Holistic Stress Management
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Introduction
Stress could be affecting your health without you even realizing it.
You may think an illness is a reason for your inability to sleep well, frequent headaches, or feeling sluggish all day. But these are all issues that can be caused by stress.
In fact, there are several other issues that people commonly brush off or learn to live with that are caused by stress. These issues include:
Insomnia
Irritability
Muscles tension
Pain
Headaches
Low energy
Reduced sex drive
Stomach issues
Anger
Feeling overwhelmed
Restlessness
Social withdrawal
Overeating
Undereating
Weight gain
High blood pressure
Not taking care of yourself
If you experience any of these issues, know that you are not alone. There is hope to manage your stress effectively. You don’t have to live your life dealing with these issues.
Stress can affect all aspects of your life. This is why taking a holistic approach to managing stress is essential.
I have struggled with stress for decades. I had tried everything, or so I thought. I would meditate here and there, try yoga every now and then, and even tried using supplements.
But stress management is not always as easy as meditating for a few minutes a day or taking up yoga.
It was not until I started taking a holistic approach to my wellness that I began to see a difference in my ability to manage stress. That’s where holistic health comes in.
What is Holistic Health?
Holistic health is an approach to wellness that addresses all aspects of your life. Holistic health is so effective for your wellness because it looks at more than diet and exercise.
Holistic health is all about using your lifestyle choices to improve your wellness. It’s about being an active participant in your health and wellness decisions.
Let’s look at the pillars of holistic health:
Physical
Intellectual
Financial
Spiritual
Emotional
Social
Environmental
Nutritional
Holistic health recognizes that if one pillar is not functioning properly, all other pillars will also be affected.
Everything is connected.
That’s why it’s crucial to look at all eight of these pillars when you want to manage stress.
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Holistic Health and Stress Example
So, let's look at how holistic health could be helpful for stress.
Let's say you frequently get headaches. You go to the doctor, and they find nothing wrong with you. So, you take pain relievers daily to help with the headaches.
You realize that taking pain relievers daily is not good for you. So, you decide to look at giving holistic health a shot to help with your headaches.
Taking a holistic approach, you discover the root cause of your headaches. You realize that you haven’t been sleeping well for months.
As you dig deeper, you realize your sleep issues are because you are worried about losing your job. Now that you know the root cause of your headaches, you can appropriately address that cause.
Taking a holistic approach for your headaches is much more effective than taking pain relievers daily. That’s just putting a band-aid on the issue. Now that you know the root cause, you can devise a long-term solution to your headaches.
It’s important to remember that holistic health looks at the underlying cause (stress) of issues versus just looking at the symptom (headaches).
In this blog post, I’ll explain each pillar of holistic health and how each pillar can have an impact on stress.
I will also discuss strategies you can implement in each of these pillars to help you better manage stress.
These strategies will help you feel more relaxed, clear-headed, and in control of your life.
Pillars of Holistic Health and Stress
1. Physical Health
When most people think of physical health, they think of exercise. While physical health does include exercise, it also includes:
Not sitting all-day
Hygiene
Drinking enough water
All these things can impact your stress because when your body is physically stressed, it will also cause mental stress.
For example, when you don’t exercise, you feel more stressed.
Some things you can do to take care of your physical health to manage stress include:
Drinking enough water. The recommendation is to drink between half an ounce and an ounce of water for each pound you weigh.
For example, if you weigh 150 pounds, you would drink between 75 and 150 ounces of water daily.
Try carrying around a big water bottle to ensure you get all the water you need!
Incorporate regular movement throughout the day. Avoid sitting for long periods.
Practice good hygiene. This includes things such as brushing your teeth, flossing, bathing regularly, and cleaning your nails.
These may seem obvious, but sometimes when you’re stressed, you don’t take good care of yourself.
Get adequate sleep. You are much more likely to feel stressed and irritable when you are running low on sleep. Getting sufficient sleep will help you better handle those stressful situations thrown at you.
