Good health and vitality are foundational for thriving individuals, families and communities – they help to foster a healthy economy and society.
Vitality is an individual’s ability to enjoy life with good health, strength and energy. While this is essential for individuals, it is also important for business and community growth.
Cigna Healthcare conducted a 360° wellbeing survey called ‘Vitality Study’ of over 10,800 respondents in 12 countries and territories, including the UAE, between May and June 2023. Vitality refers to individuals’ or employees’ overall health, resilience and ability to adapt and thrive at work.
The survey focused on eight key aspects of vitality, including emotional, environmental, financial, intellectual, occupational, physical, social, and spiritual. It covered 1,000 respondents in the UAE who were office-bound, primarily employees.
Stress figured high at 89 per cent, with 99 per cent of respondents experiencing at least one burnout symptom.
Of those surveyed, 89 per cent said they felt “always on”, while 32 per cent said they worked regularly outside of normal working hours.
The research (1) found that the most frequently reported effect of stress was disrupted sleep. 50 % of all respondents said that they don’t get a good night’s sleep and wake up rested, fresh, strong and ready to face the day.
Stress might affect you more than you think
High sleep quality is associated with better overall health. Sleep quality also has a correlation with vitality scores.
“Disrupted sleep has a significant effect on overall well-being. Stress and sleep are deeply interconnected: just as stress disrupts sleep, poor sleep can intensify stress,” says Dr. Stella George, Chief Medical Officer, International Health, Cigna Healthcare.
Many of us are familiar with the feeling of stress – the pressure, the tension, the overwhelming sense of anxiety that can consume us in our personal and professional lives. Stress as a big part of life has become the norm for many. While a certain level of stress can be motivating keeping us on our toes, chronic stress can have detrimental effects on both our personal well-being and our business success.
When stress becomes chronic, it can impair your cognitive function, creativity, decision-making abilities, and emotional well-being. Relationships, business or private, significantly shape our sense of purpose, belonging, and vitality.
Stress - ''The Silent Saboteur''
It creeps up on you, especially chronic stress. For example, you tell yourself that you can manage the sudden additional workload because somebody quit or got fired, the unexpected of friends and family turning up for a holiday, in addition to happenings of external critical geopolitical situations. On a physical level, stress can lead to issues such as insomnia, irritability, and other physical ailments such as a rise in blood pressure, muscular tension, jaw tension, etc. Constant irritability, fatigue, and emotional instability can lead to conflicts and strain relationships with partners, family, and friends.
In business, stress can manifest as decreased productivity, increased absenteeism, poor teamwork, leading ultimately to a negative impact on the bottom line.
Stress is one of the most urgent issues facing businesses today, impacting finances, productivity, as well as the well-being of employers and employees at every level.
- Financially Devastating: Stress-related health issues are the #1 cause of workplace absenteeism. Turnover rates skyrocket as stressed employees leave, taking critical experience and expertise with them.
- Productivity Killer: Employees under chronic stress show a 30% decrease in cognitive function, compromising their creativity, decision-making, and ability to work effectively. This leads to poor performance, costly mistakes, and missed opportunities.
Stress is now recognized as a leading health concern globally, contributing to conditions like heart disease, anxiety, and depression. These stress-driven health claims are on the rise, and the long-term costs to businesses are steep and unsustainable.
Let's define it: What is Stress?
Stress is a response to challenging situations, situations which catch you off guard, which feel threatening (real or imagined) – but the stress response should be a short-lived reaction and it usually is.
Chronic ongoing stress, however, can have a devastating effect on our health, well-being, and impacting our relationships.
The body’s response to stress is a brain and nervous system reaction. It follows a three-stage process known as General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS), first described by Hans Selye. What Selye discovered was the general adaptation syndrome, the body’s non-specific physiological response to stress.
- Alarm reaction stage: This is the initial “fight-or-flight” response, characterized by the release of hormones like adrenaline and noradrenaline. Physical symptoms include increased heart rate, rapid breathing, trembling, and heightened senses.
- Resistance stage: The body attempts to repair itself and return to normal functioning. If the stressor persists, the body remains in a heightened state of alertness, continuing to secrete stress hormones.
- Exhaustion stage: Prolonged exposure to stress depletes the body’s resources, leading to fatigue, burnout, decreased stress tolerance, and increased susceptibility to various health problems.
The three stages of Selye’s general adaptation syndrome are shown in this graph
Photo credit: Selye and the General Adaptation Syndrome Copyright © 2017 by Allen Urich, licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
Stress is a highly personalized phenomenon and can vary widely even in identical situations. For example, one survey showed that having to complete paperwork was more stressful for many police officers than the dangers associated with pursuing criminals. The severity of job stress depends on the magnitude of the demands and the individual’s sense of control or decision-making ability in dealing with them. Scientific studies based on this model confirm that workers who perceive they are subjected to high demands but have little control are at increased risk for cardiovascular disease.
