Sometimes in conversation the topic of stress, meditation or this “down-regulation” comes up.
While there are a number of ways to go once we choose to do something about it, there are a lot of people who either aren’t sure where they are sitting on the spectrum (once we are familiar with living in a certain state, it becomes the norm), or are subconsciously addicted to a certain state (can’t sit still, can’t stop, “I perform well under pressure.”)
OK, so your physiology could be giving you four clear signs. These indicators may be telling us that our needs aren’t being met and we would benefit from some down-regulating strategies (food, breath, movement or otherwise).
1. You aren’t sleeping well. Sleep can be a great mirror. Sure, if you are getting woken up by the kids etc that’s one thing. Even still, returning back to sleep when the physiology is in an abundant state is normal.
2. Sex drive is down. When we get chronically elevated stress hormones, usually we see a fairly quick drop in libido.
3. Anxiety, stress, chronic tension, hyperventilation. How we breathe can have a direct impact on the pH in the body and carbon dioxide levels. According to Dr. Ray Peat, PhD, the CO2 acts as a vasodilator and calmative – promoting blood flow around the body and to the brain and also helping to warm the body. Muscular tension, anxiety and hyperventilation could be signs of elevated stress
4. Poor recovery, adaption, immunity and resilience – To “recover” from a stressor (training or otherwise), we need adequate resources (such as the right foods). If we don’t have this, then yes cortisol and adrenaline can go up, we can fall into a viscous cycle as we then have a more stressed physiology and we again bombard it with the stressors the next day. If recovery is poor, or there are big plateaus in training for example, it can be a sign that the resources are not adequate (and the body is stressed).
