Fit2BTide S08.E06 Stress, we all got it

[00:00:00] Speaker A: Getting a flu shot is one of the most important things you can do to stay healthy this year. Flu shots are available and free to University of Alabama students at sites across campus and at the UA student health center and pharmacy. Check out our schedule at CCHS UA EDU flu shot. Call 205-348-6262 for a flu shot appointment at the student health center or walk [00:00:23] Speaker B: up Monday through Friday from 4 to 4:45pm WVUAFM, Tuscaloosa. Happy Sunday, y'. [00:00:37] Speaker A: All. [00:00:37] Speaker B: You are listening to Fit to be tied with Sheena and Whitney on 90.7 the Capstone. [00:00:41] Speaker A: Yeah, we're here. [00:00:42] Speaker B: We are. You know, and it's funny because right before we started the show, we were talking about kind of being tired, and then I was like, okay, challenge accepted. I'm gonna, like, bring in some energy in this intro. [00:00:52] Speaker A: Well, it was funny because I immediately before I went on, I was like, I feel like I need to do some face exercises or, like, some voice exercises. So immediately I kind of, like, livened up my face to try to make my voice sound a little bit more. Like, it's got a little pep in it. Cause I'm a little tired. I mean, we're in the middle of this semester. You're super busy. I'm super busy. The whole world's super busy. Except for that one college kid that was asleep in your class last week. But, you know, no big deal. [00:01:18] Speaker B: And I just realized from our show with Charles last week, you know, and then we did our rerun and all the things. I forgot to get a Disney breakdown from you. [00:01:28] Speaker A: Oh, my gosh. [00:01:29] Speaker B: Like, how crowded was it? How was the food? How was, like, just the travel in general? Like, give me a spiel. [00:01:36] Speaker A: Well, I will say, just for our listeners, I go to Disney every year. I always go at the end of the year. Well, like, September, October, just because they had the food and wine festival. I love culture. I love food. And now that I'm kind of eating a little fish now, that kind of gives this vegetarian a little bit more options. But it was great. We went before the hurricane. It was kind of crazy timing because we had our trip literally planned for last week when the hurricane was going to hit. But, like, a couple months before, just things worked out differently. We're like, okay, well, let's move it up a few weeks. So it was great. It was really great timing. The parks were great. I can't lie. There's some things about the parks that I don't like. Like the kids, which it's so funny because, like, I'm such a dog and cat mom that, like an animal lover that, like, when kids are at Disney, I'm like, why are kids here? Is this for the adults? But anyway, so it was just me, my mom, and my boyfriend. And it was fun because we can kind of do whatever we want to do. And we went to Magic Kingdom first, which the boyfriend hadn't got to go to Magic Kingdom before. And I was like, we have to go because you gotta see the castle. We gotta do some fun things. And like, about 30 minutes in, me and him, this is how we knew we're meant for each other. Cause kids are not in our future. Cause we looked at each other and we were like, yeah, no, we gotta go. We gotta get outta here. So Magic Kingdom was a little bit crowded, kind of hot. But when we got to Epcot, it was awesome. All the food and just the feel of Epcot's a little bit more open and spacious. Animal Kingdom was great. Hollywood Studios was great. The crowds were a little busy from time to time, but it's nothing crazy. I mean, now. [00:03:14] Speaker B: Are you a rides person? [00:03:16] Speaker A: You know, I am, but this is really funny. And I just figured this out. I. In my older age, you know, as we have gotten older, I think rides are really starting to mess with me because I used to ride everything. It wouldn't matter if it was a roller coaster if it dropped. I loved it. But, like, now it, like, really messes with my head. So I kind of like the slower, like, more attraction rides. And I mean, we. We went on this one ride. It's called the Guardians of the Galaxy Cosmic Rewind. It's amazing. Roller. It's a roller coaster, but your individual car basically spins and moves in like you're in space. And it's quick, it's fast, but, like, I almost felt like I was gonna throw up after. I was like, I would do it again because it was so awesome. But I have to realize, like, I think your body, it was just funny because we're kind of talking about stuff like this today. But I think your body does go through changes when you get older, and you just can, like, do it as often. Like, I get car sick sometimes now. It's weird. Do you find that? [00:04:14] Speaker B: Yeah, no. Cause I definitely am a rides person, and I've always enjoyed roller coasters. One of the last times I went to Six Flags, though, I realized I cannot ride, like, the old wooden roller coasters anymore that are super bumpy. I think it was like the Georgia Machine or something. I was like, I have a migraine afterwards. It was like my brain was literally bouncing inside my skull. [00:04:36] Speaker A: Isn't that weird? [00:04:37] Speaker B: Yeah, it was crazy. [00:04:38] Speaker A: I mean, because those are so much fun. But then, like, it causes this stress rest on your body and it. I don't know. I mean, I'm all about the attraction. I'm all about the rides. Like, those of you that are listening, if you've been to Disney, like, soaring around the world, it's like this really smooth ride where you're kind of lifted off and you have this huge IMAX dome where you're, like, in it and you're soaring around. Like, that stuff's fun, but these, like, really harsh rides where my body's banging around, I can't do it anymore. [00:05:04] Speaker B: Like a jerky motion. [00:05:04] Speaker A: I just can't do it. [00:05:05] Speaker B: I know. Well, you know, I think on that topic, unfortunately, we can't talk about Disney rides all day. No, we can't. [00:05:12] Speaker A: We could. We could. Yeah, that would actually be really fun. [00:05:16] Speaker B: We could make a shift and do that. But we won't do that today. We do want to leave you guys on the edge of your seat wondering what we're going to talk about next. You know, kind of stress you out in that way, but grab