Empty Out Your Bucket [Of Stress]

2020 (deep inhale, deep exhale). We sure have been tested to our limits in most, if not all, facets of life. The purpose of this post is to help guide an understanding of what it is that you and your loved ones are feeling and how we can support each other through this time to come out stronger than ever.

Types of Stress

There are three main categories of stress:

1. Physical Stress – injuries, poor posture, poor form while exercise, gravity, birth, etc.
2. Chemical Stress – smoking, drinking alcohol, medications, breathing chemicals, etc.
3. Emotional Stress – relationships, economic conditions, finances, work, traffic, etc.

Think of having a bucket within us and each stressor in our life goes into the bucket. The more stress we have, the more full the bucket. One important factor to consider when talking about stress is that some stresses are unavoidable, like gravity or traffic, therefore, we all have an amount of stress in our bucket.

As we take on more and more stress, the bucket fills up which leaves less room for other stresses. When the bucket gets full and lets say, spills out, think about this as the overwhelming breakdown whether that be physically or emotionally.

Effects of Stress

Stress has been found to be correlated with the top six causes of death including: heart disease, cancer, accidents, lung ailments, liver cirrhosis, and suicide. As you may be aware most of these diseases or illnesses can be prevented and or cured.

Stress can present itself in many different ways such as: fatigue, pains, headaches, difficulty sleeping, worrying thoughts, disease or illness, etc. Traditionally, we would treat the symptoms with medications (which can bring their own stresses into our bodies) or other therapies, when the root cause is not the symptom but the actual stressor or trigger.

Managing Stress

Depending on the particular stress, you may want to manage it differently. Here a few things to think about when managing different stresses”:

• SOCIAL – Support one another. Call your friends and family, smile and wave at others when you’re in public, think the best of people. Spread love and joy.
• POSTURE – Keeping strong, healthy posture reducing overall stress on your entire body including our vital organs. Studies show as your posture distorts from its normal position is can make breathing difficult which reduces oxygenation of vital organs and tissues. (1)
• EXERCISE/OUTDOORS – Exercise is a great way to relieve different stresses and if you can get outside and exercise, even better! Stay consistent, get outside and move every day.
• MINDSET – Stay positive. Live in the present. Control the things you can directly control. If you need assistance getting into a present, positive state, contact a professional.
• NUTRITION – Feed your body well-sourced, whole foods and keep your water intake up. Take supplements when recommended or needed to support your body.
• PASSION – Do more of the things you love, period.

This all becomes easy when we come together to support each other. Know you and your loved ones are not alone in this and we are all feeling effects from the current situation. We are in this together. Let’s start emptying our buckets and experience feeling light and free again like we did when we were kids.

(1) Oakley, P. A., & Harrison, D. E. (2018). REDUCING THORACIC HYPERKYPHOSIS SUBLUXATION DEFORMITY: A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW OF CHIROPRACTIC BIOPHYSICS® METHODS EMPLOYED IN ITS STRUCTURAL IMPROVEMENT. Journal of Contemporary Chiropractic, 1(1), 59-66. Retrieved from https://journal.parker.edu/index.php/jcc/article/view/32