SPEAKER_01 0:00

So, Alex, it's been a while since we recorded this podcast together. What have you been up to?

SPEAKER_00 0:04

Uh, you know, I got sick and I went on vacations.

SPEAKER_01 0:07

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 0:08

Kind of prohibitive, and uh you had stuff going on as well, right?

SPEAKER_01 0:12

Yeah, you know, I've been going through a lot of stress, a lot of different things, and really, you know, kind of got out of my workout routine. But lately I've been working out regularly. I'm feeling more like myself again. I feel like I got my mojo back.

SPEAKER_00 0:24

Yeah, me too. And uh I even managed to work out on vacation uh on an island, yeah. So uh I feel I feel pretty good now, recovered from my illness and ready to podcast.

SPEAKER_01 0:48

Welcome to Practically Fit, Real Fitness Over 40. I'm Jen Chamberlain.

SPEAKER_00 0:52

And I'm Alex Johnson.

SPEAKER_01 0:54

And today we're gonna talk about stress. What is it actually? What does it do to your body, and what are some of the best ways to manage stress? I wanted to tackle this topic because I've been dealing with a lot of stress at work and it's really impacted my fitness goals, and frankly, my ability to work on this podcast. But before diving into the research, I thought it might be fun to start with a quiz. So, Alex, which of the following are symptoms of stress? Forgetfulness, yawning, lack of energy or focus, headaches, diarrhea, or constipation.

SPEAKER_00 1:23

Well, I'm no stranger to stress, so I am going to say all of the above.

SPEAKER_01 1:29

Ah, almost right. All of the above, except yawning. I threw that in there because my dog yawns when she's nervous for whatever reason. But it's a good question. It seems to be just a canine response, not a human response. So it's gotcha.

SPEAKER_00 1:41

Well, I thought it sounded plausible, so I went with it.

SPEAKER_01 1:44

Yeah, that's that's the uh gist of a you like a good quiz. But anyway, uh stress has myriad symptoms, aches and pains, sleeping too much or sleeping too little, sexual problems, weight loss, and weight gain, so like both ends of the spectrum. We talk about stress a lot, but what is it actually, Alex?

SPEAKER_00 2:01

Well, Jen, according to the World Health Organization, stress can be defined as a state of worry or mental tension caused by a difficult situation. Stress is a natural human response that prompts us to address challenges and threats in our lives. Everyone experiences stress to some degree. The way we respond to stress, however, makes a big difference in our overall well-being. Basically, stress is a response that we as humans have created through evolution to address a perceived threat. It's the proverbial fight or flight response. And according to Web N D, quote, during the stress response, your heart rate increases, breathing quickens, muscles tighten, and blood pressure rises, which is great for me, given that I have high blood pressure, and I know a lot of uh Americans do. You've gotten ready to act. It's how you protect yourself. So again, it's that fight or flight response. And the same article points out that while our bodies are equipped to handle short-term stress, we are not equipped to handle long-term stress without ill consequences. So that's that feeling you get if you are stressed out for a long time. Like you feel like you're in fight or flight mode continually, and it's just miserable.

SPEAKER_01 3:09

Yeah, uh, ill consequences sounds really foreboding. Um, I completely agree. And, you know, this matches with my own recent experience as well. So somehow in my head, I thought this recent bout of work-related stress had been going on for a few weeks. But then I look back at my journal and it'd been going on for like six months. So that's definitely a long time to be in fight or flight mode, right? And also I wanted to note I recently learned that there's also freeze. So there's fight, flight, or freeze where you just kind of freeze up and don't do anything because you're stressed out. So, you know, all natural human responses to stress. But I started at being curious about what exactly happens in our bodies under prolonged stress. And uh, spoiler alert, it's not pretty. Um, a 2017 article in the Journal of Experimental and Clinical Sciences outlined some of the physical impacts of stress. It's a long article, but it was free. So I'll just hit some of the highlights here. So, first of all, uh, your brain, stress causes structural changes in different parts of the brain. Chronic stress can lead to atrophy of the brain mass and decrease its weight. If that's not scary, I don't know what is. These changes can lead to problems with memory, cognition, and learning. This is all due to the impact of cortisol on your brain. And that's that uh fight or flight response. Interestingly, under certain conditions, stress can actually improve your memory. So, for example, it's been shown that having that having to take a written exam can improve your memory for a short period of time in studies of exam participants, but on the flip side, you might not retain that information. Alex, have you had any experiences with that?

