Friday, February 27, 2015

Normal Functionality and Stress

I wanted to talk a little bit about stress today and how dramatically it can affect our lives. I was so stressed out for a little over two months while preparing for my qualifying exams. I think that I am just now getting back to my normal self--it's scary how high levels of stress can alter your personality! I didn't want to do things that I normally would want to do, because I felt like all I was allowed to do was study. What is "funny" about that is that exercising or taking a purposeful break often helps to improve your outlook and ability to focus.

According to the National Institute on Mental Health, people have a variety of reactions to stress:

"For example, some people experience mainly digestive symptoms, while others may have headaches, sleeplessness, depressed mood, anger and irritability. People under chronic stress are prone to more frequent and severe viral infections, such as the flu or common cold, and vaccines, such as the flu shot, are less effective for them."

I definitely felt the sleeplessness (very hard time falling asleep when usually I'm out the second my head hits the pillow) and irritability. I'm sure my husband thought I was very fun to be around during that time. :) Here are suggestions (also from the NIMH) to help combat stress:
  • Stay in touch with people who can provide emotional and other support. Ask for help from friends, family, and community or religious organizations to reduce stress due to work burdens or family issues, such as caring for a loved one.
  • Recognize signs of your body's response to stress, such as difficulty sleeping, increased alcohol and other substance use, being easily angered, feeling depressed, and having low energy.
  • Set priorities-decide what must get done and what can wait, and learn to say no to new tasks if they are putting you into overload.
  • Note what you have accomplished at the end of the day, not what you have been unable to do.
  • Avoid dwelling on problems. If you can't do this on your own, seek help from a qualified mental health professional who can guide you.
  • Exercise regularly-just 30 minutes per day of gentle walking can help boost mood and reduce stress.
  • Schedule regular times for healthy and relaxing activities.
  • Explore stress coping programs, which may incorporate meditation, yoga, tai chi, or other gentle exercises.
These seem like great suggestions, and I'll definitely be trying to employ them throughout the semester as I go through the normal ebbs and flows of stress. I just wanted to bring it up to remind people to learn what events cause a lot of stress, and what methods are effective for lowering stress levels to an acceptable level. I sometimes think that being stressed out is looked at as a badge of honor in our society--everyone is stressed out, and you often hear people trying to "out do" one another with how much they have to do, how little they've slept, etc. It's easy to get caught in this trap, but it's definitely not healthy, and it's important to remind ourselves that we need to keep a healthy balance in our lives to be truly happy.

Wednesday, February 18, 2015

Lent 2015!

Lent starts today for those of you who participate. I am not really that religious, but I always recognized Lent growing up, so I guess it's just out of habit that I still do it. When I was a kid, I would usually give up either french fries or chocolate (which would still be hard for me today!). As most of you know, I eat a vegetarian diet semi-frequently, but usually am not very strict and don't keep it up for too long. I have decided that I will go vegetarian for lent. I like how it makes me plan my meals in advance and really focus on what I'm eating; plus, I believe there are a ton of ethical and environmental advantages to being vegetarian. I'm pumped to commit to it at least until Easter!

Last week Nova turned 1 year old! Here are her birthday glamour shots. :)




I'm excited about this because now I feel like I can start to run with her--although for larger dogs like her, they often recommend waiting until they are a year and a half. This means that I am going to only bring her on runs that are less than 1 mile for at least the next 3 months or so. Yesterday I took her with me for the first .65 miles of my run, which she seemed to like. I did notice that she was getting tired towards the end, but that's probably because I let her push the pace at the beginning (< 7:00/mile for the first half mile...way too fast for me). She must have been semi-worn out afterwards though because she was sitting next to me on the couch like a weirdo.


Hope everyone has a fabulous day! :)


Tuesday, February 17, 2015

I'm back to life in the real world...

Sorry for the long hibernation I went into there at the beginning of the year. As I'm sure I've mentioned, I'm a PhD student, and we had our qualifying exams from February 2nd-14th. They are very intimidating exams because not only are they super hard (most of them cover everything you were supposed to learn in undergrad, some even expect you to know information beyond that), but you also only get two chances to take them---if you don't pass then you get kicked out of the program :-o I get stressed out very easily, so as you can imagine, these exams weren't ideal for me. I actually enjoyed studying intensely and learning/reviewing a lot of material, but when it comes time to take the exam, I become a bundle of nerves. They felt like they went alright though, so we will see. Oh yeah, that's the other frustrating thing--they take about a month and a half to grade them, so you are just left wondering for weeks if you passed or not. Ahh, well I'm trying to just put it behind me and think about other things until I get the results.

In other news, I have been attempting to train for both a 10k (April 4th), and a sprint triathlon (April 18th), but I have pretty much been failing. I did well with my runs for about 5 days, then I got overwhelmed with exams, and for the past few days I have been trying to catch up on sleep. SO today I am starting anew with my plans to rock both this 10k and the tri. I have done both events before, so I should mostly know what to expect. I have basically combined an intermediate 10k plan and an intermediate tri plan to make my schedule. It includes running 5 days a week (I may cut that to 4, we will see how I feel after a couple weeks), swimming twice a week, and cycling twice a week. One complete rest day, which means that there are several days where I'll be doubling up on activities. I think it will be a fun challenge to train for two events at once (they really aren't THAT different, there is a run as part of the tri, and all of the training will be building up my cardio, which never hurts).

That's all I have for now. I am going to be updating more regularly now that I don't have the scary exam cloud hanging over my head. I'll leave you with a picture of this sad looking doggie.
We gave it to Nova (it was 90% off yesterday since Valentine's Day is over), and within 1 minute she ripped off its nose. I thought the pillow seemed very appropriate for the poor little dog ha!