something to drink, run to the restroom. Do what you got to do. You are listening to Fit to be Tied with Sheen and Whitney on 90.7 the Capstone. Wvuafm tuscaloosa. [00:05:47] Speaker A: Welcome back. You're listening to Fit to be tied with Sheena and Whitney. And we were talking about Disney World and the rides, but then we realized we can't spend the whole show talking about rides. But it is interesting because we're trying to think of a topic to kind of go into today. It's just us on the radio. We do this occasionally where we don't have a guest and we just like to talk about things that are on our mind. And Sheena, you text me and you were like, what about, like, stress? Why don't we talk about stress and stress management? And I was like, what prompted you to want to talk about stress? [00:06:16] Speaker B: You know, I'm trying to think what did prompt me. So I would love to say, like, oh, I know midterms are coming up for Our listeners are probably stressed out, but I'm sure it was me being stressed out at home because I think I texted you, like, early. I thought about the topic of stress at like, four in the morning on Sunday. But then I waited until, like, later on. Later still on Sunday morning to inappropriately text you and say, hey, let's talk about stress. Yeah, can we do this? But I mean, I think that this is going to be a topic that literally applies to everyone, you know. [00:06:51] Speaker A: Yeah, it's interesting because, I mean, we all have stress and I think sometimes, like kind of defining what stress is, I know in my world, with exercise, you got some good stresses that you want to put your body under, you know, whether it's cardio to build strength cardiovascularly or muscular, you know, and even when you're stretching, there's a tendency where, you know, you are trying to put a little quote, unquote stress on the muscle to lengthen the muscle. But stress isn't always good. And you know, in exercise it can be good, it can also be bad. I'm curious in nutrition if y' all have anything that's you do want stressors, you know, with your diet or maybe you don't, I don't know. [00:07:31] Speaker B: You know, it's interesting that you bring that up. So I think, you know, in regards to stress, when I think about it from a nutrition point of view, I think of a phrase, oxidative stress. So if you've ever heard about people talking about getting in their vitamins and minerals and antioxidants, it's because, you know, they're trying to fight that oxidative stress from getting certain additives in their diet that just cause stress in the body. And some frequent conditions related to that would be things like cancer, things of that nature. But when I was prepping for today's show, you always try to make sure that you're looking at some good websites. And of course, Harvard always pops up. And so when I was looking at some of their information, talking about stress being common, but I thought it was interesting, Whitney, even though I know this, but have never defined it, that there's actually three main types of stress that occur in our lives. So there's acute, which would be like a brief event, like a heated argument or getting stuck in traffic. Then there's acute episodic, like frequent acute events such as work deadlines. And then there's like chronic stress, like, you know, persistent events like unemployment from a job loss or physical or mental abuse, substance abuse, or just long term family conflict. So I guess, you know, when I think about stress, I've never thought like, oh, there's three different types. But also too, and you might have mentioned this earlier, there's also pause stress too, you know, when we get stressed out. But it's for like positive reasons, like an excitement kind of, yeah, I don't know. But yeah, just your body is like something's about to happen, you know, change. [00:09:06] Speaker A: I always think about change and stress are always together. Maybe not all the time, but at least in my life, if there's ever been like a minor change, a big change, it's like your body is going to go through stress. And I think, you know, just for our listeners, I think we have to remember that we're all human beings and we're not perfect. And even though we'll probably give you things to think about to reduce stress, I mean, that's the thing, we're trying to reduce stress. I don't think anybody, unless you're Buddha, can be completely. And I even think he was probably a little stressed at times. But I think nobody can be fully stress free. And so I think our topic today is figuring out ways to just manage your stress. We definitely have good days and we definitely have bad days. I think it's interesting with those three different types of stress, the one that stuck out to me the most was the chronic stress, which is something we can talk about a little bit more in depth. And I have this fun book I was gonna kinda talk a little bit about later. But the chronic stress is what we really have to try to bring down because that's what's gonna contribute to disease and high blood pressure and all those things that we can talk a little bit more in depth about. But I think about the other bits of stress. Sometimes it can be like chronic stress is a whole nother thing. I mean, that's a lot to deal with. But some of these like acute little episodic stressors, it's like you have the power within you to not be stressed. But it's like, how do you choose to be stressed about it? Like, traffic sucks. I hate traffic, I hate bad drivers. And by the way, Tuscaloosa, you're full of bad drivers. I'm just gonna say it. I'm just saying it. It's just the way it is. I mean, it's just the way it is. But like, you can always kind of find little ways around that to cope around, you know, those stressors. When you're getting home from work, play song on the radio, go a different way. I avoid McFarlane 100% of the time if I can. But I think redefining and thinking about, like, how can we manage the things that stress us out? Not the chronic stress, that's a different thing, because that's very different. But these little episodic stressors I guess. [00:11:09] Speaker B: Yeah, I agree. And I think, you know, sometimes, you know, and it really depends on the individual. Is it a matter of. Yeah. Choosing a song to kind of get you into like just to de stress you or maybe even just