SPEAKER_00 4:38

Well, I think well I was actually thinking about this other the other day in a different context, uh, in talking to my son about school. But uh, how much of that information have you retained from the myriad classes that we took in elementary school, middle school, high school, and college?

SPEAKER_01 4:56

Oh, hardly any, hardly any.

SPEAKER_00 4:59

Right. Can you remember all the Roman emperors?

SPEAKER_01 5:01

Like no.

SPEAKER_00 5:03

I couldn't tell you, and I had to list them all off. So it's uh yeah, it's I think that's that's incredibly accurate.

SPEAKER_01 5:10

Yeah, so according to this, you know, these studies, uh, the stress will sometimes make you, you know, retain that for a short period of time, but it doesn't really help your brain in the long run. In fact, it's somewhat harmful going on. It also has impacts on your immune system. According to the article, this has been studied for over 50 years, and stress does in fact weaken your immune system and make you more prone to illness.

SPEAKER_00 5:32

Yeah. So this is one I think everybody has experienced with, right? Like, how many times have you gotten stressed out in your life, and then you end up, you know, fighting off a cold or something or getting an infection? So true. That's one that I think we all have experience with if we've experienced stress in our life.

SPEAKER_01 5:51

Yeah, I mean, I think, you know, this was one of the the real problems during the pandemic, too. You we were facing this illness and at the same time very stressed out about it. So it made it even easier to get sick. I remember that being pretty, you know, terrifying at the time. But if that's not frightening enough, severe stress can even lead to malignancy or cancer by suppressing the immune system.

SPEAKER_00 6:12

Oh, happy. That's happy times.

SPEAKER_01 6:14

Oh, don't worry, it gets better. It gets better.

SPEAKER_00 6:16

If you're if you're stressed through your whole life, if you're living in a high stress environment, it can lead to cancer. That's just what I wanted to hear, Jen. Thanks for having me.

SPEAKER_01 6:23

Yeah, well, I got one more for you. One more, and then we can go on to some happier things. But uh, last but not least, it's well established that stress impacts your cardiovascular system, most importantly by raising your blood pressure. I know, Alex, that you have high blood pressure. Have you noticed a distinct correlation with times when you're stressed?

SPEAKER_00 6:40

Uh yeah, absolutely. Um, and my doctor had told me about that previously and said, like, even, you know, he was speaking in a general term, he wasn't violating HIPAA, and I think he's retired anyway, so he won't care anymore. But but uh, you know, he said he had, you know, experience with um patients who you know related to their relationships or marriages or things of that nature, had high blood pressure, and then as soon as they got out of that relationship or divorce, that their blood pressure went down. So I think that's a great example of how stress can impact your blood pressure.

SPEAKER_01 7:16

That is a great example. So this is all some pretty scary stuff. What do we make of all of this?

SPEAKER_00 7:21

Well, unfortunately, Jen, there's no cure for stress. We can't cure it. But we do have a built-in reset button, and it's called the relaxation response. According to an article from the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health, quote, the relaxation response slows the heart rate, lowers blood pressure, and decreases oxygen consumption and levels of stress hormones. Some of the techniques for accessing this response are pretty interesting. First, there's deep breathing, and I think a lot of us are familiar with this technique. Jen, have you tried deep breathing before?

SPEAKER_01 7:52

Oh, yeah, absolutely, absolutely. Super helpful for stress.

SPEAKER_00 7:55

Yeah, I know, I know I have too. So studies have shown that deep breathing, also called diaphragmatic breathing, exercises may modestly lower blood pressure and reduce levels of cortisol, which is a main stress hormone in the body. And there's different ways that you can do these exercises, you know, breathing slowly to you know, counting to 10 and that sort of thing.

SPEAKER_01 8:17

I I like the box breathing. That's my favorite, where you uh breathe in for uh inhale for four beats, hold it for four beats, exhale for four beats, and then hold it at the bottom. That's my favorite. It's just simple to remember, you know.

