In today’s podcast I talk a little bit about understanding trauma, burnout, and stress after an aquired brain injury. I talk a bit about the stress cycle. I do a deep dive in my free email course. Check that out here:
https://view.flodesk.com/pages/606e5015d0ab2d0103020f8a
Look out for a blog on my website soon on this topic with even more information www.tbitherapist.com
Tips for completing the stress cycle
- Move–You may have heard that “Exercise is medicine,” and it’s true. Movement is key for all humans, and helps with completing the stress response cycle. Aerobic exercise in particular is linked to improved cognition, decreases in mental illness, and improvements in concussion recovery outcomes (APA, 2020). Interestingly, it may mimic physiologically stressful situations in the brain and aid in overcoming other stressful situations.
- Cry–It’s true! Crying or engaging in time to grieve/feel the emotion is a powerful tool. To move through an emotion, we need to see its end, as the Nagoski sisters discuss in Burnout. In EMDR we do this by noticing the thoughts, images, body sensations, and emotions that come up with a particular memory. We then follow the channels of association or go down the emotional tunnel until there is no distress in the body.
- Connect: Social Interaction is also medicine, with potentially even larger implications than exercise! A meta-analysis of social relationships and mortality risk indicates that we should really think about “prescribing” more social interaction, for our clients as well as ourselves. The researchers argued that “People with stronger social relationships had a 50% increased likelihood of survival than those with weaker social relationships.” They further stated that “These findings indicate that the influence of social relationships on the risk of death are comparable with well-established risk factors for mortality such as smoking and alcohol consumption and exceed the influence of other risk factors such as physical inactivity and obesity.” In other words, it’s not only fun to connect with your social network, it’s also really important for your health. (Holt-Lunstad, J. Smith TB, Layton JB, 2010)”
