Helix Clinic blog

It’s fairly obvious that if someone is working long hours, staying out late, drinking more than the recommended government guidelines, not exercising and recovering from a recent relationship breakup, then they are more likely to be suffering with stress symptoms than someone who is doing a job they love, is in a stable relationship, exercises regularly and eats well. But apart from this very general sense of how lifestyle factors seem to affect stress levels, we thought it would be interesting to find out a little more about the relationship between the two.

To this end, we have created a couple of surveys that we invite you to try. The first one asks a few basic lifestyle questions and the second asks if you are experiencing any of the classic symptoms of stress. Once you have completed the questionnaires, you can view a short summary of your results, and can return at any time to repeat it if you think that your symptoms or circumstances have changed.

Once enough people have filled in the questionnaire, we will create some figures showing how different lifestyle choices can lead to the typical symptoms of stress.

Tags: lifestyle, stress, survey

Friday 6th February is Stress Down Day, organised by the Samaritans in order to raise awareness of stress in the workplace. Obviously, more people will be experiencing stress at the moment due to the economic slowdown, and feeling worried about jobs, income or pensions.

Many people who are feeling undue stress turn to the Samaritans, who will be experiencing more calls than usual at this time. They urge anyone with work or financial concerns to seek support rather than letting problems get out of control. The Samaritans are completely confidential and give everyone a safe arena to discuss thoughts, feelings and problems, without fear of being judged.

By making a donation to the Samaritans, you will be helping them to answer more calls and help more people. And lets face it, how often do you get the chance to wear a pair of big green furry slippers at work in the name of a good cause?

Tags: Samaritans, stress

Certain types of exercise are especially good at helping to cultivate yin energy and reduce stress levels. Slow moving meditative exercise, such as tai chi, qi gong or more gentle forms of yoga are the best for this.

What these all have in common is that they involve using body awareness. By using your  awareness to feel and then release tension in different areas of the body,  it becomes impossible for the mind to start thinking about work, or other day to day problems. Slow meditative movements performed with awareness, especially when combined with the breath, are great at replenishing the body’s reservoirs of cool and calm energy.

Of course, when engaging in any sport the mind becomes focused on the skills necessary for that activity, but there is an essential difference. Most standard cardio exercise or competitive sport will tend to engage the body’s sympathetic nervous system and adrenaline response (or fight/flight) which can cause tension and tightness. When practising yoga, tai chi or qi gong, the body will tend to activate the parasympathetic autonomic response (rest/digest), which is more conducive to relaxation and reducing stress in the body.

For optimum health, try and supplement your normal cardio-based exercise with some more awareness-based practices. Standard cardio exercise is good, and important for good health, but if you want to feel more in balance with less stress, you could try adding an awareness-based practice to your weekly routine for a month or two and see if you notice a change.

Tags: awareness, qi gong, tai chi, yoga

Are you feeling stressed in your job? Do you find yourself getting more irritable with other people around you? Are you getting more headaches than normal, or is your sleep becoming affected so that you wake feeling hot or sweaty in the night? Do you find it hard to sit still, or to find time to relax? Do you find it hard to quieten your mind down at the end of the day?

If you are experiencing some or all of these symptoms, you may be suffering from what Chinese medicine calls a deficiency of yin energy. The concept of yin energy is used to describe that intangible reservoir of cool and calm energy that you can draw on in times of stress. We have all had times in the past when we have felt calm and relaxed and at ease with the world, so we can all identify with that feeling when yin energy is abundant.

Living in a city with a demanding job, active social life or a busy family life with all its pressures can rapidly deplete these reserves of cool and calm yin energy, leaving a person with the classic symptoms of stress mentioned above. Luckily there are quite a few ways it can be built back up if it has become depleted, so in this week’s articles we will look at a few of the best.

When considering whether a particular activity might be good to help build yin energy, the best words to keep in mind are cool and calm. In a previous article, we talked about the power of deep breathing to help induce relaxation in the body. When done on a regular basis, deep breathing is great at building yin energy.

Another great way to help build yin energy is to spend some time in surroundings that manifest yin qualities. Imagine being somewhere quiet and peaceful in one of our many stunning national parks, like Snowdonia, Dartmoor, or the Lake District. Imagine walking through a cool forest in autumn, by a fresh mountain lake in winter, or along a coastal path breathing in the salty sea air. Think about how great you feel at the end of a day, long weekend or a week spent somewhere like that.

The video today was taken while in the Lake District, with a view over fells rarely seen with such snow. The atmosphere here currently embodies the spirit of yin energy, taken towards the end of the day with a fading light, and cool, damp and fresh February air.

Remember that this beautiful place is only 3 hours on the train from London. Have you thought about taking a long weekend recently? It could do wonders for your yin energy!

Tags: calm, Lake district, stress, yin energy

When a patient first comes into the clinic, as well as asking about their primary complaint, we ask other general questions about their health to build up an overall health profile for that person. This helps us to treat in a truly holistic way.

One of the questions we ask is if a person is eating well and do they eat a good breakfast? It is surprising how often someone will come in feeling low in energy, or finding it tough to get through the day and then we discover that they never eat any breakfast, or at most grab a coffee and a pastry on their way into work!

We appreciate that it can be hard to find time in the mornings to make a full breakfast, but it really is the most important meal of the day. So, following on from yesterday’s 5 a day post, we have a delicious, easy to make and most importantly quick breakfast smoothie recipe to help give you a good start to your day.

The recipe serves 2 people. Put 2 bananas, a mug of rolled porridge oats and 4 dates into a blender. Add enough oatmilk to bring the mixture level to 1 and a quarter pints, and then add a quarter pint of blueberry juice to bring the total level to a pint and a half. Blend for 2-3 minutes, then serve and enjoy.

You will be amazed how much better you’ll feel, and the energy from the smoothie should keep you going right up to lunchtime.

Tags: breakfast, smoothie