SPEAKER_00 8:28

Yeah, I'll have to try that one. That sounds cool. Yeah, I haven't tried that one. So there's different ways you can do this, and often people who have a lot of stress or who have anxiety, um, your doctor will refer you to these techniques. There's also biofeedback, which is an interesting one. We were chatting about it the other day. And while the evidence is less conclusive on this one, several studies have looked at heart rate variability, biofeedback, and some found it helpful for reducing self-reported stress and anxiety. And the re researchers see this as a promising approach for further development. So, like, we're talking about biofeedback. Like, I had to ask you the other day, what the heck does this mean? So, what is biofeedback?

SPEAKER_01 9:06

Yeah, it's funny. Um, this is actually a blast from the past. This was a really big uh deal in the 70s. You know, there's a lot of interest in alternative medicine. And I remember people talking about biofeedback, but we didn't have very, very um sophisticated technology back then. So there were these things that were supposed to read your and different signs. I don't think they were, I actually think they were probably just uh quackery, the things you would buy over the counter. But the cool thing is that the modern take on this are wearables, right? That do track things like heart rate variability, oxygen saturation. And so the idea is that as you become in touch with these and notice the things that affect them, that you can start to control that response. So I think that's the modern iteration of biofeedback. But it was, yeah, it was it was big in the 70s. So some people who remember that, which I know you don't, Alex, might be turned off by that.

SPEAKER_00 9:54

I do not remember the 70s, but I can imagine what you mean by quack type devices. I'm imagining like some sort of machine with wires that you hook up. Uh, you know, I always think about those things that people would put around their um, you know, midsection to that would just shake, shake their body to lose weight.

SPEAKER_02 10:11

Passive exercising. That was another fad too.

SPEAKER_00 10:14

Yeah, the quack device, right? Uh, but yeah, this is an interesting one. So I was thinking about this and it makes a lot of sense. Um, you know, I've I think I've sort of experienced this personally because I wear a Garmin watch uh almost all the time. You can kind of feel when you're getting stressed and see your heart rate going up. And so there have been times where I've noticed that and I've, you know, done something like breathing or like a meditation to lower my heart rate. So I thought that's a really interesting aspect of that uh biofeedback. And even just getting in touch with those numbers inherently, I think we've talked about this previously on the podcast and on practically. It can be really beneficial because, like for me, actually seeing my I was always worried about my heart rate because the only time I ever took it was at the doctor's office. Um just like my blood pressure, my heart rate goes up at the doctor's office or at the dentist even because like I don't like the sound of dental tools, right?

SPEAKER_01 11:09

But what do they call that? A white coat hypertension.

SPEAKER_00 11:11

White coat, yeah. So the same thing with your pulse, right? Like it can go up when you're when you're at the doctor. So I always thought, oh, I have this really high pulse, but then when I start wearing these devices, like I'm like, oh, my my heart rate is really good. So um I think that's an interesting approach. And yeah, I'd be curious to see where the research goes on that. Another one is progressive muscle relaxation. And so I've done this um personally through meditation and you know, through the call mat, for example, they have some meditations that help you with progressive muscle relaxation. So studies have shown that progressive muscle relaxation may produce stress-eleviating effects, as well as having a positive effect on anxiety and depression in some people. And so uh this is when you actually kind of you know calm yourself down, lay down or sit down and start to think about relaxing your muscles. You can even do something where you like flex a muscle and then release it to try and release the tension. So I believe all that's a part of progressive muscle relaxation. Have you tried that one, Jen?

SPEAKER_01 12:14

Oh, yeah, absolutely. I've done it in um coordination with meditation too, where someone guides you through, you know, becoming aware of the different parts of your body and just releasing all the tension. It's it's really effective.

SPEAKER_00 12:24

Yeah, that's my favorite type of meditation. And speaking of meditation, uh, that is another technique that you can uh use to help trigger this relaxation response. Uh, current scientific evidence suggests that mindfulness meditation, which is a practice that cultivates the your ability to maintain focus and clear attention and develop increased awareness of the present. That's really the key concept there being in the moment, not thinking about the future, not worrying, not ruminating. But evidence does show that this can help reduce symptoms of stress, including anxiety and depression, and it may help improve sleep. So you could do meditation with progressive muscle relaxation right before you sleep. That's an awesome practice.

SPEAKER_01 13:09

And then check your uh biofeedback and see. Yeah, check your biofeedback.

