Fight or flight is a biological response to danger, but did you know it’s also triggered by everyday stress?
FOX 17 Women’s Health Expert, Dr. Diana Bitner explains this reaction causes everything from anxiety and indecisiveness to emotional eating, and fat storage— raising your risk for heart disease and diabetes and more.
Suddenly the inability to get to a healthy body composition comes into clearer focus, doesn’t it?
Oh— and those frustrations and worries just perpetuate the stress cycle.
While we can’t stop the kids from taking their sweet time, keep your boss from assigning you more responsibilities without promotion or pay bumps, or make traffic run smoothly— there are ways to control your ability to alleviate the stress and break free from fight or flight.
FOX 17 Women’s Health Tip of the Week: Practice gratitude and an attitude of self-affirmation—emphasis on the practice.
Happy thoughts give you dopamine and serotonin, which calm that primal stress response.
It will take you time to be able to pull yourself out of these situations, but the more you focus on what you have and can control, the better able you will be to get to a healthy place both physically and mentally.
Dr. Bitner suggests starting each day by recognizing something that makes you so happy you could cry. As the day’s stresses mount, train yourself to say “stop”, look away, and intentionally picture what makes you grateful. Take a breath or a break and remind yourself how well-prepared you actually are.
You wouldn’t have this job if you didn’t have the skills.
You are learning to be a parent while your kid is learning how to be a person.
Your feelings are valid and there is another way to approach the person you may be at odds with.
Give yourself a grace period— that moment you take could give you the gift of better health.