choosing not to be controlled by certain situations and everything else. And I think for each of us, again, it can be really different. But also too, you want to think of it in a way of like, okay, I want to have prevention in this so that these acute episodes don't become my chronic stress or don't contribute to a long term problem. Because if you are just that high strung person that like all the time is on edge, then there's no way to live. [00:11:50] Speaker A: No, it's not. I have to tell you this funny story. I was just thinking about it. So I don't know about you, Sheena, but like cussing people out when you're driving, Like, I don't really like cussing out about, but the boyfriend does a lot. And I'm like, dude, you can't, you know. And so I think like most people would probably throw some few choice words in there. [00:12:09] Speaker B: Sure. [00:12:10] Speaker A: So my, this was actually my great aunt a long time ago. She would get really stressed or upset with somebody and this is the most southern thing you could possibly say. But she would say, I'll pray for you. But it was like, yes, she was gonna pray for you because she's a sweet little lady. But there's a little bit of like that Southern like sass to it. And so maybe finding a way to reshape that situation, you know, reshape how you're gonna view it. If it is, you know, I'm gonna pray for you or whatever you say, you know, maybe that'll help you in the right mindset to think about somebody else in their shoes. Yes. [00:12:42] Speaker B: So it's like, oh, maybe they cut me off because they have like something that is stressing them out, has distracted them. They gotta get to the hospital. Like, yeah, you're thinking about like, you never know what could be going on with them for sure. No, I completely understand. And I know, you know, with this afternoon, just with the stress topic you and I had kind of mentioned, like, okay, you know, we're gonna use part of this time to talk about exercise and stress and, you know, correlations there, how to manage it. And then we're also going to talk about the nutrition perspective because again, I think that this is something that is so prevalent and so pertinent to everyone. And you know, one thing too that I would mention with Stress. You know, I've been giving these general health and wellness presentations to our students, and the reason that we decided to include it was the fact that I think sometimes it's so easy. Easy to just be like, oh, I'm stressed out. No big deal. But sometimes you have to have this official presentation of information that shows you, like, no, no, no. This is what stress legitimately does to your body. Like, it damages cells, it creates a lot of inflammation. I know sometimes out of sight, out of mind. If you don't see the immediate effect, it's no big deal. And it's just like, oh, I'm stressed out. No big deal. I lost my appetite for a second or I'm xyz. But you really want people to get a handle on this. [00:14:10] Speaker A: Yeah, I mean, there's. I mean, we mentioned before just, you know, the effects of increased heart rate and blood pressure. And when you're younger and you're in your college years or high school or whatever, you don't really think about it. You're probably not really most. And I'm just generalizing here and saying most high school students probably aren't super stressed. But, I mean, you might have some situations that bring that up. But, like, when you get to college, that's kind of when you start to really learn about stress because you're managing your own time. You might be paying for some things yourself. You have deadlines, you have papers. You're now in these big classrooms and huge classrooms, and a lot's required of you. And you might be joining different organizations, and all those things are really great. But it's also, like. It stresses me out to think about. I wasn't. I mean, we were a little different. I think you were very involved with things. And when you were in college, I was involved, but, like, I just kind of did my own thing, and I. And I don't know whether I was stressed or not stressed, but, like, I think that, you know, being able to balance out what you do, not just in a day, but, like, look at your whole semester. [00:15:16] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:15:16] Speaker A: I mean, I know I have to. I have to say no to things in order to just have balance. [00:15:20] Speaker B: Yeah. And I know we're about to take a break, but, you know, we're also in this culture, you know, and goodness, especially in a college culture where it's. You gotta do more. You gotta get more stuff on your resume. You gotta be involved in all the things. And we had a mom that called our office this week. I routed her over to the staff at the counseling center. But she was like, my son is so stressed out. And it's to the point of he's so unmotivated to go to class because he's like, what's the point? Like, am I even gonna do well in this class because I'm so overwhelmed. And so, you know, the fact that he said that to his family, you know, because he could have just been in denial. So that was good. Good on him and then good on mom for trying to find those resources. So, you know, mom, Mom. Don't know if you're listening. Not my mom, but the student's mom. Props to you. But with that said, we're going to take a quick break and then we're going to continue this conversation on stress. You are listening to Fit to be tied with Sheen and Whitney on 90.7 capstone. Wvuafm Tuscaloosa. [00:16:29] Speaker A: Welcome back, everybody. You're listening to Fit to be tied with Sheena and Whitney. And are you stressed? I'm just kidding. I feel like I should start, like, a little info. Are you stressed? Well, you shouldn't be. Cause, you know, Whitney are here. I'm just kidding. But yeah, I mean, we're just talking about stress. Everybody's got it. You know what? You're not alone. I've got it. Sheena's got it. She was gonna text me at 4 o' clock in the morning to tell me about our topic about being stressed. But, like, I almost kind of laugh about it. I don't know if that's a bad thing or good thing, but it's kind of funny that we all experience it. It's like a very common thing that everybody on this whole earth will experience. [00:17:02] Speaker B: Yes. And I think too, you know, sometimes we're probably