Chronic stress slows your post-workout recovery

If you want to optimise your recovery from a hard workout, you need to watch the levels of stress in your daily life. So says the latest research out of the Yale Stress Centre this month. You might use your workout as an outlet for the stresses and strains that you experience in your daily life, or when your job feels like it is getting on top of you. And exercise is a powerful tool in the quest to reduce stress. However, if you get into that workout with high levels of stress, it will take you longer to recover.

This small but interesting study seems to show that during the hour following a lower body heavy resistance exercise task to failure, students with higher chronic stress scores took longer to recover their maximum strength than their lower stressed colleagues. The lower stressed students had regained 60% of their leg strength after 60 minutes – the more stressed students had regained an average of only 38% of their leg strength at the same measurement point. This effect seemed to hold, even when other possible influences such as fitness, workload and training experience were controlled.

The authors hypothesise that the underlying level of chronic stress pre-workout influences the inflammatory response in the body such that it becomes inadequate to facilitate the repair caused by the acute physiological stress of a tough workout. But the differences are probably due to more than just hormonal control of the inflammatory response. Stress means that we are more likely to sleep worse, eat less optimally and generally not take as good care of ourselves – all these factors can influence how the body heals itself. These are likely to be bi-directional relationships too.

So if you’re stressed and need to workout, you can still go ahead because exercise is an excellent stress-reduction too. But remember, that you’re likely to recover better if you can manage your stress in other ways too before you start to work out. Mindfulness techniques, and focusing on your breathing to influence your parasympathetic nervous system (the part of the nervous system responsible for promoting a calm response) are fantastic ways to bring down the physiological stress indicators in your body. You can see here and here for more tips on that, but here is a simple breathing exercise to try to help bring down your stress levels before you workout:

• Pause for two minutes to just observe your body breathing
• Do this by following your inhalations and exhalations, without trying to control or change anything – just observe
• Focus on feeling the sensations of breathing in the nostrils, the chest and the belly
• If your mind wanders, that’s okay – just return your focus to your breathing
• Practice daily – you’ll get better at it

Mindfulness around the house

We’re all busy people, and many of us don’t have time (or are unwilling to make time) to practice being mindful. But we can do this as we engage with activities throughout the day. Here are a couple of exercises to help you to practice being mindful – being involved the present moment – during your morning routine, or around the house.

1) Mindfulness in your morning

Pick something that you do that makes up part of your daily morning routine, such as brushing your teeth, shaving, or having a shower. When you do it, totally focus on what you are doing: the body movements, the taste, the touch, the smell, the sight, the sound etc.

• For example, when you’re in the shower, notice the sounds of the water as it sprays out of the nozzle, and as it hits your body, as it gurgles down the plughole
• Notice the temperature of the water, and the feel of it in on your face, on your shoulders, and running down our legs
• Notice the smell of the soap and shampoo, and the feel of them against your skin
• Notice the water droplets on the walls or shower curtain, the water dripping down your body and the steam rising upwards
• Notice the movements of your arms as you wash
• When thoughts arise, acknowledge them, let them be, and bring your attention back to the shower.

Again and again, your attention will wander. As soon as you realize this has happened, gently acknowledge it, note what distracted you, and bring your attention back to the shower.

2) Mindfulness in domesticity

Pick a chore that you normally try to rush through – one you would usually try to distract yourself from. Or maybe one for which you just ‘grit your teeth’ and try to ‘get through it’. Ironing clothes? Vacuuming floors? Washing dishes? I’m sure you can think f something. Aim to do this domestic task as a mindfulness practice.

Let’s take ironing clothes as an example

• Notice the color and shape of the clothing, and the pattern made by the creases, and the new pattern as the creases disappear
• Notice the hiss of the steam, the creak of the ironing board, the quiet sound of the iron moving over the material
• Notice the grip of your hand on the iron, and the movement of your arm and your shoulder.

If boredom or frustration arises, simply acknowledge that it is there, and bring your attention back to the chore at hand. No matter what you are focusing on, when thoughts arise, acknowledge them, let them be, and bring your attention back to what you are doing. Again and again, your attention will wander. Don’t fight it. As soon as you realize this has happened, gently acknowledge it, note what distracted you, and bring your attention back to your current activity.

(Adapted from Russ Harris’s The Happiness Trap)

You are the sky, not just the weather

When we are troubled by thoughts and feelings that seem to hook us and stay with us, it can be helpful to think about the difference between the observing and thinking self.