SPEAKER_00 13:14

Uh and uh, you know, one more here, yoga. Uh, and we've talked about yoga before. Uh, some but not all studies of yoga for stress management have shown improvements in physical or psychological measures related to stress. I've always found it quite relaxing. And, you know, both in the sense that you're focused on your breathing and especially if you're doing more like restorative yoga with a lot of stretching, gentle yoga. I find that quite relaxing. Uh, I wouldn't say necessarily like, you know, hot yoga with intense poses is relaxing. But um I definitely think there's aspects of yoga that that can induce that uh relaxation response.

SPEAKER_01 13:54

Yeah. So I actually did yoga last night. I don't usually do yoga, but I did a practice last night that ended with a very long uh sound bowl meditation, and it was very relaxing. You know, I think the reason studies might be mixed though is probably depends on what attitude you take towards yoga. I think you could go in still being like overachieving and like trying too hard to, you know, get into the poses and stuff, and maybe it wouldn't be relaxing in that case.

SPEAKER_00 14:18

I don't always do yoga, but when I do it, I do sound ball meditation. What is soundball meditation?

SPEAKER_01 14:23

It's um they play these bowls that have these like overlapping tones, and you just like sit there and listen to it. It's very soothing. Um, it's a big thing here in San Francisco, sound bowl meditation.

SPEAKER_00 14:33

I could see that. That fits.

SPEAKER_01 14:35

I'm going again on Sunday, actually.

SPEAKER_00 14:37

Very cool. I have to check that out. Uh well, so I think I think these are some great uh essentially remedies to help you with stress. And you know, of course, the thing that we haven't talked about, Jen, and you're gonna touch on it, is exercise.

SPEAKER_01 14:51

Right, exactly. Um, so I before we get into like the benefits of exercise, I wanted to talk about this interesting article I found in the Journal of Sports Medicine titled The Effects of Stress on Physical Activity and Exercise. A nice simple title there. And I'm gonna quote from that. It says psychological stress and physical activity are believed to be reciprocally related. However, most research examining the relationship between these constructs is devoted to the study of exercise and or physical exercise as an instrument to mitigate stress. Basically, what it's saying is you look at exercise typically as a way to get rid of stress. But this study was looking at how stress can impact exercise and people who exercise regularly. So it looked at 168 studies that examined this influence of stress on people's physical activity, and then it narrowed the list down to 55 studies. And the majority indicated that psychological stress predicted less physical activity and and or less physical activity in exercise and more sedentary behavior. So basically, stress can make you tend to exercise less. And that's exactly what I've been experiencing over the past few months.

SPEAKER_00 15:59

And how much of that too, like in our our modern world, you know, if if you're working long hours, I mean, you're just sedentary, right? Like especially now with like hybrid work and remote work and exactly work stances, people are just glued to their computers for hours on end. So yeah, that's a really that's an interesting finding, this this idea that being stressed can actually lead you to uh work out less. And I've experienced that as well.

SPEAKER_01 16:27

Yeah, I wanted to add one more thing to that. I think it's also partially psychological because you know you're you're kind of like working and you're in hunkered down mode, and you just feel kind of like I don't know, self-protective, like you just don't want to get out of that bubble and go do something. You know, it just I don't know, it I think it triggers that fight, flight, or freeze response to just want to continue being inactive, you know. And that's what I found myself uh doing, and I'm finally getting out of it and feeling more like myself again, like I said.

SPEAKER_00 16:55

Well, that's an interesting study, and I'm fortunate because we know both from research and our own personal experiences that exercise is one of the best ways to cope with stress.

SPEAKER_01 17:04

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 17:05

An article from the Mayo Clinic really sums this up. It's some it talks about how exercise in any form can alleviate stress. The way that this works is it pumps up your endorphins. So obviously, exercise bumps up your quote, feel good neurotransmitters in your brain, which are those endorphins. This is the feeling you get when you go running runner's high.

SPEAKER_01 17:26

Right.

SPEAKER_00 17:26

Any you know, aerobic activity. I went, I took my son for like a four-mile bike ride last week, and he's he's 10 years old. And afterwards, we we came home and we were sitting on the couch, and he's like, Daddy, I have that feeling in my legs, that that feeling. And I'm like, what's wrong? And he's like, No, it feels good. I'm like, oh, endorphins. Okay, so that's a good thing, but that means that you're you're feeling good after after the bike.