Getting at least 7 hours of quality sleep each night is recommended.
A fitness tracker can help you monitor your sleep, stress, and activity level!
Related: This is Why You Feel Unmotivated to Work out (Plus 10 Tips to Get Motivated)
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2. Intellectual Health
Intellectual health is about engaging and strengthening your mind. Intellectual health includes building new skills and knowledge that challenge you and helps you grow.
It is about using your mind to its fullest capacity and reaching your full potential.
Not looking after your intellectual health can increase stress because it can cause increased feelings of dissatisfaction with your life.
For example, let’s say you keep getting passed over for a promotion at work.
This happens because you don’t take the initiative to build the skills and knowledge you need for the promotion. This causes you to be unhappy with your job, which causes you to feel more stressed.
Some ways to take care of your intellectual health so that you can manage stress include:
Learn something new
Try new exercises
Listen to podcasts
Read more
3. Financial Health
Being financially healthy means living within your means. It also means planning financially.
Being financially healthy means that you are prepared for financial emergencies.
Financial troubles are one of the top stressors reported in the United States.
This stress can be caused by many things, including worrying about having enough money to pay monthly bills.
It could also be having anxiety about the amount of debt you have and being worried about how you will pay it off.
Some tips to help with your financial health are:
Create a budget and stick to it.
Come up with a debt repayment plan and prioritize paying off debt.
Set aside money each month to build up an emergency fund.
Find ways to save money, such as using coupons and reducing unnecessary spending.
Consider looking for a higher-paying job.
Use cashback websites, such as Rakuten. Rakuten is my favorite cash back website! If you use my referral link, you will get a bonus when you sign up!
Look for lower rates on your insurance plans, such as home and auto.
4. Spiritual Health
Spiritual health means having a sense of purpose or meaning. It also includes our values.
The spiritual pillar of holistic health is different for everyone.
For some people, this could include prayer. For others, it could mean meditation and being outside in nature.
Whatever your definition, when you practice spiritual health, it helps to reduce feelings of stress.
This is because you feel connected with something outside of yourself and have a sense of a higher purpose.
Remember that how you strengthen your spiritual health is your choice alone. The important thing is that you dedicate time to your spiritual practice each day.
For me, early mornings (4:30 am!) work best for me to do my spiritual practice. This is because everyone else in my house is still asleep, and I have fewer interruptions and distractions.
Some ways that you can work on your spiritual health include:
Yoga
Attending religious services
Prayer
Being outside in nature
Journaling
Setting aside time for reflection
5. Emotional Health
Emotional health is about expressing your emotions in a healthy way.
Emotional health is also about processing, regulating, and working through emotions. It also means that you’re able to handle difficult situations that come your way.
When we are not emotionally healthy, it can cause symptoms of stress, such as irritability and anger.
Let’s say that you are upset with your significant other. But you don’t want to tell them that you are upset. They don’t even know that they did anything wrong or that you’re mad.
Not constructively expressing your anger and bottling it up causes you to feel stress.
Situations like this happen all the time to all of us, and it causes unnecessary stress. That’s why it’s so important to strengthen our emotional health.
Some ways that you can do this are:
Journaling
Positive self-talk
Say “no” to things you don’t want to do
Affirmations
Counseling
Increase mindfulness through practices such as meditation or yoga
Eat well
Exercise
Rest
Sleep well
6. Social Health
Humans need social interaction to thrive. Social health is about having positive relationships and connecting with others.
It’s about how you form and nurture your relationships. It’s also about being able to deal with conflict constructively.
A support system and a community of others are necessary for our wellness.
In fact, studies show that those who are more socially connected tend to live longer, healthier lives than those who are more isolated.
Having social support can help with feelings of stress. It’s less stressful to know that you are not alone and that you have others you can lean on.
It also helps you feel less stressed when others share your worries and burdens rather than keeping them bottled up.