Your observing self is like the sky. Thoughts and feelings are like the weather. The weather changes all the time, but no matter how bad it gets, it cannot harm the sky in any way. The mightiest thunderstorm, the most terrible hurricane, the most severe winter blizzards – none of these can hurt or harm the sky. And no matter how bad the weather, the sky always has room for it. And sure enough, sooner or later, the weather always, always changes.

Sometimes, we can forget that the sky is there – but it’s still there. And sometimes we can’t see the sky because it is hidden from us by clouds. But if we can rise high enough above the clouds – even the thickest, darkest, thunderclouds – sooner or later we will reach clear sky – stretching before and around us in all directions – boundless and pure.

More and more, you can learn to tap into this part of you: a safe space inside from which to observe and make room for difficult thoughts and feelings.

Simple ways to be present

Being present in your everyday actions seems to be a key ingredient for good mental and physical well-being. Here are three ways for you to practice being more present – rather than off thinking about one thing – often in the past or the future – while doing something else now. The more you practice, the better you will get.

These exercise will help you to centre yourself and engage with your environment. Practice them throughout the day, especially at times when you find yourself caught up with your thoughts and feelings.

Notice five things

1. Pause for just a moment
2. Look around and notice five things that you can see
3. Listen carefully and notice 5 different things that you can hear
4. Notice five different things that you can feel in contact with your body – perhaps your trousers against your leg, the bracelet on your wrist, the air on your face, your feet upon the floor, your back against the chair
5. Finally, the all of the above at the same time. Notice how much there is going on all around you and in contact with you.

Take ten breaths

1. Take ten slow, deep breaths. Focus on breathing out as slowly as possible until yours lungs are completely empty – and then let your lungs fill up by themselves
2. Notice the sensation of your lungs emptying. Notice them filling up again. Notice your ribcage, rising and falling. Notice the gentle rise and fall of your shoulders
3. See if you can let your thoughts come and go as if they were passing cars, driving outside your house
4. Expand your awareness from your breathing – notice your breathing and your body – then look around the room and notice what you can see, hear, smell, touch and feel.

Drop anchor

1. Plant your feet into the floor
2. Push them down – notice the floor supporting you
3. Notice the tension in the muscles of your legs as you push your feet down
4. Notice your entire body, and the feeling of gravity flowing down through your head, spine and legs into your feet
5. Now look around. Notice what you can see and hear around you. Notice where you are and what you’re doing.

Just a few minutes each day – that’s all it takes. Try it regularly, little and often

Thinking self, observing self, and the difference between the two

There’s a part of you that chatters away inside your head. It never shuts up. It always has something to say. That’s your thinking self. It’s probably chattering away right now. I’d be surprised if it wasn’t. What’s your chattering mind, your thinking self, saying to you right now?

Sometimes, when having a conversation between two people, say if you and I met and talked, it can be helpful to think of 4 people in the room. There’s you and me, and then there’s your mind and my mind. Your mind in going to chatter away to you, and my mind will chatter away to me. But what’s really important is what happens between me and you, not what our minds have to say.

The differentiation between who is doing the talking – you or your mind – helps us to start to see the difference between the thinking self and the observing self. The thinking self is your chattering mind. But there’s a part of you that can listen in to the chattering mind, and can hear what it is saying and what it sounds like. Try writing down what your chattering mind is saying to you. Try it now. Get a piece of paper, and write down what it is saying.

So, what did it say? Maybe This is stupid, or You can’t do this.

The thing is, that this is just a string of words. You can choose to believe what your chattering mind is saying, or you can step away and observe it for what it is. A string of thoughts. The mere act of stepping away helps you to engage your observing self – taking a helicopter view of what is going on in your internal world – recognizing that there is a lot going on, and that you don’t have to be defined by it. The thoughts don’t go away – but you aren’t so vulnerable to them taking up 100% of your attention, and you’re a little bit more free to pay attention to other things.

Writing your thoughts down helps you to create a bit of distance between your thinking self and your observing self, and also helps to stop you being so fused with your thinking self that you can’t see anything else.

Try it out – let me know how it goes.

You are not your thoughts

We can get so caught up in the thoughts we have, we can believe them, no matter what the situation. Here’s a brief exercise to help you create some space between you and the thoughts you have. You and your thoughts are not one and the same. You have thoughts, sure. But you don’t have to accept them at face value. You can create some distance and view them from a different place – not close up so that you can’t see the wood from the trees.