not as forthcoming talking about stress because it's like. Because I've even seen this in some social situations where people try to, like, one up each other on, like, what's stressing them out. And for one, that's petty. [00:17:19] Speaker A: Yeah, right. [00:17:20] Speaker B: It is very discouraging to the other person because it's like, what's the point of, like, sharing my problems if the other person's gonna be like, oh, that's I've got this stressing out. And I don't know. [00:17:31] Speaker A: Isn't that totally social media, though? [00:17:33] Speaker B: I think it totally is. [00:17:34] Speaker A: You know, I have a theory. If we get rid of all social media, we wouldn't have stress and we wouldn't have, like, any issues whatsoever. The good thing about social media is you can get words out there. The good stuff but then it almost becomes too, like, overwhelming. And, you know, we're even competing about, like, how stressed we are because it's very. What is it? Subjective? Is that the word I'm looking for? Subjective to the person? Cause, like, what stresses me out may be different than what stresses you out. I know you're a mom and you have two kids and you're working to all these things and I don't have kids. But there might be other things that stress me out, you know, day to day. And so I don't know if I would. I think when people compare themselves, I mean, that's stressful. That stresses me out. [00:18:17] Speaker B: Oh, yeah, for sure. [00:18:18] Speaker A: It's crazy. [00:18:18] Speaker B: I know. Okay, so before the break, you know, we kind of did a little stress teaser here. Yeah. We're like, okay, you know, we wanted to talk a little bit more in depth about what happens in the body with stress and then kind of go into some practical things of like, how do we address it, how do we manage it? But Whitney, I mean, what do you have to say to that? [00:18:37] Speaker A: Well, it's interesting because I teach yoga and it's a very big part of my life because I believe in the breathing techniques of yoga and I believe in the healing power of yoga. And so I just, for the purposes of the show, I was like, alright, let me just google, like, natural stress response. And I think like, Mayo Clinic popped up. And I was like, oh, that looks great. And so I was like, we're gonna go with that. But, you know, your body has your fight or flight or freeze. And some of us are gonna probably recognize that we do certain things, you know, whether we wanna fight because we get super annoyed or irritated, we wanna run, or if we just like freeze in place. And I don't even know what I would do. Are you a fight or flight or freeze person? [00:19:20] Speaker B: I think it depends on the situation. [00:19:22] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:19:23] Speaker B: I think there have definitely been times where in like, certain types of conversation or arguments with people, I kind of freeze up. And it honestly frustrates me because it's like, I do have a good rebuttal or I would if I was like, thinking about that in hindsight. But, like, in the moment, it's like my body is like, nope, stop. Don't talk. Like, stand down, soldier. You know, it's kind of that. But then there have been other times where. Oh. Like, if you do anything to disrespect [00:19:53] Speaker A: my family or anything I care about. [00:19:55] Speaker B: Oh, I'm in a talk mode. [00:19:57] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:19:57] Speaker B: So. [00:19:58] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah. That is interesting because when we have to confront people. That's. I mean, I think most of us would kind of shut down a little, because we don't. I mean, it's easier to do it on social media and stuff, but, like, when you have to do it face to face, it's pretty, pretty crazy. But, you know, when you get stressed, you have your hypothalamus in your brain, so it's your control center. It kind of sets off the alarm. Then your nerves, your hormone signals will prompt your adrenal glands. I don't know if anybody knows anything about anatomy, but your adrenal glands, they sit above your kidneys and they release a surge of hormones. That's your adrenaline and your cortisol. And that is when you get like that, okay, I have that feeling. My heart rate's increased, my blood pressure's increased. And your body's designed to do that. Like you have to have fight or flight in some way, because that is just how we've made it this long as human beings. I mean, if you look back to when, you know, if, you know, cavemen days, I mean, that's just the way it was. And so what's interesting is, you know, you feel the increase in heart rate. You know, you feel the increase in your blood pressure. It's supposed to be that way. But one thing that's interesting is the chronic stress that we didn't really talk about before. Before, because that's the one where you're living in this. Yeah. Your body never gets a chance. It's like you're constantly releasing these hormones, and that's when your body really starts to be affected. [00:21:18] Speaker B: Yeah, because. And I think, you know, even a good analogy to think about this, because I'm a big analogy person. And I was like, okay, how could we make this seem practical for our listeners? Like, so, you know, in one regard, if you were to turn a machine into high throttle, so it's like, go. You know, it's going to attack the problem. Awesome. But if you just leave that setting on high the whole time, like, systems overheat, they stress out. And so when you do have that chronic stress, then, you know, as that adrenaline comes out, then, you know, we start to get cortisol coming out too. And then your body is like, dude, I got to go into survival mode. And so it's so focused on, like, keeping you in this high stress situation that it's like, like, okay, we gotta shut down other systems. We're gonna shut down, you know, and get digestion funky. We're gonna get reproduction Funky, maybe even growth funky, because it's trying to put all the rest of the energy back into this stress response that you're doing. And it's like, let's just shut down these processes that aren't so, you know, life requiring. [00:22:22] Speaker A: Yeah. And then, I mean, you know, a lot of times, and I think about life like our cancer patients are having to undergo treatment, and