Sisters-in-Service
Are you a women veteran who feels unseen and unheard? Do you struggle with finding your purpose after service? Sisters-in-Service is a podcast that gives women veterans the platform to talk about those exact issues and more. Hear from other veterans, military spouses and Veteran Service Organizations (VSO) just like you that have overcome their transition from the military. Every Tuesday this podcast encourages women veterans to stand up and be counted because as a group we have a voice. From your host - Cat Corchado - The Voice Connecting Women Veterans
Sisters-in-Service
The Body Under Siege: Stress in Today's Environment
Imagine managing stress as you would a car engine—too much strain, and it eventually breaks down. Join me, as I unravel the mystery of stress—whether it's the thrill of a new opportunity or the daily grind of challenges—and its stealthy impact on our health. I share my own tales of sleepless nights and irritability, underscoring the importance of recognizing stress signals. Gain practical wisdom as we navigate through simple, yet potent, stress-relief techniques like deep belly and alternate nostril breathing to transform tension into tranquility.
But that's not all! Discover how you can infuse energy into your daily routine with Small Space Pilates. Picture a rejuvenated you, fueled by just 11 minutes of movement each day. Get ready for the return of our fan-favorite 11-minute workout challenge, running from March 17th to the 21st. This episode is your invitation to a community committed to health and vitality. Let's celebrate the power of mindful movement and keep the momentum going on your wellness journey.
Welcome to Sisters in Service podcast. Most of you know me as a strong advocate for women veterans in being recognized not only as veterans but also as women who are changing the world through our passion of serving even after service. This podcast is my passion by telling all the stories of military brats, military spouses, active duty and veterans, not to forget the veteran service organizations that help us along our transition journey. I want to thank you in advance for listening. I hope that you will join me. Every week, a new podcast and episode comes out every Tuesday, so I hope that you will join and I hope that you enjoy. This podcast is brought to you by Small Space Pilates. Are you ready to get fit and fabulous from the comfort of your own home? Look no further than Small Space Pilates. With live online Pilates and strength training classes, a video library and a no perfection allowed policy, you can achieve your fitness goals without ever leaving your house. Click on the link for your complimentary week and start your journey to feeling fabulous today. Welcome everyone to another episode of why Not Wellness. I am your host, kat Corchado, your movement specialist.
Speaker 1:Lately I've been feeling a little more stressed than normal. Have you noticed yourself getting a little less patient, or being a little less patient, being a little more on edge? I have, so I don't know if you have, but we're going to talk about how stress in the body is holding us hostage. It's our body under siege, especially in lieu of what's been happening in our world within the last few months. So we're going to do a deep dive well, as far deep as we can go in 15 minutes into stress and how it affects our body. We'll explore how stress affects our bodies, what we can do to alleviate it, and I've just been having problems sleeping lately, and I've just been having problems sleeping lately. So I don't know if you guys can relate to that, but did you know that our bodies cannot tell the difference between good stress and bad stress? So good stress is you're excited about a wedding, a new baby coming, a new job, maybe you're going to be an entrepreneur, you've decided to make that decision. And bad stress your car broke down, you don't have transportation, you know the babysitter's sick. Your body cannot differentiate between good and bad stress and it reacts the same way. So it's like a car alarm, whether it's someone trying to break into your car or someone just bumps it and the car alarm goes off. Your car doesn't know the difference, it's just hey, something triggered the alarm. All of this can lead to a host of physical symptoms, from headaches and insomnia to more serious conditions like heart disease. So how do you recognize stress? Because we all say, oh, I'm stressed, are we really stressed or are we just saying we're stressed? So recognizing stress in your body is the first step towards managing it.
Speaker 1:Now let me just say this Everything I'm going to say you guys have heard before. It's just now. It's time to have your own little to-go box. You know what I mean? A little chest where you can open up and say I need deep breathing, please, I need one of these and one of these. And I don't mean pills, I mean those things that you can do to calm yourself down. Calm yourself down. So you know being.