Here’s one way how:

• Find a comfortable position, and either close your eyes or lower your gaze – whatever suits you best and where you are.
• Imagine you are sitting by the side of a gently flowing stream. You can see leaves flowing past on the surface of the water. Imagine it however you like.
• For the next few minutes, imagine every thought that pops into your head, place it on a leaf and let it float on by. Do this, regardless of whether the thought is positive or negative, painful or pleasurable. Even if they make you feel great, pop them on a leaf and let them float on by.
• If your thoughts stop, just watch the stream. Sooner or later, your thoughts will start up again. Take your time.
• Allow the stream to flow at its own speed. Don’t force it to speed up. You’re not trying to wash the leaves away – you’re allowing them to come and go in their own good time.
• If your mind says, This is stupid, or I can’t do it, place those thoughts on a leaf too.
• If a leaf gets stuck, let it hang around. Don’t force it to float away.
• If a difficult feeling comes up, such as boredom or impatience, simply acknowledge that its there. Say to yourself, Here’s a feeling of boredom, or Here’s a feeling of impatience. Place those words on a leaf and let them float on by. Then place those words on a leaf, and let the leaf float on by.
• From time to time, your thoughts will snare you, and you’ll lose track of this exercise. This is normal and natural, and it will keep happening. Our minds are good at it.. As soon as you realize it’s  happened, gently acknowledge it, and then start the exercise again.

This worked for me pretty well yesterday, when I found myself getting hooked up on certain thoughts that trouble me every now and again. Let me know how it works for you.

Wanting to be in control is perfectly normal – but sometimes, it just doesn’t work

All this stuff I write about noticing, accepting, being mindful. It can be hard to get your head around, and even if that isn’t a problem, it can be tricky to practice in our everyday lives.

The truth is that we are all in the same boat. Most of the things that you do – think about the future when you could be experiencing now, losing connection with the present, trying not to think about thoughts and emotions that trouble us – are all things that I do at times. Almost everyone does.

We all get caught up in the same agenda. We live in a society where we are convincingly sold a myth that we should feel good all the time – we get this from all angles. And everyone likes to feel good – no-one likes to feel bad. So we try to get rid of unpleasant feelings. And we keep on doing it, even though it doesn’t work in the long run and we often end up struggling and suffering as a result.

There are a few reasons as to why we do this:

1. We buy into the myth that humans are naturally happy and we should feel great most of the time
2. Because when we do try to control our thoughts and feelings in the short-term, quite often it actually works. So we try this as a long-term strategy too.
3. We think that this works for other people, so we must be doing it wrong. If we keep on trying, we will get it right, like everyone else seems to.
4. And this is the main reason above all – this is the way our mind has developed to solve problems. The essence of a problem is that it is something we don’t want. And a solution means to avoid it, or get rid of it. In the physical world, that works really well. Stray dog trying to steal your picnic? Get rid of it: shoo it away, or throw a stick at it. Crap weather? Well, you can’t get rid of that, but you can avoid it – stay indoors, or wear protective clothing. Dry ground, no good for farming? You can choose to plant elsewhere, or get rid of it by irrigation. So, our mind is like a problem-solving machine which is great for the external world, and it is very good at it. So if it is very good at the material world, it is only natural that our mind tries to do the same with our internal world – the world of thoughts, feelings, sensations, memories and urges. What we learn is that what we try in the external world only works in our internal world in the short-term, if at all. And often, even if it does work, we end up creating a lot of pain and struggle for ourselves in the process.

Do you think you can control what happens in your internal world? Completely?

Try this:

• Take a second and remember how you navigated to this web page today. Done that? Ok, now delete that memory. Wipe your history. Just get rid of it.

How did you get on? You can’t completely get rid of it. Try another one.

• Imagine that I have recruited you to a completely unethical experiment where I have wired you up to a lie detector. This detector will detect the tiniest bit of anxiety in your body. You can’t kid it at all. Even the teensiest hint of anxiety, and the bells will sound. And in this experiment, you’re not allowed to feel even a mere hint of anxiety. And if you do, I’ll pull the lever and you will be electrocuted. What would happen?

You can’t control what you feel. Not completely. Ask yourself, why are you continuing the struggle?

If it is because you don’t know what else to do, think again. There is plenty you can do. Flick through some of the pages of this blog, elsewhere on the web, or consider developing a coaching relationship.