although they're undergoing chemotherapy, radiation, things like that, they're still living in this chronic stress. And so even at that point, your body really never has a chance to fully rest. And I always think about, like, in yoga, one thing that we focus on a lot is our breathing. And I mean, there is proven information out there. You can Google it, as they say. But when you do yoga, when you do any type of exercise, you're able to kind of bring yourself back to that resting state. And so the way, and I always talk about yoga, because the way it's designed is it's set up in a breathing meditation. The beginning of your practice, kind of your warm up your workload, where you're connecting your breathing, but. But then at the end of your practice, your shavasana, your final relaxation, you're able to let all of that energy kind of settle. And if you continue to do yoga, even a weekly practice, it starts to reset your parasympathetic nervous system where you can get off of that fight or flight. So you do have. Your digestive system does get back into its normal functions. Maybe not all the time. It might take some little time and focus. But that's why, you know, we have trauma for yoga, yoga for trauma patients, ptsd, things like that, because it creates a safe space where you can work on breathing and holding the body in a certain way. Because that's one thing that we notice in exercises. We're not really breathing fully, even when you're lifting weights. I mean, I know people that don't want to go do yoga, but they're like, I just need to go burn some steam so that I can release some endorphins so that I can bring my body back to natural rest. And that's why exercise is so important. [00:24:08] Speaker B: Now, have you had a lot, a lot of folks that will specifically tell you that they join your yoga class because they need a way to de stress. They're like, I feel like I've just been living in this, like, high stress. Like, I gotta figure out, like, ways to incorporate stress reduction techniques. And is that how they kind of find you sometimes? [00:24:27] Speaker A: Yeah. And I'll say this, like, even if you've never tried yoga before, yoga can have a bad rap. Two things. You gotta sit very still, and you have to, like, meditate. Meditate. Meditation is hard. I don't even do it very well, and I teach yoga. But the other thing is people think they can't do yoga, and that's because you're looking at people that are doing headstands and stuff like that. Yoga is simply just breath, we call it. I mean, it kind of hippie on you, but it's your pranayama. It's your breath practice. And that's just what you do with your movements. And it creates, like, a rhythm and flow within your body. And so we have people all the time come to us and say, I just need to de stress. And then they become regulars. Yeah, it's great. And I'm curious with food. Gina, you know these patients that have high stress or in this chronic stress and have digestive issues, do you have ways that you work with them? Like, I know you do intuitive eating, things like that. Like, how do you address that? [00:25:16] Speaker B: Yeah, and actually, you know, one of the things is, so for clients that come in and they identify that they've been diagnosed with, like, irritable bowel syndrome or just IBS in general, like, all that kind of stuff. You know, we'll even talk about the practice of getting the body in a relaxed state ahead of time, so doing some deep breathing, practicing some mindful eating so that their body isn't so, like, stressed out. And, like, you know, if I tell them, like, think about your gut, like, being all, like, squished up because it's so stressed out and freaked out. But if we can relax it, that allows, like, full digestion to happen. You know, you're not going to have these perceptions of something like making your stomach hurt when you really don't have an intolerance to it. It's just the fact that your gut is clenched up because it's so stressed out. And so, you know, it can definitely be cyclical because there's a lecture that I do for some classes where we talk about stress's effect on nutrition habits, but then also the effects of your nutrition on your stress levels too. So it kind of is this, like, circle of life, for lack of better words. [00:26:21] Speaker A: Well, we're gonna have to come up on a break, but when we get back, Sheena, I have this really awesome book that I love, and we're gonna kind of look through it and talk a little bit about it, because it will kind of talk about what you're talking about, like, in my head, I'm thinking, oh, yeah, this book says everything. So, yeah. [00:26:35] Speaker B: Okay, well, let's do it. Okay, you guys, we're taking a break. You are listening to Fit to Be Tied with sheena and Lee on 9470 capstone. Wvuafm Tuscaloosa. [00:26:55] Speaker A: And we're back here listening to Fit to be tied on 90.7 the capstone. And, man, we're just trucking along this Sunday afternoon talking about stress, and I'm not stressed at all. [00:27:04] Speaker B: You know, I'm surprisingly not stressed out. I think maybe one of the things that I did for stress management before we started the show was that I chose to fully engage, be present in the moment and mindful so that I could focus on our discussion versus, like, thinking about my to do list in the back of my head. So, you know, maybe that's one of the practical tips that we talk about. [00:27:24] Speaker A: I think that's a very practical tip. I mean, in one of my trainings, the instructor was going through some of our meditation, or, like, we were. I forget what pose we were in. And then she said, be where your feet are. And, like, people say that all the time, but it never fully resonated where I'm like, like, where are my feet? They're right here. So therefore, I need to be here now. But that's good, Gina. Just being all in. [00:27:47] Speaker B: Exactly. Well, I know before the break, we were talking a little bit about nutrition, and I mentioned doing a presentation frequently on the correlation in nutrition and stress. And it's funny because when I go and do these classes, I'll ask folks. I'm like, okay, what kind of eating habits do you have when you're stressed out? Do you have a high appetite, low appetite? Are you craving pizza? Are you craving. Craving carrots and celery? And then we kind of