Natural Treatment For Trauma Induced Stress
Stress is a word that we are all familiar with. Increasingly we are hearing and seeing more people impacted by stress as the lines between work and life blur, as our lives become more hectic and our brains overstimulated. So is there a natural treatment for trauma induced stress?
Let’s not give stress too much of a bad rap; in fact, ‘good’ stress is part and parcel of what makes us human. Short-term stress is good. It inspires and motivates us; it focuses our energy and enhances our performance. Without it, our caveman ancestors might not have survived for too long. However, it’s the prolonged stress or trauma induced stress that we need to be mindful of. This kind of stress wears you out and leaves you jittery. It’s the type of stress that increases your anxiety levels, causes confusion, impacts your concentration, and decreases your performance. This is the stress that we need to manage and actively reduce. But how do we do this?
Exercise
Exercise is an excellent natural treatment for stress, allowing you to burn off anxious energy. It provides a great excuse for us to disconnect from the world around us, whether on the rugby field, on a walk or run, or hitting the water for a swim. But exercise also increases the brain’s feel-good neurotransmitters, called endorphins. Endorphin release is just one positive side effect of exercise; depending on what you are doing, you can also reach a mediation-like state as you focus on your body’s movement. With exercise, you may reduce your anxiety levels and improve your sleep. All of which with help reduce your overall stress levels that have built up throughout that day or week.
Meditation
Calming the mind is a natural treatment for stress that can help reduce and manage anxiety, leaving you feeling better, refreshed, and ready to face the challenges of your day with a healthy attitude. Meditation can help slow racing thoughts, produce a deep state of relaxation and support a tranquil mind. Try adding meditation into your daily routine either first thing in the morning or at night.
Sunlight
Sunlight increases the brain’s serotonin release, a hormone associated with mood-boosting, helping you feel calm and alert. Try starting your day by spending 10 to 15 minutes outside; even on an overcast day, you can still experience mood enhancing effects of natural sunlight. To supercharge your day, combine this with a short meditation session, doubling the stress reduction benefits to your morning routine—what an excellent natural treatment for stress that will set your day up right.
Light Brainwave Entrainment
Light Brainwave Entrainment stimulates the brain into entering a specific state by using high-frequency LED light. Brainwave entrainment pushes the entire brain into a particular state, adjusting or interrupting the brain’s response to certain situations. Essentially reprogramming how your brain processes and responds.
Imagine the benefits of mediation multiplied 10-fold, and that’s the benefits you can get from brainwave entrainment. The good news is that you don’t need to be a mediation guru to access these benefits.
DeepWave Brainwave Entrainment is an excellent natural treatment for stress; furthermore, it can reduce anxiety and depression, help with sleep disorders, eases pain, helps unlock creative expression and increases performance. It is a simple yet effective way to lead your mind into states you might usually find difficult to reach, allowing you to experience what those states feel like.
Journaling
Journaling can be a great tool to cope with stress and anxiety. Writing down your feelings and thoughts can improve your physical and psychological well-being. Additionally, it may help you feel in control of your emotions.
Sleep
Sleep has been proven time and time again to be an essential part of good mental health. Intrinsically we know this, but most of us don’t spend the time ensuring we get enough sleep or implement a routine that supports better sleep. As adults, we should be getting 7 to 9 hours of sleep each day. To improve your sleep health, try to implement a nightly routine that you follow every day (including weekends). This should include going to bed and waking at the same time each day, reducing screen time at least an hour before you head to bed and removing all screens from the bedroom. Limit or avoid caffeine, especially in the afternoon and evening. Meditation helps clear the mind of the day’s stresses, allowing you to drift off gently. Improving our sleep health will create a natural treatment for stress reduction.
Caffeine
Sleep is vital for our mental health, so anything that impacts our sleep health should be closely monitored. Research has shown that caffeine interferes with our circadian melatonin rhythms and blocks the body’s natural buildup of adenosine. Without the circadian melatonin rhythm, sleep onset is delayed; this is compounded as our bodies remain alert without the buildup of adenosine. Removing caffeine or limiting when caffeine is consumed will significantly increase your body’s ability to drift into a natural sleep.
Alcohol
It’s not uncommon for us to reach for a drink after a busy day with the belief that this helps reduce the stress of the day; in fact, we could be doing the exact opposite. Like caffeine, alcohol changes our brain chemistry, impacting our serotonin and cortisol levels and other neurotransmitters in the brain. This chemical change can worsen anxiety, making you feel more anxious after the alcohol wears off. Additionally, alcohol shifts the hormonal balance, changing how the body perceives and responds to stress. If you are struggling with stress, try to reach for those positive stress reduction treatments rather than reaching for a drink.
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