Completing the Stress Cycle

For some odd reason, when school ended and winter break began, the feeling of stress that had plagued these past two weeks still remained. Even though I got through everything, something felt off and it was as if I wasn’t able to move forward and start to enjoy the time-off. 

Luckily, last week in school, one of my teachers introduced to us a concept called the stress cycle, which is when your brain identifies something as dangerous, and therefore plunges your body into fight, flight, or freeze mode. Like all other cycles, the stress cycle has a beginning, a middle, and an end. Feeling stressed from everyday life is completely normal in a world where countless stressors are thrown at us from so many different directions. However, while being stressed sucks, it’s important to know that it’s also what helped humans survive and still be here, so I guess we should give it some credit.

Up until now, I never considered how even after the stressor is gone, the “stress” can still be there, and because of that, you can’t fully enjoy times of peace and serenity (a.k.a. Winter Break). The reason this happens is that while the external force that was causing the stress is gone, your body is still entrenched in that fight, flight, or freeze mode.

You’re probably thinking something along these lines: “How do I get rid of it?” “How do you complete the cycle?” Yeah, okay, I’ll just stop jibber-jabbering and tell you—cool? 

Here are Eight Different Ways to Complete the Stress Cycle:

1) Physical Activity

Walking, running, biking, stretching, dancing, just do you. Movement is key to staying healthy and managing stress because it brings oxygen to your brain and enhances chemicals like dopamine, serotonin, and norepinephrine, which are connected to better mood and decreased stress. Movement is definitely something I’m working on over the Break because oh boy have I been sedentary these last couple weeks. For me, my go-to activity has been hiking, but as of yesterday, I also decided to start doing “actual” workouts.

2) Mindful Breathing

Taking deep, slow, and gentle breaths helps us to calm down and relax, but most importantly, it brings a feeling of wholeness. Mindful breathing is special in that it’s breathing with intention. There are a variety of different practices that you can do; the one I recommend is just simply being “aware” of the breath, but you can also breath in to a count of five, hold for five, and then exhale for ten, and finally pause for another count of five. As you can see, there are so many variations and different mindful breathing practices that you can pick up and start doing anywhere at any time.

3) Talking to People

Casual, fun, or positive social interaction can help lighten your mood and bring some joy to your day. With Covid, obviously you have to take certain precautions e.g. social distancing, masks, staying out of crowds, and if you can’t do in-person, then there’s always FaceTime, Skype, and Discord.

4) Laughing 

Laughing is one of those things that you can’t just spontaneously start doing, that’s not how it works. Same with polite laughter, that doesn’t count either. It has to be one of those helpless, nonstop, embarrassing, belly aching laughs.

5) Crying

If you find yourself barely making it inside, feel free to just let it all out. Scientists believe that crying reduces the level of stress hormones in the body. Crying is a healthy way to deal with external stressors, and perhaps you’ll emerge feeling better than you were before.

6) Hugs

Who doesn’t love a good hug? Hugs instantly increase oxytocin and serotonin levels, and amazingly, both reduce stress hormones and counteract feelings of loneliness or despair. With that being said, take some time to hug your loved ones so that you bring not only yourself up, but show others that you really care and love them.

7) Sleep

Obviously everyone is going to try to get more sleep over break, but I just want to emphasize that sleep is so vital to our whole health and we should not sacrifice it as much as we do. Let’s use this time-off to prioritize getting good sleep, because by doing that, we’ll end up feeling much more restful and well.

8) Creative Expression

Drawing, painting, writing, sculpting, music, storytelling, playing sports, you name it. Engaging in creative activities brings more energy and light to our day. Perhaps you can construct a gingerbread house or decorate anything else in your house. The possibilities are endless. Just find something that you love to do and do it.

Winter break is a time for healing, recovering, and rediscovering. Take this time to collect yourself and acknowledge that you got through this year, you got through December 2020, and that itself is amazing. I hope everyone has a wonderful break!