SPEAKER_02 17:51

I know that feeling, it feels really good.

SPEAKER_00 17:53

Yeah, I I love it as well. The the thing for me now, the endorphin rush, it takes more exercise to get me there. I guess, you know, it maybe it I don't know. We could do a whole podcast on it. Oh, we should. Yeah, we should. Yeah, maybe maybe there's some sort of correlation between your fitness level and when you feel endorphins because for me now I know it takes like a pretty intense bike ride. Like I did one at lunch today in the heat down here in Texas, and um, you know, rode about 15 miles and I had a good endorphin rush after, but my heart rate was also pretty high, so I know it was an intense workout. Uh, exercise also reduces the negative effects of stress. So um it it can really mitigate that fight or flight response, just like some of those other strategies that we talked about earlier. Uh, and again, this has positive effects on your body, according to the Mayo Clinic, including your cardiovascular, digestive, and immune systems, uh, by helping protect your body from harmful effects of stress. And we really we talked a lot about, you know, you know, blood pressure and you know, this immune response, but also the digestive thing for me is a big symptom of stress. And I noticed it, I went through a period of stress recently, and I was getting um basically my my gut was acting up a lot, and it's like you could hear it, or at least I can hear it. I don't know if other people can hear it. I always think, can can other people hear this? And I'm like, uh sorry about that. And they're like, what are you talking about? So maybe I only I can hear it, but I can tell that it's really acting upright. And then when I go on vacation, it's just like completely gone. Wow, it doesn't even matter how much coffee I drink, like fine. So yeah, it's interesting that digestive response. So I just wanted to mention that today. Um, the other thing about exercise is that it's meditation in motion. So, say you, you know, the Mayo Clinic highlights a fast camp fast-paced game of racquetball. I think these days, these days you would change that to pickleball, right? Like that's very 1980s, but okay. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 19:52

Uh or you know, you go from down at the Texas Club in Dallas, right? That 1980s gym.

SPEAKER_00 19:58

At the gym at college, probably. It's still probably probably popular in college. Um, you know, you swim in the pool, whatever. You'll find that you're you've forgotten the day's irritations and you've really concentrated on your body's movements, which I agree with fully. Like, that's the great thing about getting out on a bike ride. Like, do like I love doing a bike ride in the middle of the workday, even though today it was like brutally hot in Texas. Like, it gets you away from work. Uh, you get out, you're with nature, and you're just focused on the road or the trail or whatever, and you know, it it takes you away. So um, yeah, it's really great to get away from your stressors and just focus on your body's movements. So that's what the Mayo Clinic says about exercise in relation to stress. Jen, how has exercise helped you relieve stress?

SPEAKER_01 20:46

Well, I really um I really resonate with this whole idea of meditation and motion because I've always thought of running that way. And I was telling a friend just last night that, you know, running has been like the one constant in my life. It's the thing I always go back to, and it's why running is so much better than cycling. Um but in any case, I think it it's that meditation and motion. It feels like moving meditation. It feels like it opens up a place where my body feels good, but my mind is also just very open and free. So that's been over the years, my number one stress reliever has been running. And I find that when I'm not able to run or do any of the kind of intense activity, I it really starts to build up for me. So I think that's my number one.

SPEAKER_00 21:26

Yeah, that that makes total sense. And you know, I think this goes back to our podcast a few months ago with Brandon LaForce who, if you haven't listened to that one, he he talked a lot about the science behind fitness and mental health. He's a licensed professional counselor, and he talked about just with his uh patients who have depression or anxiety, just that idea of getting out into nature, just going for a walk, something simple. Again, it ties back to that idea of meditation and motion. So uh absolutely love that. idea.

SPEAKER_01 22:00

What are your number one go-tos when you're feeling extra stressed out?

SPEAKER_00 22:04

Yeah, I mean I these days I feel like it's uh you know meditation is important and and so I will especially if I'm feeling stressed I probably don't do that as regularly as as I should these days. I used to be better about it but I will definitely do it if I'm feeling stressed. You know there's only so much time in the day so sorry it's like I I you know I I think a bike ride like I mentioned earlier or a run you know y'all feel pretty amazing after a run. I've always found those to be the most helpful you know strength training is good as well and and that can be kind of a different experience when you're stressed. But also you know one you've been doing lately I think is an interesting thing to talk about which is boxing. Like so have you used boxing as a way to relieve stress because I can tell you there have been times where I have taken my frustrations out on the boxing bag and I'm not saying that I visualize certain people but you know I mean do you think there's do you think there's anything to that in terms of like physically punching a bag like can that help you relieve stress?

