Superwoman Tips

Of all the tips for working mums, top of the list has to be taking care of yourself.  Mum’s needs often seem to come last – after the kids, their dad, the job, the pets, and endless errands, that is.  You can’t always stay on the back burner.  Whether it’s exercise or meditation, massage or coffee with a friend, take time out to avoid the superwoman trap.

Here are 4 reasons for women who are headed toward the superwoman trap to look after yourself:

If Superwoman Isn’t Happy, Nobody’s Happy

When mum is stressed or burnt out, everyone in the house suffers.  Even a baby gets fussy when the mother is tense or upset.  Older children may respond by acting out.

If you take an hour or two to yourself, with whatever nourishes you, the rest of the day (or week) will be easier and more fun.  Your family will enjoy having an energetic and refreshed mum, even if they complain about your absence. The bottom line here is:  by paying attention to your own needs, you’ll actually be better at meeting everyone else’s.

Stress and Sleep Deprivation Make You Fat

Stress and sleep deprivation release cortisol into your bloodstream, which triggers fat storage around your waist.
It is unhealthy to carry more weight than your ideal.  It increases your risk of developing heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and arthritis, as well as other conditions.  Having good quality of life will allow us to live long enough to play with our grandchildren, and maybe even see them get married.

The next time you may be tempted to stay up until midnight sorting, folding, and putting away everyone else’s laundry, go to sleep instead.  You can dress the kids out of baskets of clean laundry.  Also, taking your work lunch break to exercise can actually give you a burst of energy and make the afternoon more productive.

Other People Are Capable, Too

So many working mums fall into the superwoman trap, thinking we have to be in charge of everything because we’re the only one who will do it right.  That mentality not only overloads you with work, it doesn’t give enough credit to your other family members.  Even worse, it prevents them from learning skills that can lighten your load and make them feel more capable.

Try leaving the kids with their dad or grandfather for a Saturday morning while you have brunch with your girlfriends. He may not change the nappies as often as you would, or feed them perfectly balanced meals, but I bet they have fun regardless.  Not only will he feel rightly proud of his caregiving ability, your children will develop a different perspective, seeing that they’re all right without mum always needing to be nearby.

At work, see if there’s a junior employee to whom you can delegate some tasks. Again, they won’t be completed the way you would, but you’ll have more free time for yourself.  You’ll also be assisting someone who could use the experience.

Life Is for Living

This is your life, right now.  Would you rather spend it rushing around to finish your ‘to do’ list, or actually enjoying yourself?  Don’t fall into the trap of thinking you’ll relax once you reach the bottom of the list – there will always be something more to do.  Instead, ruthlessly prioritise and eliminate tasks that don’t absolutely have to get done.
If you are having trouble taking out time for yourself, start small.  If you always wanted to meditate, wake up five minutes early for some deep breathing and visualisation. If you miss exercise regularly, schedule a once-a-week power walk during lunch.  If it’s on your calendar, you can plan work around it.

Remember, the next time you have some breathing space, don’t fill it with errands.  Instead,  ‘just breathe’.

Tags: cortisol, exercise, meditation, Stress, superwoman, superwoman trap, Wellness

Burnout

If you want a less stressful and more balanced life, then addressing BOTH externally-imposed and self-imposed pressures are essential.  There are times when you can’t change stressful circumstances such as a demanding workload or an annoying co-worker, but you CAN minimise the negative effects of stress by counteracting attitudes that perpetuate stress and limit attention to self-care.

Key To Preventing And Counteracting Burnout

Self-care strengthens your resiliency, which can reduce susceptibility to burnout.  Self-care is not just making healthy lifestyle choices.  It also includes self-compassion, having healthy boundaries, being aware of your needs, and staying true to your values.  Self-neglect takes a toll on your health, relationships, and your effectiveness.  Therefore preventing burnout and understanding how stress plays a role is essential.

Simply recognising the importance of taking better care of yourself is not enough.  You also need to address the psychological obstacles that limit attention to self-care and foster stress.  For example, putting pressure on yourself to always perform with excellence at work while being critical of your mistakes can cause you to become overextended and overlook your needs.  This may stem from being judged harshly and having unrealistically high expectations of you.

Self-care practices like meditation or tai chi are great, but won’t stop self-criticism or perfectionism; nor will it address attitudes that foster burnout and undermine self-care such as defining yourself by the good you do for others, an exaggerated sense of responsibility, and difficulty tolerating discord.

Stress Is Unavoidable – Burnout Is

You can take courses on time management and attend seminars on stress management techniques and still suffer from burnout.  These strategies are often helpful, but will not lead to lasting changes if you do not address personality traits that foster stress.  Much of the literature on burnout focuses more on external pressures than on self- imposed stress. While external pressures such as a demanding workload, juggling personal and professional life, unclear job responsibilities do contribute to stress and burnout, so do beliefs and personality traits.  Worries about uncertainty and lack of control can drive to burnout.  Even authors who write about personality characteristics that cause stress tend to emphasize overt and extreme behaviors such as the type A personality- overly driven, highly competitive, aggressive and obsessed with work.  There are many burnout prone people, however with personalities who do not fit this profile.  The most prominent personality characteristics that contribute to burnout are exaggerated responsibility, self-judgement and self-definition.

