Fight or Flight

[Vickie Lake]

I don't think I suggested that stress (by most peoples interpretation) can necessarily be eliminated. In fact, the demands on our life typically exist because we want so much. We want rich relationships, we want financial success, we want to see the world, we want exceptional health, we want all of the myriad of delights our great world has to offer. Hans Selye is often referred to as the godfather of understanding stress. In his book, from the early 70's and read by 'moi' at that time) I remember that he said, "stress is the bodies response to the demands placed upon it". So the demands always exist but it is, as gystyles stated, our response that determines how we feel about it, positive or negative, and often how our physiology responds as a consequence of our mental state. So okie, said it well, planning for the demands of your chosen lifestyle often minimize your mental and physical drain and thereby your stress response.

Nutrition was and is the first order of managing the response patterns and the effects of stress related incidents. A popular diet Dr. said food is your drug and as much as I resisted the statement, in the beginning, he is exactly right. The food we eat provides the resources to maintain maximal performance of our many chemical systems that manage our body functions. I still have to finish a full report but let me say here that the cortisol response is not only prolific in our present time because of our 'stressful' schedules but is very often an imbalanced response due to adrenal fatigue. If the adrenal gland is overworked it becomes inefficient at accurately interpreting the level of stress it is addressing and will over compensate with the stress hormones. I will post on the detail of this phenomenon later. I will also address some of the complementary organ functions that excite our production of these hormones. It is important to understand that cortisol is not the enemy but our management of our physiology (which includes mental function) and it can be managed. Heck, learning to say NO to some of the requests in our lives can add as much stress as it takes away. Nobody said it would be easy.

Ok Bagger, I would say you've busted me but you actually caught me in a stress management protocol that works beautifully for me and causes most people to raise their brow in question. I have always been a great sleeper and really believe in the importance of restorative rest. I never believed in the popular saying,"I'll sleep when I'm dead". But in my midlife as a woman I found myself a participant in another hormonal flux, not experienced by our male readers; subtle enough? Suddenly I was awake at 3:00 every morning and watching the clock, tossing and turning, 'trying to go back to sleep' and being enormously anxious as I watched the time move closer and closer to the alarm clock bell. I had for some time had another stressful life experience. I write almost daily but never feel fresh or energetic after a long day of work and since I get up at 5:30 for my day I couldn't imagine getting up early to try to write. Add to it that I do best if 'my mind' knows that I will have atleast two hours without interruption. I always write best in the morning but that is when my clients most want to have their appointments. So . . .I realized that all I had to do was go to bed earlier than any other adult I know, I don't have children in my home anylonger, and I could wake up naturally and get my writing done. In fact, I have had some of my best experiences because there is no interruption, nobody wants to see me at 3:00 a.m. (I had a doctor that saw me at 4:00 for a while), there is no one to call, the world is quiet and I love it. This is where the self management came in. We humans are quick to find all of the problems. Who goes to bed at 7:00. We'll I have about three hours at home after my work day and found that I really could go to sleep quite easily, especially after a few days of staying up after my early morning writing experience. It's is definitely different than most people but so are a lot of my life choices.

So break out of the mold, plan for your life ( am in traffic daily and I only schedule clients around easy traffic flow so a frazzled trainer is not trying to tout health), fuel your body in a way that serves your health and your pleasure. I love a life full of variety and it's a challenge but it is only as stressful as I decide it will be. Oh yea, if you're in traffic, try a book on tape and skip some of the onslot of news that will be available many more times during the day. It is a type of meditation so make sure you like the story.

Vik

[Bagger Lance]

Vickie,

How about extraordinary stress which is usually an effect of extraordinary demands.

In my case, I've been placing a great deal of physical stress on my body in order to meet some mental demands, i.e. goals for the level of fitness I want to achieve. I'm going through some mid-life changes as well and men also experience physical side-effects, but not to the degree that women do. I've been supporting my wife through her hormonal changes so I have a much better appreciation for female challenges as we age. My fitness routine is directly related to helping ease the effects of aging in order to continue experiencing a higher quality of life.

So for those of us who want to break out of a pattern of homeostasis in order to increase our fitness and/or performance levels, we need to increase the stress on our system to get to a higher level. Our bodies loves homeostasis so it is mental willpower that drives the change.

In other cases, extraordinary stress is created externally such as moving to a new city, a change in our relationship with signficant others, job changes, and even particularly demanding golf tournaments that leaves us emotionally and physically spent. A healthy diet to provide the right fuel at the right time and high quality rest is very important. Assuming a person is already managing stress relatively well, the new load will be a challenge and the body will react.

I've experienced this with my fitness routine and I've had to change my habits to accomodate the new stress loads including a change of diet and rest patterns. It's very uncomfortable and difficult to bring the changes into my lifestyle. The motivation to keep going is seeing fat melt off, doubling my strength since starting, along with an increased feeling of well being and confidence levels. Having people notice the changes also helps reinforce the discipline to stay "uncomfortably stressed".