talk about how it can look different. So, you know, with acute stress, like we mentioned at the beginning of the show, normally it's that loss of appetite, like, oh, my gosh, I'm too stressed out. I can't eat. And then as you get into that chronic stress, it can really increase those cortisol levels. You end up, you know, getting hungrier or just wanting to get food as, like, a chemical means of, like, calming yourself. So it's almost like, again, your body's, like, resilience and just, you know, kind of intuitive nature of like, oh, my gosh, I'm so stressed out. I need some kind of, like, pleasure or distraction somewhere. Let me chemically get that from food. Because, you know, eating XYZ could release some endorphins. So it's just our body is, like, so cool. [00:28:52] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:28:53] Speaker B: I don't know. I get sad about stuff like that. [00:28:54] Speaker A: Oh, no, it's very cool because, I mean, food's very comforting. And y' all don't get us wrong, like, eat good food, enjoy, like, all the things. [00:29:02] Speaker B: Things. [00:29:02] Speaker A: But, like, you know, sometimes when you are in that chronic stress, it's just taking a little, like, intuitive step and realizing, you know, how you respond to those things. But I think some other things to mention that long term, you know, activation of that stress response, it can bring on anxiety, it brings on depression, digestive problems, all those things that we're talking about. But then it can also lead to heart disease, heart attack, high blood pressure and stroke, which those are kind of. I mean, nobody wants to gain weight and feel bad. But then you really have to look at some of the risk factors that we're really trying to combat. Memory and concentration impairment. I think about all you college students that are taking classes, getting enough rest and actually coming down and not on that high stress level. You need enough rest so that you can remember what you've studied. And maybe this isn't talking about it now while you're young, but I know when I don't get it enough sleep or I'm stressed, I cannot remember things. [00:29:59] Speaker B: Absolutely. [00:29:59] Speaker A: And it only gets worse when you get older. [00:30:01] Speaker B: Yes, it does. Now, you know, I know, Whitney, we've talked a lot about, you know, yoga and how it benefits stress management, but can you speak a little bit to what I would call, like, just other traditional forms of exercise? Especially when you have someone who says, like, oh, my gosh, I started running and has really helped reduce my stress level. So can you kind of speak to that in terms of, like, kind of touting physical activity is just a way to manage stress? [00:30:28] Speaker A: Well, I think that's just it. Think of it as physical activity and moving your body, and not necessarily. And this is just my opinion, because some people would maybe disagree, but. And not necessarily, like, have to go exercise. And it has to be super, you know, regimented. It just needs to be something to get your mind off of what you're doing, to release some endorphins and really to move your body. So if you like to run, go run, if that's what you like to do. If you like to walk, we have a beautiful campus. If you like to weight train, do weightlifting, yoga, Pilates, it really, in my opinion, it doesn't matter as Long as your mind is able to take a break from what your stress is. And so I think when you're exercising, and this is where like the mind body connection comes in for like yoga and Pilates, and you can apply these principles even into strength training, is go all in with what you're doing. So if you're doing squats, for example, rather than just seeing how many you can do to burn out, like, feel the movement, like stand there, plant your feet, spread your toes, send your hips back in a squat, get low, feel the strength, and engage your muscles on the way up from head to toe. And when you can have a full mind body connection and visualize it and do it, number one, you don't really have to do as many because you're fully engaged, but it's also taking your mind off of whatever has been stressing you out. [00:31:49] Speaker B: Yes. And I love the fact too, that, you know, you had mentioned, you know, when we're being physically active, it's like we're getting to move the body, we're releasing those endorphins. And I think for anyone who has ever kind of shied away from physical activity because maybe it was like triggering to them with like, becoming obsessive about, like, weight loss or whatever. Instead of thinking of that movement, joyful movement for your body as like calorie burn, think of it as, I want to get some oxygen in my body today. I want to increase that blood flow. I want to increase my flexibility. So kind of labeling it as other things versus because I just feel like diet culture constantly correlates exercise with, oh, you're doing it to lose weight or, you know, get some gains where it's like, now there are. There's so many other reasons that we're physically active. [00:32:36] Speaker A: Yeah. And I mean, even just those of you that sit at a desk a lot, I mean, sitting at a desk is going to create stress as well. It's going to create stress in the body. You know, the physical, you know, position that you're putting your body in. But also it's going to mess up your digestive system. I mean, I don't know if you've ever done this. You know, maybe I'm just like outing myself. I can be sitting there doing work and get like, anxious sitting at my desk and then almost feel like my stomach just not feel right and be like, I gotta get up and move. Yeah, get up, move. Do a little, like, walk around the track, walk around outside, and then immediately it's gone and it goes away. And I think that you know, moving. I mean, my opinion is just move your body. I don't put any parameters on it. I'm. I'm just a very. Just get up and move. It doesn't matter what you're doing to feel better. And, like, with nutrition and food, I'm wondering, you know, and we kind of talked about this before, but when people come to you and they're, like, saying they're stressed, do you have any little tips for them besides intuitive eating? [00:33:31] Speaker B: So, you know, I think it's interesting, and I know I mentioned, you know, things being