Perfectionism

Late at night Jacqui lies in bed restlessly, unable to sleep.  Two weeks into her new job, she is feeling nervous day and night.  She is obsessed with trying to make sure that nothing goes wrong and that no one sees her make a mistake. She has to prove to everyone, including herself, that she is worthwhile.  Jacqui believes that she is a failure if anything goes wrong.  She needs to realise how never being appreciated growing up causes her to think that self worth comes from perfection.

If you are a perfectionist you push yourself, get overscheduled, promise too many things to too many people, or take on too much work.  You judge yourself harshly when you fall short of your expectations or when you make mistakes. You probably would not treat someone you care about in the harsh manner that you treat yourself.  You learn to measure your worth by your performance and equate excelling with deserving attention or praise if your parents rewarded you primarily for excelling.

The pursuit of excellence is different from a relentless need to be the best. When you seek perfection and are unable to measure up to your ideal, your self esteem decreases. Developing realistic standards and self- compassion go a long way to counteract stress that leads to burnout.

When you make mistakes, notice how you feel about yourself.  Take notice of the ways that you talk to yourself when you fall short of your ideal.  You may not recognise that your standards for yourself are excessive.  Pay attention during the day to the ways you tell yourself how you did not do something well enough or how you could have done things better.  Has anyone else ever spoken to you in this way?  You may have internalised the ways that your parents spoke to you.  Now picture someone else talking to you the way you speak to yourself.  Chances are you would not tolerate them talking to you in this same manner.

Remember, you can’t always control the circumstances that may cause stress, but you can control how well you take care of yourself.  Taking proper care of your body, mind and soul can keep you in optimum health and wellness.

Tags: awareness, benefits, burnout, Health, Health Benefits, meditation, self esteem, Stress, Wellness

Stress

Everyone experiences stress on a daily basis.  What causes one person severe stress, may be a minor source of stress for another.

Causes of Stress

Stress is defined as “a reaction to any internal or external stimuli that upsets normal functioning and disturbs mental or physical health”.  Internal conditions such as illness, pain, or emotional conflict; as well as external circumstances, such as a death in the family or financial problems can cause stress.  Even positive experiences like a new marriage or job promotion can provoke stress.  Long lasting or chronic stress suppress the immune system, which in turn increase the susceptibility to illness, especially to immune-related disorders or cancer.  Emotional stress also leads to hormonal imbalances that interfere with immune system function.

Knowing the causes of your stress is an important step to relieving stress.  Everyday annoyances can lead to stress-related health problems.  While your own daily hassles will vary, the important thing here is the frequency and duration and how you react to them.  To gain a better understanding of your daily stressors and how you react to them, try using a stress diary.  If you reduce stress, you will help to maintain balance and health.  The fact is that something needs to be done to reduce stress levels.

A basic principle in mind and body balance is that chronic stress can contribute to illness, and that relaxation restores the physical and mental functioning that improves one’s health.  More important than the stressors themselves is our ability to cope with them.

Meditation has been shown to have a positive effect on immune functions.  Meditation is extremely effective in that it slows the breathing rate, increases oxygen consumption, creates a relaxed brain wave rhythm, and increases blood flow.  These are effective reactions to reduce stress and tension.  Just close your eyes, take a few deep, easy breaths, and recall a time and place when you felt relaxed and peaceful.  Maintaining this relaxed state is said to help the body to heal itself.  Yoga has been effective to reduce stress and anxiety, lowering blood pressure and heart rate, alleviating pain, providing relief from addictions, and improving memory, intelligence, and motor skills.  It can also help your metabolic and respiratory functioning.  The concept behind all relaxation therapies is the relationship between mind and body, that when the mind is restless and agitated, the health of the body will be affected.  Conversely when the body is ill, mental functioning will decline.

Many symptoms of stress can be explained by examining your diet and nutrient levels.  You can reduce stress by avoiding caffeine and food additives; and by eating  fresher, whole foods.   Limiting simple sugars and alcohol should also be incorporated.  Eating the right foods, like superfoods can make a huge difference.

A complete balance of exercise will work in making the body healthier, thus reducing overall stress.  Make a plan to exercise everyday and stick to your program!  It’s important to understand that the way we think or feel can play a very significant role in our overall health.  Reducing stress is necessary to restoring and maintaining good health.  Our immune system can be enhanced or suppressed by what we think and how we respond emotionally to everything around us.

Stress and Chiropractic

Some of the most common symptoms of stress that many chiropractors see involve headaches, fatigue, and pain in the neck and back.  If left untreated, unhealthy stress could cause more serious problems in the body like high blood pressure, ulcers, and disrupted sleeping patterns.  Millions of people are unaware of how stress can be directly tied to these symptoms but can become educated about the correlation through chiropractic care.

Chiropractors who deal with stress management aim to revitalise the body to a healthier state of being.  Chiropractic care can assist people who suffer from various problems due to chronic stress.  If the body isn’t processing stress in an efficient manner, it suffers consequences later.  Chiropractic care is one way to help the body process stress more effectively.

Tags: Chiropractic, exercise, Health, Hillarys chiro, Hillarys Chiropractic, Hillarys Chiropractor, meditation, Northern suburbs chiropractor, Perth Chiropractor, Stress, Superfoods, Wellness, Yoga