Burnout Recovery: Part 1, Nourishing the Body

The body is the foundation, so that is the obvious place to start.  If one of these things are out of whack for me, it really does throw everything else off.


1:  Sleep.

As a night owl, insomniac, and light sleeper, this is my hugest hurdle.  It is the alligator under my bed, waiting to devour my feet in the night.  There are a few things that have helped me the most:

• Pretend that bedtime is an hour earlier.  I am not sure how it takes me so long to get ready for bed, but between the shower, feeding the fish, taking out the trash, and brushing the puppy's teeth, I always end up surprised how late it's become.

• Add stretching to the nighttime routine.  The silence of laying in bed magnifies those aches and pains, so it's better to ease them out before getting into bed.  A foam roller can really help with this.  Nothing says frustration like being exhausted but too uncomfortable to sleep! 

• Put F.lux on the computer.  Ever notice that most digital alarm clocks have red numbers?  Blue light makes the brain think it is daytime, which keeps you more awake.  F.lux reduces the amount of blue light and brightness the computer monitor emits at night, and it syncs up to the actual dawn/dusk times for where you live.  The change in lighting happens over an hour, so you don't even notice that it is changing as dusk falls.  I have been using this program for a few years, and it has added almost an hour to the amount I can sleep at night.

• Consider taking magnesium at night.  When the body makes a lot of stress hormones, it uses up magnesium to break them down, so times of high stress could stand a little magnesium supplementation.  I take 1 rounded tsp of Natural Calm every night, which is 40% of the recommended daily amount for magnesium.  If I miss it several days in a row, I notice that I don't sleep as deeply, and all the little things irritate me to no end and the shoulder knots are killer.  Magnesium oxide is rather hard for the body to assimilate, so I'd recommend trying some form of magnesium citrate.

• Meditate to sleep.  Having nothing to focus on sends my brain into overdrive.  I've heard that insomniacs are smart because an intelligent brain is constantly thinking, so let's just pretend that the crazy spirals of thought at bedtime mean that we are geniuses.  In any case, I need something to focus on, and meditation allows me to focus on my breath or on letting the thoughts pass, and it is far easier to quiet my brain down.  

Knocked the heck out.  Stormy must have meditated too hard.

2:  Exercise.

I know, I know, it is everybody's least favorite topic.

My doctor recently read a study that said the optimal level of exercise for mental health was 30 uninterrupted minutes per day, 120 heartbeats per minute.  According to this method, I was doing too much exercise at too low of an intensity, and my 15-minute higher intensity bouts didn't count. 

Now I just focus on getting that exact amount (well, on most days... my muscles are still working up to the higher intensity), and after 3 weeks I am beginning to notice that it is starting to work.  The results:  more motivation to exercise, slightly more energy in the mornings.  It's a start!

Lately I have been reading on the exercise bike (which is smack dab in the middle of the living room so I can't avoid it no matter how tired I may feel) and then weight-lifting briskly, or swimming, or taking the puppy for walks interjected with sort spurts of jogging.


3:  Eat well.  

Hello, my name is Kendra, and I am naturally a stress-eater.

The best way for me to avoid all the carby, fatty, sugar-rush foods that I crave when under pressure is to two-fold:  don't keep them in the house, and don't eat out or enjoy some wine unless I'm socializing.  These two rules must be doing something right, because I've lost 95 pounds over the past 8-9 years.

I use whole convenience foods to beat those cravings:  large carrots dipped in a little almond/peanut butter, which fulfill both crunch and sweet desires, and hard boiled eggs with garlic salt for the salt and protein needs.  We've also started juicing veggies (ginger makes any juice taste amazing) sometimes for that afternoon slump, and making sure there is a healthy fat in every meal and snack.

A carrot flower.  Healthy, yet my brother was not too excited about this gift. 

We've also progressively eliminated chemicals/preservatives in our foods, both at the recommendation of my doctor (I'm a little chemically sensitive), and because we're trying to start a family.  A chemical-free womb is a happier womb?  Naw, that is a horrible tagline.

Two months ago I went on a sort of elimination diet, a modified version of Paleo, to see if anything affected me, and primarily it is foods with visible molds, and a bit of dairy and wheat.  So I am minimizing those as well... not as easy as it sounds, especially when a good roquefort cheese and crackers would hit the spot perfectly, right at this very moment.  I am not being super strict with it, since that would actually increase the stress levels.


What do you do to build your foundation against stress? 


(Stay tuned for Part 2 of the Burnout Recovery Experiment next week!)