Cortisol

Because I'm practicing mindfulness with eating, it's becoming even more clear to me that I make bad food choices when I'm tired or when I'm stressed.

So, how can I reduce stress? What small lifestyle change can I implement today, that I can continue, that will help me reduce stress?

A quick search of "Vagus nerve and Cortisol" led me to this article which talks about the Vagus nerve:

 IT INITIATES YOUR BODY'S RELAXATION RESPONSE.
When your ever-vigilant sympathetic nervous system revs up the fight or flight responses—pouring the stress hormone cortisol and adrenaline into your body—the vagus nerve tells your body to chill out by releasing acetylcholine. The vagus nerve’s tendrils extend to many organs, acting like fiber-optic cables that send instructions to release enzymes and proteins like prolactin, vasopressin, and oxytocin, which calm you down. People with a stronger vagus response may be more likely to recover more quickly after stress, injury, or illness. 

I know that the breathing exercises help reduce my overall life stress, but how can I reduce the stress in the moment?

This articles give 6 ways, but I don't want to wash my face in cold water so I'm going to choose Humming.

My Level Up goal of the day is to hum one song after 4:00 pm, because that's when I start feeling stressed and tired. I'm also going to snuggle my dogs, because hugging a dog always brings me peace.

Level Up

To have a well-trained dog, I need to break down every learning challenge into it's smallest components, and make changes one tiny step at a time, until the dog can learn the activity. To have a healthier mind, body, and spirit, I also need to make changes one tiny step at a time. I usually try to make huge lifestyle changes, and overwhelm myself, and quit.

So every day, I'm going to add one tiny lifestyle change, that I can actually sustain over time. I started yesterday with journaling. Every day, I will write down at least one sentence about my journey to giving myself the gift of being healthier before next year.

Today, I'm committing to doing a breathing exercise every day. I've done it in the past, and noticed huge changes in my mental health, my ability to handle stress, and my creativity. I also stopped taking antidepressants after doing this exercise faithfully for a month. But then over time, I stopped doing it faithfully. So for the next year, I am going to breathe intentionally every day.

Here is a link to the breathing exercise, if you want to improve your mental health with me.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/thevagusnerve/learning_content/?filter=631935287319434

What tiny change can you commit to today, to Level Up your health?