Our bodies are incredibly complex organisms that can do some amazing things. Turn food into muscular protein? Check. Filter toxins out of the body? Double check. Rebuild broken bones in a matter of weeks? You’ve got it.
Despite the awesomeness, our bodies are not great at differentiating stress.
In fact, stress that is caused by our spouse, children, job, traffic, food, lack of sleep, the list goes on, is categorized as one thing in the body. You guessed it…stress. In our case, this looks like an elevated heart-rate.
Sometimes, as crazy busy human beings we are unaware of what causes our stress. We as coaches, can help our athletes identify the various culprits. We ask our clients questions about their day, lifestyle, food choices etc.. to guide & direct them. We get personal with our people. Why? Because we care enough to ask the hard questions. If your coach is afraid to ask challenging, albeit some uncomfortable questions, you should find a new coach.
In terms of stress caused by eating poorly, we have a nutritionist that can help. If you are not in the mood or position for a nutrition coach we can at least provide strategies or recommendations of what to eat…or not. We know that a poor diet can elevate the heart-rate & cause undue stress on the body. Food as fuel is our policy & works wonders.
Lack of sleep is a surefire way to increase the heart-rate.
Lack of sleep day after day can lead to chronic fatigue. This is no secret. Talking with someone about your sleep patterns can nudge you in the right direction. We can also discuss how to get more sleep & the lifestyle patterns that might be preventing you from getting it. This all starts with a conversation.
Others have a very toxic work environment. They stress about their co-workers or unreasonably high standards. Now, we can’t make you change jobs, but at least being aware of what a stressful can do to your heart-rate helps push us in the right direction. If you come to the conclusion your job isn’t working for you & you make a change then more power to you.
The significant others in our lives provide pain points as well. Seeing where those sticking points arise, before they do so, can help us form strategies to prevent them altogether.
Now, some of you might be thinking, “you are a bunch of coaches, not shrinks.” And you’d be correct. We just happen to look at the entire picture, meet people where they are, & give them what they need. We recognize that some things are out of our field of expertise so we refer others who can help. In the meantime, we recognize that stress is harmful & needs to be addressed. Our bodies thank us for it in the long-run. Until next time, Ticker On Friends.