SPEAKER_01 23:11

Yeah I absolutely do. I mean it's interesting for me boxing is stress relief more in that it requires total focus. So it takes me for that you know hour that I'm in boxing class completely out of the other things I'm thinking about. But it's interesting I have a friend who started boxing for the first time and she said that the first time she did it she felt this real release of a lot of emotions she'd been holding in and particularly anger that she had a hard time expressing in you know some of us are sort of socialized not to express anger and she very much was and she felt like she was able to release those negative emotions through boxing. So yeah I think that there's that definite connection. So not just stress but also dealing with tough emotions too, right?

SPEAKER_00 23:49

Yeah absolutely that's that's that's amazing. So yeah I think I think there's lots of options out there for me it's always been you know the cardio has been the best thing. So these days it's cycling and running. Uh and again even getting out on a hike I think uh especially on the weekend or something when you're trying not to think about work for example can be really beneficial. So yeah there's there's a lot there in terms of stress management when it comes to exercise.

SPEAKER_01 24:16

Yeah so my key takeaways from this are one, that stress is really, really bad for your body, particularly if it's over a prolonged period of time. But the great thing is that we have these built-in mechanisms that we can use to help deal with it. And I love this idea of um you know this uh relaxation relaxation mode that we have in our brains that we can turn to through these various channels is actually the opposite of the fight or flight and can really sort of help us deal with stress. So we have both of those tools internally and I found that really reassuring. So what are your key takeaways Alex?

SPEAKER_00 24:47

Yeah I really like this idea around you know some of the the techniques that we talked about the deep breathing meditation you know progressive muscle relaxation even yoga because I think a lot of people do just go to like oh I'm gonna go for a run when I'm stressed but maybe try some of these other things out and see if they work for you if you haven't tried them. I mean I can't say enough about meditation uh or even just like if you're in a you're having a stressful day and you have five to ten minutes at work just you know find a quiet space and do some breathing or fire up your uh you know meditation app or something uh it can make a huge difference so I think people should try that if they haven't I will throw out another really unconventional one that we didn't even talk about which I have found super helpful when I'm having like a real almost like anxiety level uh in terms like you know moving not just stress but when that anxiety is cropping up and I've done this a few times in the past few months and it's been amazing. And so when you're in that fight or flight mode and you're not not feeling good one of the things that I found that can get me basically right out of it it may not be the most pleasant thing in the world but it's a cold shower. Oh okay yeah and so it and they've done research on this uh as well and it can it can really mute your body's fight or flight response. So the way I do it which I've tried it both ways like I've tried just getting in the cold shower which is just miserable. What I really like to do is get under the shower do a bit of a normal shower. So I will just stand under the water and slowly move the shower knob until it gets cold and that I have found really takes me out of that stressful feeling or the the feeling of fight or flight. So unconventional one if you want to try it out let me know how it works.

SPEAKER_01 26:35

Probably works better in Texas than San Francisco I'm just gonna say yeah probably so probably so we learned a lot about stress in this episode uh and ways to mitigate it which is really important since we all have to deal with stress from time to time. I know that over the summer things slow down a little bit but we're gonna be talking to some more guests. I really enjoyed the conversation we had with the other Jen uh on the episode before this so looking forward to hearing stories from more of our listeners as well as other experts.

SPEAKER_00 27:04

That's right we've got some uh people that we're gonna be lining up for the podcast and we don't want to spoil it yet but we're gonna have some great guests here in the future uh so looking forward to that and yeah if you know somebody who has an amazing story please uh feel free to refer them to us they can shoot us an email at alex at practically.fit but as always please go check out practically.fit sign up you can get great weekly content into your inbox Jen had a great piece this past week on making peace with her aging body which was really inspirational so go check that out over at practically.fit please feel free to comment on the podcast you can do that on the website as well and again shoot us an email if you have a question an idea or a story Alex at practically.fit so until the next episode remember fitness is for everybody