Let the Stress Get To You!

How does your heart rate vary?

Can we really measure stress and is it all that important?

Stress comes in many forms which you may have heard me say before, and it certainly comes to all of us. It is not something we can avoid and honestly, I recommend it isn’t something you should avoid.

Just think:

How are diamonds produced? You got it, under pressure.
How do muscles get stronger? Yep, under tension.
How do we prove our intellect? Indeed, under testing.

You see stress in the right form is good for us, or should I say, stress that we can adapt to in the right form is good for us.

There really is no point thinking about or measuring ‘stress’ when it comes to the impact on the human body and health. What we really should be doing is asking a better question, how well am I ‘adapting’ to stress?

As stress is inevitable in life, and if we know that it has the ability to make us stronger, smarter, and healthier, we need to understand how we can adapt to it.

YES, this can be measured!

To measure how well your body adapts to stress, scientists have developed Heart Rate Variability testing.

You see your heart rate is more than just the number of beats per minute, it is also the timing between the beats, the length of each beat, the strength of the beat and more. All this variation in the beating heart is really important for good health. Being able to increase your heart rate to run and decrease your heart rate to heal is a simple example of the importance of variation.

So, the more variation we have in our heart rate, the more we can ‘adapt’, therefore the better we cope with stress.

So, if you want to really measure how healthy you are, measure your Heart Rate Variability and see how well your body is coping. It is also a strong predictor of long term health.

At Epoch we measure this during the initial consultation and following this at all the progress reviews to monitor and manage healing and overall health. You can also do this at home with varying apps and devices (be aware, not all are equal and accurate).

“But what can I do”? I hear you say.

If variation in heart rate promotes healing and long-term health, surely you want to do all you can to improve that.

Here is a simple exercise to help improve your Heart Rate Variability. You see the breath and heart rate are linked. So, working on breath can have a strong beneficial link to heart rate variability.

Try this simple exercise and see how you improve

• Take 5-10 minutes to yourself without any distraction.
• Lie comfortably on the floor.
• Place one hand on your upper tummy and one hand on your lower tummy.
• Close your eyes.
• Breathe in for the count of 6.
• Hold your breath for the count of 4.
• Breathe out for the count of 6.
• Hold breath for the count of 4.
• Breathe in again and repeat this cycle.

Be sure to feel your tummy rise as you breathe in and allow your shoulders to stay relaxed.

Doing this on a regular basis will help you ‘calm’ your (parasympathetic) nervous system and have a positive influence on your Heart Rate Variability.

So as the world around us may start to get a little hectic at this time of year, give yourself the time to relax, breathe and help your body adapt to the stresses that will come.

With love

Tom