cyclical in a lot of ways. So, you know, when we're stressed out, we don't. We feel like maybe we don't have as much time to, like, you know, plan what we're gonna eat. Then we eat, like, a ton of, like, processed food or fast food. And that's not to say that having that is bad, but if that's your only source of nutrition, even those types of foods can create, like, a large stress response in your body where, you know, oh, my gosh, I've got all this caffeine in my system, all this sugar, all of this salt, and the body is kind of like, even just stressed out chemically, and then that creates that stress, and it kind of goes over and over. So I think, you know, one of the big things that can be really helpful in all of this is to really try to dedicate some time to set up a game plan with your nutrition so that you feel like there is some sense of control with that. And then that's one less thing to stress about during the week where you're like, oh, my gosh, I'm go, go, go. I can't adequately fuel myself all the things. But if you're proactive with it, then you can prep some meals and do all the things, and that's one less thing to stress out about. And you're physically going to feel good from getting, like, good nutrients in your system. [00:34:44] Speaker A: I fully believe if you move your body, if you fuel your body well, and if you get sunshine, then that is like your. Your trifecta of you're going to feel better if you. And the weather's been beautiful lately, so it hasn't been super, super hot. But anyway, man, we have so much to talk about, but I got a couple of minutes before we're going to go on a little break, and we can kind of talk about it in the next part. But there's this book that I really enjoy. Her name is the Deb Shapiro, and she's done all this work in meditation. I mean, she gets really out there and hippie guys. So, I mean, like, if you're into that, go for it. But if it makes you a little uncomfortable, you know, I believe that the body is made of energy and energy systems. And I think that, you know, if you've ever had acupuncture before, though, it tells you a lot about kind of what you're holding on to. And so this body's called. I mean, this book's called your Body Speaks your Mind, Decoding the emotional, psychological, and spiritual messages that underline illnesses. And so she goes into basically talking about, like, trauma that she's had in her childhood and how she addressed it. But what the coolest thing about this book is, it's basically like a reference point. And I'm not going to say this by no means takes away from Western medicine, because we need Western medicine for a lot of things. But there are some things that you can actually, you know, heal by doing yoga, eating right, breathing, and kind of figuring out what issues you have just by doing a little meditation. So it's kind of cool because in the back of a book, you can basically look up an issue. Okay, so I'm just gonna find a little random thing, and I guess we could do stress. Although stress would kind of like open up a whole can of worms. But let's just see what it says about stress. But I mean, it has things in here like nose, obesity, osteoporosis, ovaries. I mean, just respiratory system, anything. So let's find one. Let's just do stress. Okay, so causes of stress can. Okay, here we go. So I'm just going to flip over in the book. And again, this is from Deb Shapiro, your Body Speaks yous Mind and Causes of Stress. So basically, it'll go into it and it'll tell you, like, for you to go in and to figure out what your stressors are in your life, and that's going to relate to a body part that's probably uncomfortable. So, for example, I'm pretty sure this one, because I've done this, this before, has to do with your psoas, like your hip flexors, your psoas major. And so I'll explain this a little bit just to our listeners. Your psoas major muscle, it crosses the hip joint, connects to your ribs, but it's responsible for flexing your hips. So, like pulling your knees into your chest or bringing your chest down to your thighs. And people that have chronic stress, if you notice, just in Our physical fitness world, they'll have super tight hip flexors, and they'll have really tight chest a lot of times because their body is responding to stress in the brain, it manifests in the body. So you'll notice they'll be very in a fetal position, like, very crushed in. So one thing that talks about is if you are having issues in those areas, like those muscle groups are really tight, it's probably because one reason could be because it's manifesting in your head. So one thing that we would look at is, well, we need to open. Open up the hips and stretch through the hips. So we would do certain stretches. And this is just physical work of stretching the hip flexors, opening the chest. And this gets hippie. But it could totally open up chakras. If you think about those energy systems which have some relation to your nerves in your body, and it creates a little bit better experience so that you can start to release some of the tension that you're feeling from the stress that's going on in your head. Oh, man, it's really deep. Yeah. [00:38:13] Speaker B: I might have to ask you where I can get that book. Borrow it. Take a look at it. Because now I'm enjoying it. [00:38:18] Speaker A: It's really fun. And it's even things like. And I know we're gonna go to a break, but like, earaches, this is fun. So, like, on page 319, if, you know you get earaches, let's just find it real quick and then we'll go to a quick break. So, like, 319 earaches. A lot of times it happens mostly in children, but you. But it happens has to do with things that might be upsetting you, loss of balance in your life. And it has to do with maybe how that correlates to that area of the body. [00:38:44] Speaker B: Man, it's really hippie, dude. We can go into all the things. [00:38:48] Speaker A: It's really, really crazy. [00:38:49] Speaker B: But like you said, we gotta take a break. [00:38:50] Speaker A: Gotta take a break. [00:38:51] Speaker B: So we'll do it. Okay. You're listening to Fit to Be tied with Sheena and Whitney on 90.7 to Capstone. Wvuafm test. [00:39:10] Speaker A: We're back, and hopefully y' all aren't stressed anymore. Although as I was reading this book and trying to give you guys some insight, I