The power of noticing emotions

In this series of blog posts, I have talked about the importance of acceptance, and how suppression can work in the short-term, but only serves to rebound and even intensify our difficulties. In order to accept a feeling or sensation (or a thought), we have to notice it first. The metaphor of observing like a curious scientist helps to foster openness and curiosity towards our own feelings – approach instead of avoidance. The simple act of observing or noticing a feeling with curiosity rather than being caught up in in often leads to acceptance – and if not, at least it is a step in the right direction.

Here’s a guide to how to take that step in the right direction:

• When you have a feeling, notice that you are having it. Notice where you feel it. Notice where it is most intense.
• Many people (but not all) find breathing into a feeling helps them make room for it. Slow, diaphragmatic breathing seems to be particularly helpful. So try noticing the feeling, and gently breathing into it.
• When you notice the feeling, and where you feel it, see if you can just imagine opening up around it a little. Give it some space.
• If this feeling was an object, ask yourself what it would look like? When you notice the feeling, you might notice that it starts to change. Notice if it does, but don’t force it. Does it get smaller? Perhaps it might get bigger. Remember though – no matter how big the feeling gets, it can’t get bigger than you. So notice it, observe it, breather into it, and make room for it.

Losses that we experience can leave us with painful feelings – this is only natural. You can notice and make room for those feelings without getting bogged down in a struggle with them. This will leave you much more able to engage fully with life, and doing what matters to you. When we recognise that it is normal and natural to have painful feelings – that it is an unavoidable and inevitable part of being human – we are more likely to accept them. If you have a story that you tell yourself that normal people don’t feel this way – there must be something wrong with me, this is going to have a big influence on your attitude towards your feelings.

Here’s an exercise to try – read the opening paragraph first

Most people agree (with some quibbling around the edges) that there are nine basic human emotions. As you read through the list below, I want you to classify them as either negative / bad emotions, or good / positive emotions. One or the other – thumbs-up or thumbs-down – no hesitation – just your immediate response.

Ready? Start reading.

• Love
• Joy
• Curiosity
• Anger
• Fear
• Sadness
• Guilt
• Shock
• Disgust

I’m guessing that you gave the thumbs-down for 6 out of the 9 basic, normal human emotions. Does that tell you anything about what it means to be human? Two-thirds of the emotions that every person will experience throughout life do not feel great. But we live in a feel-good society that tells us we should feel good all the time.

How realistic is that?

• Self-compassion – being caring and kind to yourself – adds another dimension to acceptance. Let’s go back to you noticing a feeling – which may be one you don’t like. Place a hand on where you experience most intensely, and see if you can open up around it. Hold it gently.
• Sometimes, we want to focus on our emotions, like when we are learning to notice them (like now), or if we are grieving. At other times, if we are too intently focused on our emotions that can get in the way of living life. When we can notice that the feeling that we struggling with doesn’t have to have the spotlight – that it is one of many actors on a well-lit stage, we can start to notice that the feeling we are struggling with is just one of many. It isn’t the only actor on stage: it isn’t the whole show.

Notice that feeling and notice your breathing. Notice your body, and notice the room around you. Notice that there is a lot going on.

On chocolate, Billy Ray Cyrus, and the futility of thought suppression

Imagine a tasty bit of chocolate. Imagine unwrapping it, and looking at it, anticipating what it is going to taste like. Now imagine placing it in your mouth and swirling it around, feeling it start to dissolve and become warm as you taste the sweetness spreading across your tongue. Allow yourself to linger on that thought, that taste, that flavor, for a few seconds before you read on.

Now – stop thinking about chocolate. I am instructing you not to think about chocolate again until you get to the end of this article. If you think about chocolate. I want you to stop. Note that you have thought about chocolate but stop. You are not to think about chocolate.

The point of this little exercise is to understand how difficult it is for us to not think about something. I bet you’ve already thought about chocolate. If that’s true, you are not alone. That’s just how the mind works – the more we try not to think about something – or thought suppression – the more we end up thinking about it – this is called the ironic rebound effect. Think of an annoyingly catchy 80s pop song. Maybe, “Achy Breaky Heart” by Billy Ray Cyrus. Go through the chorus a couple of times. Really imagine that mullet swinging in the breeze. Here, let me help – click below for the full experience

Now, stop thinking about it. Yeah, right.

Sometimes, especially when we are trying to dismiss thoughts from our minds, it can feel like we aren’t on the same team. Still have Billy Ray Cyrus running amok in your head? See what I mean – the more you try not to think about it, the more it is there. Even if you get practice suppressing the unwanted thought, that doesn’t seem to work in the long-term either. Trying to push it to the back of your mind just – does – not – work. Thought suppression has behavioural impacts too. In one experiment, people asked not to think about chocolate ended up eating more chocolate when given the opportunity than those who weren’t given the instruction to suppress the thought.

