The number 1 Enemy for your Health and Relationship

Because sometimes it’s nice to get a reminder

So many of us spend a crazy amount of money making sure to introduce the right nutrients in our body; we scrub every inch of a tomato to get rid off all the nasty chemicals, we order everything organic for peace of mind, we drink tons of mud looking juices and clay loaded potions looking for an answer.

Vitamins, minerals, pre, and probiotics fill our kitchens; we have downloaded the latest app, subscribed to 10 different health magazines and we can’t simply keep up with the last trend in food and nutrition.

Some of us become uncertainly confused; others happen to become gurus overnight.

And in the meantime we keep on aging, piling on extra kilos, we keep having washed out skins and random diseases. And so we try to get rid of what we know in the desperate attempt to be the healthiest version of ourselves; first, the sugar, then the gluten, nuts, grain, dairy, even some type of veggies and eventually…our mental sanity.

The sad news is that although food is incredibly important and a balanced diet is paramount, there are so many other ‘things’ that come to play.

“The biggest culprit when it comes to inflammation (hence aging not so gracefully) is not diet, but stress” states Amy Wechsler.

Stress is the main culprit behind our aging population and when I mention the word stress, 80%of us think about work and finance stability. We get stuck in the “I’m so busy” routine and we tend to spend our days -if not our lives- daydreaming about the last time we enjoyed a pampering loaded holiday.

Unfortunately, stress is so much more than that.

Check your neck and shoulder now that you are reading these lines; are they relaxed? Where is your breathing coming from? Deep down your belly in a soothing dance of long inhalation and even longer exhalation or from the top of your chest as if you were a fish out of the water? Do you suffer from migraines or headaches? Are you focusing on these words or are you distracted and skipping through the lines looking for an answer so that you can move on to the next article?

It is good to know that stress is not an entity, a living being that we bumped into, but it comes from the way we react to certain situations, doesn’t matter how stressful these situations may be.

Think about being stuck in traffic; horrible, right? But what about if that was a chance to check in with yourself, or to finish listening to that super interesting podcast everyone is raving about?

And let’s include exercise in here. Exercising is good for you but it can easily turn into a stressor if you keep moving when injured or if you deprive yourself of much-needed sleep to hit the 6am gym session. And what about eating Maccas three times a week? You are getting the message, right?

To summarise, stress (mental, physical, etc) cause our hormones to go out of whack, it raises our adrenaline and cortisol levels and it can lead to fatigue and exhaustion.

But there are some tips that you can follow to improve your wellbeing in a matter of days:

Sleep. Please don’t roll your eyes and hear me out. If you have to do one thing, prioritise sleep over anything else; our bodies require 7–8 hours of continuous, nightmare-free sleep to relax, rest and heal. It is like hitting the RESTART button on our computer. Every single night.

If you fall into the ‘restlessness’-sleep category, aim to switch off any kind of technology at least 1 hour before going to bed, and start practicing calming breathing exercises before bedtime.

Exercise. Our bodies are meant to move, but moving doesn’t necessarily mean running like a rat on a treadmill for more than 1 hour. If you feel edgy, tired, stressed out, swap hardcore/die-hard HIIT classes for Yoga and Pilates…at least once a week. And take 1 day off from exercising. And don’t ever, ever, ever exercise when injured. It is like scratching a scar from a recently healed wound; not a good idea.

Hydrate yourself. Go back to the good old message and drink 8 glasses a water per day. Our body is approximately made 70% of water, our blood and cells are made of water and sad but true, we can’t survive long without water.

On top of it, we love adding diuretic stuff such as alcohol and salty food to our diet, which means we need even more beloved H2O to maintain homeostasis (which is a state of balance within our body). So drink as much water as you can, from the moment you wake up, to that second before going to sleep. Try to consume filtered, warm water with some lemon first thing in the morning and avoid gulping big full glasses while chewing food during lunch and dinner, simply because you don’t want your important enzymes to be weakened, or washed away when you need them the most.

Breathe, meditate, take a stroll to the nearest waterfall, Xavier Rudd sings. Be surrounded by nature, become one with nature by simply start noticing the tiny little things such as the rays of sun caressing your face on a cold winter morning. Start by celebrating the smallest achievement and the smallest daily pleasures (think: the first sip of coffee….drooling right now)

And talking about coffees and other so-called ‘intoxicant’, limit them! Tea, coffee (1–2 cups per day are fine unless suffering from severe anxiety, tachycardia and so forth), alcohol, cigarettes, drugs; even marijuana …the chillaxing effect doesn’t last forever and not only it affects your immune system and your reflexes but the munchies don’t help you be in control.

And when it comes to CONTROL…try to let it go. Talk to yourself, write to yourself, become your best friend. Sometimes we dwell too much over the little things, we overthink every situation, we tend to stage the worst-case scenario. What if we start believing in positive outcomes? Wouldn’t life be so much more fun?

“What if I fall?

Darling, what if you fly?”

Interestingly enough, we do have the power to make the switch and to start believing that everything will be fine.

And last but not least, try something new! This can be an interesting concept to many of us, but adding something new to our daily routine can keep us on track. Pick something easy, achievable that you have never tried before. It can be meditating for 2 minutes every morning, saying thank you and please and you are welcome to every person you deal with, or joining a new parenting class and make new friends.

These are a very easy starting point to set you up toward a very rewarding personal journey. Keeping track of your achievement is always recommended, maybe by using an app or an old fashioned piece of paper.

Whatever works, whatever makes you smile