5 Ways to Regulate our Nervous System
As you can imagine being a startup founder and a professional creator in 2021 is extremely stressful which impacts every area of my life, from digestion to skin. I’m sure most of you can relate to how passionate you are about your work, but also how stressful the past year has been on every aspect of work / life balance. With that in mind I wanted to shed a few of my favourite de-stress tips and regulate your nervous system!
Mindfulness is a 360 process incorporating mind, body and soul. The good news is once you find what works for you you’ll have what I like to call your tool kit to always return back to. And I know probably all of you have some parts of that tool kit that may come and go, so if anything I hope this is just a gentle reminder to get back to those this year.
Find a moment of stillness each day
It can be meditation, journaling, reflective walks, time in nature, yoga or what ever else works for you. Stillness comes in a lot of shapes and sizes so never feel like it has to be a certain way someone else is doing it. I do however encourage you to try what works and doesn’t work this year as your moment of stillness and continue to explore that.
Hydrate from the inside and outside
Of course using hydrating products helps us LOOK less stressed, but staying hydrated from the inside actually calms our nervous system. Dehydration causes increased heart rate which leads to feels of anxiousness, uncertainty and that jittery feeling we get! We can to continuously remain hydrated especially in the winter months where we crave water based food and drinks much less.
Sleep
Now the debate on how much sleep you should get is a pretty personal one, that said I do believe that our sleep needs shift with season much like our skincare routine does. So if you are feeling more tired and in need of more sleep in the winter months, I do suggest giving your body permission to have it. I actually try and get 9 hours of sleep a night if I can to feel the least amount of stress in my day. That said, I know thats not possible for so many of us, especially moms so just keep in mind what works with your lifestyle. We often don’t monitor how we feel from our sleep and more so from the foods we eat or the activities we do. Keep a note pad next to your bed and start becoming aware of your mood the next day and how it varies based of the number of hours you log under the sheets.
Connect
Connecting is in need now more than ever. We have become isolated the past year and we tend to forget how our body’s nervous system reacts to personal connection, hugs, kisses and community support. So if you need to make a calendar that on it says hug your partner for 5 minutes each morning, do that! Or practice yoga poses that actually invite you to simply hug YOU. Our brain receives a message from our body that we are safe and protected when we feel human connection and touch which tells us, you can relax, you are safe.
Be kind to yourself and affirm love.
This is a big one. We often create a lot of our own stress by saying “I knew I would mess that up” or “of course I didn’t get that contract, I’m not good enough”. I want to remind everyone that being kind to yourself, visualizing success and happiness and finally affirming how you want to feel will trick your brain into calming your nervous system.
tags: mindfulness, meditation, nervous system, stresscategories: Mind Body Soul