Contrary to what you see on social media, no one gets to live a stress-free life. Some stress is good for you, helping you perform at your best. However too much stress, over too long a time, can lead to burn out. Mindfulness for stress is a recognised way to care for your mental and physical wellbeing.
There are lots of reasons you might feel stressed. Work, finances, relationships, parenting, day to day hassles. When you are stressed, your body releases hormones, such as adrenalin and cortisol, speeding up your heart rate and slowing your digestion. You might experience changes in mood, low energy, headaches, muscle pain, difficulty breathing. Normally an increase in stress hormones is balanced by a relaxation response, but if the stress response is activated too often, over time your body is not able to return to a more relaxed state.
Midlife women face a particular group of challenges. Poor sleep and hot flashes can raise stress levels. Just at a time when you may be facing challenges on other fronts, including raising children, caring for elderly parents, and navigating work and life changes. Insomnia and perceived stress are related, and a negative view of ageing can make menopause symptoms worse.
How mindfulness for stress helps
You cannot always change your situation, but you can change your response to it. This is at the heart of how mindfulness can help.
Mindfulness helps you be aware of current circumstances. You learn to be an observer of your mind, without needing to react to or engage with your thoughts.
- Once you are aware of your thoughts, you can step back from them. When you do not react automatically, your stress response is not triggered so strongly.
- Mindfulness put you in ‘being’ mode, rather than ‘doing’ mode. Being is associated with greater relaxation.
- Greater awareness of your mind and body allows you to notice signs of stress arising sooner and act before you are overwhelmed.
- Through mindfulness you develop greater compassion for yourself and others. This inhibits the stress response.
- Research suggests mindfulness practices can reduce activity in your amygdala, a part of your brain activated during stress. You can reduce your background stress levels.
With mindfulness also comes greater ability to focus and concentrate. You can more easily enter the ‘flow’ state, from which you can complete tasks effortlessly.
Mindfulness will not remove all stress from your life, but it can help you build the inner resources so that external stressors have less impact on your wellbeing.
Five ways to take care of yourself
Practicing mindfulness does not have to mean taking time out for formal meditation. Here are five other ways you can be mindful and reduce your stress.
- Take a conscious breath. Normally you take breathing for granted, yet it is a miraculous process that goes on without your noticing and keeps you alive. Any time you are aware of your breath, that is a moment of mindfulness. Try the Breathing Space practice.
- When you notice stress arising, remember 5,4,3,2,1. Look around you and acknowledge 5 things you can see, 4 you can touch, 3 you can hear, 2 you can smell, 1 you can taste. Can help your mind stop ruminating and bring you into the present.
- Find your flow. Spend some time every day doing something you love, that absorbs your concentration. Creative tasks, such as painting, stitching, or reading, or listening to music. All help wire your brain towards greater calm.
- Write things down. Handwriting slows your brain down, help you check in which what you are thinking, and deliberate slowing down can stop the stress spiral.
- Reframe your self-talk. If you notice yourself saying ‘I am stressed’, change it to ‘I am having the thought that I am stressed’. In this way you create distance between yourself and your thoughts, which helps you chose your responses.
Free guided meditation
Other ways to help reduce stress include making time to eat well, move, and sleep. See my blog for other suggestions.
Mindfulness is linked to higher levels of emotional intelligence. The more you are aware of your emotions, you are less likely to get into conflict with others. And research into the menopause suggests women with higher emotional intelligence may experience reduced symptoms. Mindfulness for stress is simple, but not easy. It takes time, but you can literally rewire your brain for greater calm. Try boosting you relaxation response with this practice on bringing yourself into the present moment. It is 11 minutes long.
Mindfulness tip: changing how you talk to yourself can help rewire your brain.
