Resilience

Resilience can be defined as the process of adapting well in the face of adversity, trauma, tragedy, threats or significant sources of stress - such as family and relationship problems, serious health issues or workplace and financial stressors. 

Below we will outline proven methods to help you cope better both physically and mentally with all of the stressors we face every day.

• Resistance Training

Strength training provides an opportunity to overcome obstacles in a controlled, predictable environment, which has the capacity to dramatically increase mental resilience. 

Not only are you training your muscles but also your brain and nervous system. Strength training has a remarkable influence on our nervous system. 

• Cryotherapy / Cold Therapy

Cryotherapy has a whole host of benefits, from accelerating recovery and increasing the activity of brown adipose tissue, which is a type of fat that burns fat. But for the purpose of this seminar the main benefit we want to focus on it the ability of cold exposure to increase your resilience in the face of stress.

In addition, oxidative stress and the bodies response to stress can contribute to the acceleration of ageing. Studies have suggested that pre-exposing ourselves to stress builds up the bodies antioxidant capacity to buffer the damaging effect of stress.

In the most basic breakdown, pre-exposing ourselves to stress, in this case, cold therapy gives us a higher tolerance for stress in the external world. 

• Thermotherapy / Heat Therapy

Whole-body thermotherapy has been utilised in various forms, saunas, sweat lodges etc for thousands of years, and places all over the world for a variety of reasons from health to hygiene.

Studies have also shown that repeated sauna use can help to optimise stress response and appears to reduce morbidity and mortality (dose dependant). In addition, frequent use may protect against cardiovascular and neurodegenerative disease and help to preserve muscle mass.

Types of heat therapy:

• Hot rock sauna

• Steam based sauna

• Inferred sauna

• Infared sauna blankets (home use)

• Vitamin C

It has been proven that exposure to physical and emotional stress may affect a persons vitamin C status. It can increase the requirement for vitamin C to maintain normal blood levels when exposed to emotional and physical stress. When stress depletes vitamin C levels in the body, it reduces the body’s resistance to infection and disease, and increases of further stress, getting into a vicious circle. 

When vitamin C intake is increased, the harmful effects of the stress hormones are reduced, and the body’s ability to cope with the stress response improves. Vitamin C is the most crucial vitamin in our body stress response and most people are massively deficient.

We recommend MKnutrition Vitamin-C

• Meditation

Studies suggest that even a single session of mindfulness meditation can significantly reduce anxiety and a Harvard University study published research affirming that meditation can dramatically reduce symptoms of depression and anxiety.

There are now multiple apps that are available which give a fantastic introduction to meditation and mindfulness. Headspace and Calm are apps we have personally used any they give varied guided meditation to listen along to which can really lower the barrier to entry and simplify the process which makes it much easier to start your journey into meditation and improved ability to manage stress. 

• Sleep

Sleep deprivation literally alters your brain function in a way that reduces your ability to adapt to stress, and actually sensitises your brain to even more stress. This is the opposite of what exercise can do, which sensitises your brain to pleasure. 

When we are sleep-deprived, it sensitises our brain to more stress, or fear, or anxiety etc. Sleep loss amplifies the negative emotive effect of goal-enhancing events, so when something good happens, you don’t like it as much when you’re sleep deprived. 

Good quality sleep improves immune function and actually increases your ability to be resilient against adversity. 

How to optimise sleep; -

• Stick to a sleep schedule

• Exercise regularly but not too late in the day

• Avoid caffeine and nicotine

• Avoid alcohol before bed

• Avoid large meals at night

• Don’t take naps after 3pm

• Relax before bed

• Create your cave - Make your bedroom as dark as possible

• Avoid blue light stimulation from mobile phones, laptops and television.