One theory to explain this is that we try to distract ourselves by intentionally thinking about something else. Secondly – and here comes the ironic bit –  out minds start an unconscious monitoring process to check if we are still thinking about the thing we are not supposed to be thinking about – you know, to check if our conscious process is working or not.  The problem comes when we consciously stop trying to distract ourselves and the unconscious process carries on looking out for the thing we are trying to suppress. Anything it sees that looks remotely like the target triggers the thought again and round we go in yet another loop of thinking the same thought we were desperately trying to forget about.

So, the irony of thought suppression, then, is that actively trying to manage our own minds can sometimes do more harm than good. 

What can we do?

• The key is abandoning attempts to exert thought control and practicing acceptance instead. In a nutshell, acceptance is about allowing our thoughts and feelings to be as they are – regardless of it they are pleasant or painful, or just plain irritating.
• Open up, make room for them, and drop the struggle with them. Let them come and go as they naturally do.
• Distraction may work as a short-term solution, but in the long-term, practicing acceptance takes a lot less effort than constantly being on guard and fending off unwanted thoughts. As well as being a driving task, both mentally and physically. It just doesn’t work.

Coaching conversations can help you practice acceptance – get in touch if I can help

Mindful walking and running

Last week, I talked about focusing on the emotional benefits of exercise and said I would also give an example of mindful walking. So, here we go. Again, remember, this isn’t a theoretical exercise. Get out there and do it. Actually, you don’t even need to be outside if you’ve the space inside. Once you’ve finished the exercise, you might notice things feel a little different, if only for a few seconds. The more often you do the exercise, the longer that feeling will last. And the exercise is easy to learn and to apply to running too.

Find a place where you can walk back and forth for about 15-20 paces without interruption and without feeling self-conscious. Plan to go back and forth on this path for the time you do this period of mindful walking.

1. Stand at one end of your path and focus attention in your body. Notice the sensations. Do something comfortable with your arms.; either fold them in front of you or clasp your hands behind you, or let them hang loosely at your sides. Gather your attention in your feet, feeling the sensations there.
2. Slowly begin to lift one foot and start to walk. It helps to walk quite slowly, especially at first. Let your attention rest on the unfolding sensations in your feet and legs as you walk. Bring attention in fine detail to the lifting of your foot, the stepping forward, and the placing of the foot on the ground. Notice how the weight shifts from foot to foot on the ground. Notice how the legs feel, and what movement in the body feels like. When the attention moves away, or the mind wanders, gently bring it back to the sensations in the feet and legs.
3. Walk to the end of your path like this. Stop when you get there.
4. Bring your attention to the experience of being stopped. Listen carefully to your body. Notice when the urge to move rises again, or the intention to turn and to walk again. Become mindful of the arising of intention – it comes before all voluntary movement in the body. When you are ready, turn around and pause. Connect with the body and the sensations in your feet. Notice how it happens that you take your first step forward, and what it feels like.
5. Practice mindful walking this way for a few minutes, 15-20 minutes if you can. Notice whatever arises. If thoughts or sounds or anything else becomes very distracting, stop walking and focus attention on that. Remain mindful, noticing the distractions, then gently bring attention back to the feet and resume walking.
6. Although you begin walking at a very slow pace, you can experiment with different speeds, up to and beyond normal walking speed as you become more practiced. If you are very upset or agitated, it is often helpful to start walking at a faster rate and then slow down and become more concentrated and present. When walking fast (or even jogging / running), you may find it easier to focus on a single sensation, such as the right foot pushing off or the left foot striking the ground. Let this single sensation become the object of attention. Use it to anchor attention in the stream of rapid movement.

The process of being aware and mindful of what is happening with my body and all around me, the feeling of the wind rushing past my face, the visibility of the breath emerging from my lungs – I love focusing on these simple things when I am going for mindful run too. It’s a refreshing variation if you’re feeling a bit stale with your running routines. Start with short distances, or even throw it in for a few minutes at a time during your regular runs. I’m betting it will change the way you think and feel about running.

The video below shows Buddhist Thich Nhat Hanh describing the purpose and process of walking meditation. I have been lucky enough to participate in a three-day workshop with this great teacher in London a few years ago. The video shows an alternative way of framing emotions and walking mindfulness – very interesting, and helpful too.