was, like, starting to get stressed, trying to find exactly what I wanted to tell you guys. But I will say, this book is really cool. Your body speaks your mind. We use it in yoga practice. And, I mean, it's fun to have other resources and Do a little in, you know, insight and learn about yourself some intuitive thinking. [00:39:31] Speaker B: Absolutely. Now, you know, we always kind of go a little rogue in the last five minutes. We go rogue in, like the first five minutes to you. But since we don't have a guest to ask what gets you hype, I was like, I'll just go with something random. So you and I, we've talked about this before. I don't think we've talked about it on air, but I. So I recently did my second baby foot foot peel. And so I'm going through the shade process right now. So for listeners who are unfamiliar with this, there is a foot peel mask that you can get. There's different brands. I think one of the major ones is called baby foot. [00:40:06] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:40:07] Speaker B: And so you wear the booties for like an hour, and then like, five days later, like, your feet just shed. [00:40:12] Speaker A: They shed. Oh, my gosh. [00:40:14] Speaker B: You know, like, all the things. So I had to ask you, Whitney, like, so, you know, they say or recommend that you, like, soak your feet every day to like, like, soften up your feet to, like, help with the shedding process. Do you do that? Do you pick ahead of time, or do you let it shed naturally? I'm sorry if I'm grossing out our listeners, but it's honestly really fascinating. If you Google, like, baby foot peel [00:40:37] Speaker A: photos, it will rock your world, I'm pretty sure. Isn't the chemical like glycolic acid or like alpha hydroxy, where it's like, it like, not alpha hydroxy. Is that what it's called? Maybe I need to check that. But, like, for sure, glycolic acid, where it is gonna peel your feet. I. I just let it kind of peel. I try not to pull the skin off, even though that's really tempting because it kind of hurt. Like, you just don't let naturally happen. This is so gross. I'm gonna tell you guys this, but when I'm teaching yoga and I do a foot pill, I'll forget. And when I'm on my mat, it's. It's everywhere. And then I'm like. And I just tell my participants because then they kind of think. Think it's cool, but, like, I haven't done a foot pill in a while. I'm not gonna lie. This is another really gross thing about to say. But I kind of love my calluses. And I'll tell you why. Because I need the protection in my feet. Because you want calluses that helps to balance out a lot and give you strengthen your feet some Pads. [00:41:30] Speaker B: Some pads. Yeah. [00:41:31] Speaker A: And so I haven't done one in a while because I'm just on this thing where I need my calluses for yoga. [00:41:35] Speaker B: Well, I think. [00:41:36] Speaker A: Totally gross. [00:41:37] Speaker B: I was, like, telling some friends about it and I was like, look, I was like, you just gotta try it. I was like, let it peel naturally. I was like, you know, don't, like, pull or, you know, whatever. You get to see sensitive skin. But when you see, like, the tops of your feet peel, too. [00:41:52] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:41:52] Speaker B: That's always like, oh, my gosh, it does look good. [00:41:56] Speaker A: I wonder if you could do that. And then when you're almost at the end of it, then go get, like, a really good pedicure. Yeah, that might be too much. I don't know. [00:42:04] Speaker B: Maybe that's what I try at the end of this week. [00:42:06] Speaker A: So are your feet going through the process? Yes. [00:42:09] Speaker B: Yes. Anyways, I know the listeners are probably like, oh, my gosh, these. [00:42:12] Speaker A: Google it. [00:42:12] Speaker B: These people are disgusting. But no, I mean, it's really interesting. And if you've ever been like, I have dry, cracked feet. I need to, like, figure it out, you know, maybe you can. [00:42:21] Speaker A: It's so cool. Yeah, I think you can just. You buy them, like, anywhere now. Used to. I think the first one I saw is a Korean brand, and I bought it at Ulta, I think, because they had the little Global skincare and all that kind of section. And I'll like, ooh, that's cool. And then now you can get them at T.J. maxx. They're everywhere. Oh, yeah. But, yeah, I mean, try it out. I mean, it's, you know, gonna be winter. You won't really have to show your feet too much, so you can go ahead and do it now. [00:42:45] Speaker B: I know. That's why I'm like, I got closed toe shoes today, all the things. But now, Whitney, I know, you know, we asked our other guests this, like, what gets you hype? What's kind of like on repeat on your playlist right now, Your personal playlist? [00:42:58] Speaker A: You know, I haven't really listen to a lot of music lately. I was thinking about that the other day because normally I always have something playing, but I guess I haven't had time to really, like, even think about it. I've been like. I've honestly been enjoying the silence. [00:43:11] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:43:12] Speaker A: Because I feel like, because I'm teaching so much, I'm talking a lot, that when I get in the car, I just kind of like silence. So I know that's kind of boring, but I don't really have anything that I'm actually listening to, but just silence. [00:43:23] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:43:23] Speaker A: What about you? [00:43:24] Speaker B: Now, this isn't actually on a playlist for me right now, but a song that I do enjoy. It's from the newer Top Gun movie and it's the scene where they're playing football on the beach. And honestly, I don't know if it's like what I'm seeing is what I enjoy or this song, but it's some song by One Republic. And anyways, it's like, really peppy and full transparency. I don't normally like One Republic's music, but it was, like, kind of cutesy and like. Okay, so anyways, yeah, I think I [00:43:54] Speaker A: might haven't seen it yet, but you know what? It's out on prime, so I might as well rent it. [00:43:57] Speaker B: You totally should. You totally should. Okay, y'. All. With that said, we hope y' all have a fabulous week. You have been listening to Fit to Be tied with Sheena and Whitney on 90.7 Castone, Wvuafm, Tuscaloosa.