Self-Care Advice from the Queen Sandi Saksena

“You cannot ignore the way your body and mind respond to stressors”, says Sandi Saksena, the iconic leader, mentor and woman empowerment advocate. She shares health tips to stabilize the body and the mind for a happier and balanced life here …

“I’m so stressed out! I must catch up on my sleep. My hair and skin are a mess, I need to go on a diet, take some supplements get a facial, some hair treatments”.

We face and accept many demands each day, a huge workload, paying the bills meeting expectations taking care of our family. Our body treats these hassles as threats, because we feel as if we are constantly ‘under attack’.

Our bodies have a built in ‘reactor’, to protect us against external threats and other aggressors, the main culprit in today’s world being stress.

When we encounter a perceived threat, a tiny region at the base of brain sets off an alarm system in our body. Through a combination of nerve and hormonal signals, this system prompts our adrenal glands, located atop our kidneys, to release a surge of hormones, adrenaline and cortisol.

Adrenaline increases our heart rate, elevates blood pressure and boosts energy supplies. Cortisol, our principal stress hormone, increases sugars (glucose) in the bloodstream, enhances our brain’s use of glucose and increases the availability of substances that repair tissues.

Cortisol also limits functions that would be nonessential or harmful in this fight-or-flight situation. It alters immune system responses and suppresses the digestive system, the reproductive system and growth processes. This complex natural alarm system also communicates with the brain regions that control mood, motivation and fear.

The body’s stress response system is usually self-limiting. Once a perceived threat has passed, hormone levels return to normal. As adrenaline and cortisol levels drop, our heart rate and blood pressure return to baseline levels, and other systems resume their regular activities. However, when the natural stress response goes wild because stressors are always present and we constantly feel ‘under attack’, that fight-or-flight reaction stays turned on.

The long-term activation of the stress response system and the overexposure to cortisol and other stress hormones that follow can disrupt almost all our body’s processes. This puts us at increased risk of many health problems, including:

• Anxiety
• Depression
• Hormonal imbalance
• Digestive problems
• Headaches
• Muscle tension and pain
• Heart disease, heart attack, high blood pressure and stroke
• Sleep problems
• Weight gain
• Memory and concentration impairment

 

In today’s world, stressful events are facts of life. They cannot be ignored. At the same time, you cannot ignore the way your body and mind respond to stressors. Here are points to consider:

Don’t go to a ‘health supermarket’ aka pharmacy, read indications on products try to see what matches your ‘perceived problem’ and end up buying pills, oils, lotions, etc.

Don’t go to see a particular ‘specialist’ because you think based on what you are experiencing that’s the specialist.

The culprit is, in many cases, your hormones; therefore, the first person to see is an Endocrinologist, who will do a full blood profile. You will be surprised by what will show up!!! Based on this report an appropriate line of ‘treatment’ life style change can be adopted.

Here is a true case…

Female with PCO – years of visits to various gynecologists, pills to regulate estrogen/progesterone, even a phycologist, diets, got NO results. Mood swings, erratic sleep, low energy, weight gain, bloating, skin issues, hirsutism and the problems were several. Eventually she visited a good endocrinologist. Her full blood profile showed:

High testosterone, Insulin resistant results so far removed for what was the perceived problem! Medication given to stabilize/control this, all ‘symptoms’ dissipated!

Here is what you must do. Identify what causes you stress. Find those physical and psychological issues that disturb you and put your body and mind on the defensive triggering your hormones wildly. Have a properly figured game plan to take care of yourself, both physically and emotionally, in the face of stressful situations.

Don’t play ‘doctor’. You must eat ‘healthy’, get regular exercise, and get plenty of sleep. However, these would be possible if your hormones, which include not just estrogen progesterone and testosterone, are acting up! Understand your body and mind, and acknowledge the needs for relaxing, letting go and normalizing.

Destress easier said than done!

A combination of appropriate medical advice (my personal go to is the endocrinologist, who can then guide me to which doctor I should see IF I choose to!)

Now my personal stress management:

• I will Not do anything that causes me to be unhappy or go against my inner voice my intuition
• I only choose what destressing activities I Enjoy
• I eat sensibly and indulge myself when I feel like
• I have learnt to say NO
• I set my boundaries
• I practicing personal financial planning
• I don’t let FEAR dictate my actions or reactions be it family or business
• I am NOT a people pleaser
• I follow JOMO Not FOMO

About Sandi Saksena:

Sandi Saksena is a multiple award winner, a Tor with the Universe. This entrepreneur is an accelerator, Mentor Negotiator, Motivator, Facilitator, Orator, Curator Moderator, Tutor, and much more. She offers all of the above to people who want more out of their lives be it money, career, relationships, health wellness. She wears many hats in the most inspiring ways.