Calming Guilt-Induced Stress By Alison Caldwell-Andrews, PhD
yourself the gift of less worry? One of the worst things about guilt-induced stress is that people
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who experience it feel like they deserve it! Most people with this kind of stress don’t do anything about it in order to feel better. Or, if they do something, it’s a feeble attempt that’s not enough to actually fix the worrying problems. Often, we are satisfied with resolving to quit worrying. You probably already know how well this works. Not only is it hard to quit worrying by simply telling yourself to
stop, it’s even harder to actively work toward resolving guilt that you believe you deserve. You are under stress and the body reacts to that stress as if it were any other kind of stress. Relax. There are solutions and they aren’t complicated. They just
take some work and determination. You can be in a powerful posi- tion to resolve guilt-induced stress.
Stress Response The body’s stress response is meant to help you handle the extra
demand that stress places on your functioning. This response is there- fore thought of as adaptive, meaning it’s helpful. But it’s meant to be temporary, so it’s only helpful for a little while. Long-term stress (and guilt-induced stress can qualify) has a chronic effect on the body that results in overall damage.
lthough many people struggle with guilt-induced stress throughout the year it seems especially prevalent during the winter holidays. So what better time is there than now to give
How Your Body Reacts
Theory suggests a three-stage response to stress: 1. The alarm reaction, (fight or flight) sets off adrenalin and cortisol resulting in increased heart rate, blood pressure, more glu- cose in the blood, and more awareness of your surroundings. Some people call this awareness hypervigilance, meaning that you are more watchful than average. Many people who struggle with guilt recognize themselves as being hypervigilant at times. 2. A resistance stage where your body operates at a higher level of functioning than before the stress. This is the body’s coping ability; it’s meant to help you survive as you find ways to solve the problem. 3. Exhaustion happens when you don’t solve the problem and stress continues. Reactions to the exhaustion stage can include de- pression, illness, anxiety, gastrointestinal difficulties, muscle tension, etc. The body needs help to recover and reduce stress. Your body wasn’t made to linger in problems. The stress re- sponse is meant to be a short-term energy boost to help you manage stress while you solve the problem. All too often, we feel helpless or hopeless and don’t move toward problem-solving. Understand- ing how to regulate your emotions can help you use your feelings to your advantage instead of being sidelined by them.
Calm the Stress When it’s not possible to solve the problem right away, you can
still help yourself by acting on these three things to help your body better manage stress: 1. Diaphragmatic Breathing Everyone’s heard that you should breathe to help with stress, but
many people don’t know how to do this or why it’s that important. One of the things that is most helpful to your entire body functioning is a reliable supply of oxygen. Deep breathing helps release toxins and manage pain. It promotes relaxation in muscles and in the mind, improves blood oxygenation and nourishes the nervous system (the brain, spinal cord and nerves). It strengthens the heart and lungs and helps burn excess fat more efficiently! Perhaps most relevant is that deep breathing immediately engages your body’s parasympathetic nervous system, countering the stress response. So, now that you are (hopefully) much more interested in breathing, here’s how to do it: Breath all the way into your abdo- men, not just into your chest. If you place a hand on your chest and a hand on your stomach, the hand on your chest should not move and the hand on your stomach should move as much as you can make it move by breathing deeply. Imagine your stomach is filling up like a balloon with the air you are breathing in. Then, slightly open your mouth and breathe out gently. Think about making the sound
26 Natural Nutmeg December 2012
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