of these bases is one of your dilemmas to tackle. Visually run to the first base and spend time exploring that dilemma knowing the others will be dealt with later. Give yourself a time limit such as 10 minutes. Once your time is up, however far you’ve managed to get with your task, leave it and run to the second base and deal with the challenge there. After another 10 minutes, leave it and run to the third, and then finally the fourth base. Remember, once you’ve completed this circuit you can return to any of the other bases to finish anything that still needs your attention. This exercise can help you break down stressful tasks into manageable chunks and release some of your stress.”
Drink more water
“Research shows that drinking just two cups less water than we should on any given day can trigger the release of stress hormones because our body is experiencing the feeling of dehydration. Aim to drink about eight glasses of water per day. If you don’t like drinking plain water, try adding slices of fruit, mint or cucumber to get a natural flavor boost. Don’t forget you can get your intake from hot drinks, too, but don’t overload on caffeine. Choose herbal teas instead of tea and coffee.”
Try a finger trace
“A simple breathing exercise you can do at your desk or in the privacy of your bedroom is to trace the shape of your hand with a finger on your opposite hand, while you breathe in and out. Take a breath in as you trace upward toward the tip of your finger, then breathe out as you trace down toward your palm and continue until you’ve traced all of your fingers. Not only does this help you regulate your breathing, it helps to keep you focused on your body in the here and now. This can be especially helpful if you experience a lot of anxiety or if you struggle with a flight, freeze or flop response, because it gradually brings you back into your body on your own terms, increasing your feeling of control.”
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