Here are some ways that you can strengthen your emotional health:
Find a community of like-minded people online or in person.
For example, if you love to read, find a book club. Or, if you love studying the Bible, find a Bible study group. Between online and in-person, there are groups and clubs for almost anything!
Work on your communication skills. To form good and meaningful relationships, it’s essential to have good listening and conflict-resolution skills.
Remember that relationships are a two-way street. See how you can help others. This will help form more deep and meaningful relationships.
Seek out to meet new people through community events or volunteer organizations.
Set out time each week to reach out to family and friends. Even talking to them for 10 minutes can help strengthen your relationship.
7. Environmental Health
Our surroundings significantly impact our wellness.
Environmental health is about the larger community around you. This includes local parks and your neighborhood, for example.
It’s also about your personal surroundings, such as your office or bedroom.
Environmental health can impact stress in many ways.
For example, if your house is always disorganized and cluttered and it’s challenging to find things, that can cause you to feel more stressed.
Another example is if the city you live in has a lot of pollution. Pollution can affect you physically, which can cause increased feelings of stress.
Some ways you can improve your environmental health are:
Volunteer to clean up your neighborhood.
Drinking clean water. Investing in a water filter can help purify your water.
Consider if you have a healthy work environment. If you don’t, consider talking to a supervisor or finding another job. You could even consider becoming an entrepreneur.
Organize, decorate, and clean your living and working space.
Recycle
Use eco-friendly products
8. Nutritional Health
Nutritional health is about eating a balanced diet. This means limiting highly processed foods.
It’s also about getting adequate nutrients. This includes eating adequate fruits, vegetables, whole grains, protein, and healthy fats (in moderation).
When you’re not providing your body with the proper nutrition, it can cause you to feel stressed.
Deficiencies in many vitamins, nutrients, and minerals can cause increased feelings of stress. These deficiencies include vitamin B6, Omega-3 fatty acids, magnesium, vitamin D, and iron.
Also, overeating highly processed foods and sugar can cause you to feel more stressed.
Some ways to strengthen your nutritional health include:
Eating a variety of fruits and veggies every day and at every meal.
The recommended serving of fruits and veggies is 4 to 5 daily. But the health benefits are even better if you eat seven or more fruits and veggies daily.
Eat nutrient-dense foods and limit or eliminate highly processed foods.
Limit or eliminate refined sugar. Try using dates, date syrup, or maple syrup instead of refined sugar.
Ensure that you are getting enough fiber. The recommendation for women is at least 21 grams of fiber a day. For men, it’s at least 30 grams of fiber a day.
Related: Plant-Based Eating: The Most Effective Way to Lose Weight
Conclusion
Some stress is a normal part of life. But too much stress and intense stress can cause many health problems.
Holistic health is the best way to deal with feelings of stress.
When starting out using the holistic health principles in this post to manage stress, keep in mind that improvements in stress management don’t happen overnight.
These strategies are not quick fixes but rather lifestyle changes.
The keys to seeing long-term results in stress management are to be patient and consistent.
It’s valuable to seek support when dealing with stress.
As a fertility and hormone coach for women, my signature wellness coaching programs focus on helping my clients create strategies and practical action plans to manage stress.
By doing so, they can better regulate their hormone levels, which is crucial for fertility and hormonal balance. I work closely with my clients to identify their stress triggers, provide them with tools and techniques to reduce stress and support them in implementing their plans.
By incorporating stress management strategies into their daily lives, my clients can improve their overall well-being and increase their chances of achieving their fertility and hormone-related goals.
My wellness coaching program can help you if you feel overwhelmed, lost, and don’t know where to start with managing your stress. It’s also helpful to have the support and accountability from a health coach who is in your corner.
Even though there are sometimes you can’t get rid of stress, you can do things to manage it.
Try implementing some of the strategies mentioned in this post into your daily routine to reduce stress and increase your happiness and well-being!
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