Speaker 1:I mentioned that I've been irritable and less patient and just having a harder time sleeping. So if you've had muscle tension, headaches, upset, stomach, difficulty sleeping and remember we all have unique ways of dealing with stress Maybe you've been eating more than you're used to. Maybe here's one of mine when I get stressed, I want sweets, I want candy, I want cookies, I want ice cream. So start to tune into that and go hmm, is this really what's going on? Now I'm not saying don't eat the ice cream, and if you don't eat it, I'll eat it for you because that's my go-to. What I'm saying is be aware of wow, this has been happening a lot lately. So when stress hits you, what's your go-to? What do you do? Do you say, oh, I'm stressed, and you just deal with it?
Speaker 1:Think about what happens to your body under undue stress for extended parts, so extended periods of time, excuse me. Imagine for a moment. You have your car and you turn it over and the car's running and you put a brick or something on the accelerator and it's just, it's doing this with the engine. How long do you think it would take for that engine to just go? Oh, I'm done. I don't know If you're doing 60, 70, 80 miles per hour. It probably wouldn't take that long for it to poop out.
Speaker 1:And so the same thing with our body. Our bodies are remarkable. We're under stress, your high cortisol level is up here, it's through the roof, and you're handling it and you're handling it. And have you ever gone on vacation and gotten sick? That's your body's reaction to you coming down. So it's the fight or flight. It's that. We're always like this and it was made so that you know if a bear was chasing us. You know that adrenaline rush and then you calm down. Chasing us, you know that adrenaline rush and then you calm down, but our bodies weren't meant to go long extended periods of undue stress. So let's talk about some ways to alleviate stress.
Speaker 1:You're going to hear me talk about breathing, and don't get me wrong. A lot of people say, oh, I breathe. Well, do you breathe up here or do you breathe down here into your belly? There's a difference. People who breathe up here, they're like this. They can't take a breath. Deep breathing, belly breathing, yoga breathing is that deep inhale and you just let the exhale go. Now, if you're not a fan of that, I do what's called alternate nostril breathing. This blew my mind. Okay, it really did. So let me demo. You're going to take your thumb and index finger, block off one nostril, inhale, block off that nostril and exhale through the other nostril, and you do that four or five times. Takes less than I think. A minute. Might take 30 seconds, maybe even less than that, and what you feel is this almost immediate calming down, why Alternate nostril breathing will help to de-stress both hemispheres of your brain at the same time.
Speaker 1:Yeah, stretching is an amazing way to alleviate stress in the body and stress in the mind. Now, if you're at work, that's probably a little difficult for you to do. But how about going outside, just sitting for five minutes in the sun yes, I know, it's winter, I do but or sitting next to a window and just feeling the rays of the sun on your face, maybe breathing in some fresh air office or a different floor, depending on how many floors your building has and just walking and then coming back? You know what that does to your brain. It's like an adrenaline rush right to your brain. When you stimulate the muscles in your body, it's like an adrenaline shot right there and you sit down. All of a sudden, everything's brighter. You see all the mistakes you made in your email, those types of things.
Speaker 1:My friend, yvonne Marchese, who is the host of the Late Bloomer podcast you should go listen says these are what she calls disruptors, disruptors. What about dancing? Play your favorite playlist and just dance like no one's watching you. Again, if you're in the office environment might be a little weird, but if you don't care, go for it. It's this way of just shedding some of this stress that's on us on a daily basis.
Speaker 1:And now you turn on the TV and you can't get away from it On your phone. You can't get away from it On your phone, you can't get away from it. So the other thing you can do is limit what you look at on TV. As far as news, I watch news on Monday and on Friday period Because I start to ramp up, I start to get like this and I can't calm down.