So many people give up on new goals or new life challenges because the stress is just too much to manage. Its simply too hard or uncomfortable to reach that next level of homeostasis, so the easy and pleasurable response is to give up and keep "playing to your ability" or even worse overinduldge in complacency (which is life, liberty and the pursuit of nothing), and let age plus excess calories take its toll in reducing abilities. We obviously want to encourage the opposite which is take on new goals and learn to manage the associated stress that comes with it.

[okie]

I enjoy learning from older folks!

[Bagger Lance]

I enjoy learning from older folks!

Easy there Oklahoma, I just had my 49th two days ago. I'm still cranky and my T-levels are on the rise.

One of my training buddys in the Gym who is 8 years my senior asked if I was going to Chucky Cheese for my birthday.
To celebrate the occassion and shut up my training partner, I came within 15lbs of my lifetime best bench press that I hit in my early 20's

Sick... I know, but somehow it made me feel better about my age.

[okie]

One more trip around the sun and you are half a century! Good job on fighting the law of entropy!

[Vickie Lake]

So Bagger, You almost started with a question but obviously you know the answer. You never have to raise your stress if you are happy with the status quo. But for most of us, as with my writing and publishing challenge, I had to adjust my schedule to get the most productivity for my efforts. So at 3:00 a.m. I get the most done. The inherant stress that I could have felt burried under would be giving up my evenings, some dramatic television. Initially I felt deprived but a little bit of calm, mature consideration and I was happy to give up these things in light of the satisfaction of a more important goal. That is the real secret, if there is one. Here's a great and short little mind game to play whenever you are adjusting your life to accomodate a new demand, be in invited or not. I will place this in light of the scenario I painted since I think most people will agree that a 7:00 bedtime and 3:00 arisal is unusual.
After I found a solution to my sleep and writing problems I still felt like it would be a stressful adjustment. So I used this method to realign my thinking into something positive and calm.

My stressful thinking: I will hate going to bed so early I can't have any evening phone time, the only time for most of my friends, and I can't watch "my favorite programs" and it's still light outside when I go to bed."

Question One: Is this true?
"We'll yes, I will be going to bed at infantile hours, missing my shows, and it is light outside."

Question Two: Is it all really true?
"Well no, I actually like going to bed early, I usually only watch TV because I don't feel like doing much else since I've been working with clients since 6:00 a.m. I don't really care that much about the TV shows as I miss them anyime a friend invites me to dinner or comes over for a visit or a book I'm reading is at a good place. Frankly, I love sleeping in on the weekend after the sun comes up so what's the big difference?"

Question Three: How do you feel when you think the stressful thoughts?
"I feel deprived and controlled by my busy life. I feel like I am limited by my own choices and like I expect too much out of life."

Question Four: How do you feel when you aren't thinking about it?
"I think it is luxurious to lay down in bed with no responsibility to anyone at a wickedly early hour of the night. I absolutely love getting the writing accomplished as I have always wanted to finish my manuscript and feel like I am making real progress. I also love that I write more usable text in two hours that I used to get when I would force my tired mind to sit at the computer from 7:00-11:00 every evening. I frankly think watching the television, and somebody elses made up story, a waste of time even if I'm not watching the silly game and reality shows. I feel in complete control, achieving my goals and able to adjust my schedule when ever I feel like it serves my life best."


Ok this may seem silly but it is a tried and true method. And now I don't have to think about it any longer I just accept my adjustments and the stress inducing demand is not longer a negative issue. I also have to do this with training because it is important to me I am happy to make the necessary sacrifices to make it safe and effective.

It is really all about acceptance of what is. Do the best to orchestrate the most peaceful environment in light of the new demands and then accept the reality. I swear it gets easier with practice. Staying focused on the difficulty and the negative is a practiced mental exercise also. Take your pick.

Vik

[mrodock]

It is really all about acceptance of what is. Do the best to orchestrate the most peaceful environment in light of the new demands and then accept the reality. I swear it gets easier with practice. Staying focused on the difficulty and the negative is a practiced mental exercise also. Take your pick.

Vik

So much wisdom, thank you for sharing Vickie. And all the best in your pursuits.

[mrodock]

Vickie,

I am a beginning lifter and I have made some good progress in the last 7 weeks. I have gone from 150 to 168 pounds. And by working out 3 days a week on compound lifts I have improved my strength.

My 5 rep maxes:
Overhead press: 90 pounds to 125 pounds
Back Squat: 135 pounds to 270 pounds
Deadlift: 165 pounds to 275 pounds
DB Snatch: 50 pounds to 75 pounds
Bench Press: I messed this up initially and am now starting to make progress.

So here is the question. I have noticed in the last couple of weeks I have been extremely fatigued, negative, and barely able to get through my workouts. I might be getting dangerously close to overtraining (I'm still able to progress every week on weights though). I think I will start a deload week but I don't know how much to deload without really losing too much. I just want to deload lower body because upper body seems to be moving along alright still and doesn't seem to be causing too much fatigue. Would a 75% deload week be about right?

Thanks!

Matt