Speaker 1:So what's important here is to listen to your body. Listen to your body. What's happening, you know? Start to go inside your body when you're stressed and go your heart. You might even notice your heart rate's going. Your breathing is like this. These are physical things, but there are other things too that happen in the body. That constant stress is not good for your blood pressure, it's not good for your heart, it's not good for your body in general. So, deep breathing, easy way to calm your mind and body. You can do it at your desk. Or what I used to do is go in the bathroom five minutes alternate nostril breathing, boom done, come back, it's done. I love it. What about you're going to hear me say it working out regularly? Okay, it's done, I love it. What about you're going to hear me say it working out regularly? Okay, like I said, working out is an adrenaline rush to your brain, but our bodies need to move, even if it's just a leisure walk.
Speaker 1:And if you're going for a leisure walk, don't sit there and go, oh, and think about all the things that just happened. Such and such didn't talk to you. Someone yelled at you. You know your presentation that you thought was amazing was not so amazing to some people. I want you to think about what do you see, what do you feel, what do you hear and notice how that calms you down, how that calms you down. All of these things releases endorphins and it's your body's natural mood boosters. It makes you feel good. You're like, oh, this is great.
Speaker 1:Leisure walks can provide a much needed break from a stressful environment and never, ever underestimate the power of your favorite tunes to lift your spirits. I do this all the time when I'm cleaning house, mostly because I need something to motivate me to do it. But just putting it on, put your AirPods in or whatever earbuds, whatever you've got and I've been in the car. You guys, how many people car dance? I do all the time. People look at me yeah, they do. But you know what? I don't care, and you feel this. Oh, it just feels so great to hear your favorite music and move to it. Nobody's watching you, and if they are, who cares? So I hope that this gives you some tools in your toolbox.
Speaker 1:Here's another one. What about essential oils? Okay, I keep lavender in my purse, I put a few drops on a tissue and every now and then I'm just like lavender is a natural calmer for your body, but there are other ones also. Find your favorite, carry it with you when you need to do it. All of these things work together.
Speaker 1:It's not just one thing, it's not just the breathing, it's not just the working out, it's not. These are all tools that you can pull out whenever you need them and please use them. It's not going to jump out the box and say, cat, come on, let's breathe. Or cat, come on, let's stretch. Recognize how stress feels in your body and then do what you need to do for your body to alleviate some of that stress. So in today's fast-paced and politically charged world, stress is almost inevitable. But with awareness and the right tools, we can keep our bodies and minds healthy. So remember, you're not alone in this journey. You got me here because I'm stressed too, and I'm here to guide you.
Speaker 1:So if you have any questions about anything or if you say hey, I heard about blah, blah, blah. You don't know what. You don't know until you do it. So the first thing I'm going to say is you know what? Try it and see what happens. If it doesn't work, it doesn't work. Oh, let me add one more thing. So I've had people say oh, I, I, I breathed and it didn't work. Okay, so now you're an expert. What I'm trying to get to is how many people are really good at driving? The first day they did got behind the wheel of the car. Nobody continue it.
Speaker 1:Over time, your body starts to go oh, we're breathing, and you're going to just start to feel it happen. So give it a little bit. Give it five, six, 10, 20 times before you decide. That's not for me, and I'm not saying all of this is for you, but I want you to at least try, and even I mean, let me know Reach out to me and say hey, kat, what about this? I never thought about that. Let me try that.
Speaker 1:So find all of these things that work for you, put them in your box, figure out when you can use what, when, where and how, and then start to use that. If you have any questions about any of this, you can reach out to me at katatsmallspacepilatescom. And also I want to invite all of you to try a free week of Small Space Pilates. Why not? I love a freebie. Try before you buy, yes, please. And also one more thing If you guys had FOMO about the January 11 minute workout, or 11 minute challenge, it's coming back. It's going to be in March 17th, through the 21st. 11 minutes, you guys, 11. That's all it is for the whole week, and you might find that you just might end up feeling a whole lot better than you did 11 minutes prior. So until then, I'm Kat Corchado, I'm your movement specialist and you know what. Keep it moving. Bye for now, thank you.