If you get stressed out frequently, and there is no release and reset to a relaxed state, the stress response can become constant and cause ongoing harm, including chronic inflammation – which is caused by the persistent activation of the immune system, which sharply raises the risks for many diseases such as dementia, heart disease, stroke, joint pain, gastric problems, etc.
When stress persists without relief, it drains your physical, emotional, and mental resources to the point where your body is no longer able to cope. It’s important to recognize the effects of stress early on to prevent a state of exhaustion, burnout, decreased stress tolerance, and an increased risk of developing the above-mentioned health problems.
High vitality individuals are more empowered to manage their health
While individuals with high vitality levels, meaning they have more strength and resilience, might fall sick less often or be less prone to the effects of stress overall, they also feel more capable of bouncing back from illness or injury than those with low vitality (88% vs 27%).
How to deal with Stress
The best way to cope with stress is by getting at least seven hours of sleep per night, eating a predominantly plant-based diet, exercising regularly, meditating, and staying socially connected. Interpersonal relationships and social connectivity fuel vitality, resilience, a sense of belonging and self worth.
Do a relaxation exercise: The relaxation response — the opposite of the stress response — was defined by Harvard Medical School professor Herbert Benson. It slows your breathing, reduces your heart rate, and lowers your stress hormones.
- Take a brisk walk. Getting 150 minutes per week of moderate-intensity exercise, such as brisk walking, dancing, riding a bike, playing tennis, hiking is important for all aspects of health, including stress management.
Moderate-intensity physical activity raises your heart rate and makes you breathe faster, but you would still be able to speak during the activity.
- Reduce loud music and play soothing music. Unlike loud noise, pleasing music can help elicit the relaxation response. Listen to your inner self.
- Focus on your breath. Consciously breathe in slowly through your nose and out through your mouth. Try to breathe in to a count of six, and out to a count of 8 or 9.
There are many tools available to reduce stress such as changing negative thoughts, playing sports, journalling, using positive self-talk, eating a healthy diet, meditating, gardening, walks in nature, etc.
However, from experience I find that people either don’t believe in many of the natural methods thinking they are too simple or forget to apply them even when the need arises.
Brain Gym: A Potential Solution to Decrease Stress
A stress response becomes a habit. We all know that it can be difficult to change a habit. But – you can learn to retrain your response. Many people don’t believe that the simple ways as mentioned before can help to reduce stress, make them feel better and improve resilience and vitality. And they might only have a short term effect until fully applied – meaning to learn a new stress response with intent and purpose.
Making lasting changes requires more self awareness, a willingness to explore a new way of thinking, expanding horizons, letting go of old patterns, which no longer serve their purpose, and the determination. It took time to acquire the old habits, equally it takes a bit of time to shed them and develop new ones.
This is where Brain Gym techniques from Educational Kinesiology can help. Brain Gym techniques not only make you more resilient to the body’s stress response whenever you feel triggered, it can also be used to help you remember that perhaps you have spent time, money, and made efforts to learn techniques to get on top of the effects of stress. Brain Gym can help you to retrain to remember those things and apply them when needed.
Brain Gym is a series of simple, enjoyable movements and exercises designed to integrate the brain and body, promoting learning and physical, emotional and mental well-being.
“Movement is the Door to Learning” according to Dr. Paul Dennison, the creator of Brain Gym. Brain Gym interventions aim at the optimization of activity, social participation, and quality of life. better sleep and stress reduction. Brain Gym is not directly linked to improved economic outcomes, but its potential benefits for reducing stress and increasing resilience certainly help in the business world.
- Activate multiple brain areas: Brain Gym exercises involve coordinating movements, stimulating both brain hemispheres and enhancing communication between different brain regions.
- Reduce stress hormones: The exercises promote relaxation and help counteract the release of stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline.
- Improve focus and concentration: By calming the nervous system and integrating the brain, Brain Gym may enhance cognitive function and attention.
- Encourage mindfulness and presence: Engaging in these exercises can shift focus to the body and breath, cultivating mindfulness and grounding in the present moment.
- Increase energy and vitality: Reducing stress through Brain Gym may free up physical and mental resources, leading to increased energy levels and a greater sense of vitality.
Brain Gym consists of 26 movements. In a recent study with graduate students suffering from insomnia, anxiety, stress and mild depression, as well as cognitive struggles the Cross-Crawl, Brain Buttons, Lazy Eights, Tracing X, Hook-ups, Neck Circle and Positive Points were done daily for one month.
The results were significant: Brain Gym exercises were seen to be effective in attention improvement, helpful in enhancing concentration, attention, and memory as well as helping to relieve stress. There was a marked reduction in the stress, anxiety and depression as measured in the DASS-21 (Depression Scale, Anxiety, and Stress-21) scale.
These exercises, along with other stress management techniques like diaphragmatic breathing, can be powerful tools for mitigating the harmful effects of stress.
By promoting relaxation, the Brain Gym techniques aim to reduce the levels of these stress hormones, improve sleep quality, and bring the body and mind back to a state of balance.
If you are curious, click the link and try some of the exercises yourself. We are starting every Brain Gym Balance with the PACE exercises. Follow this Link and try them yourself: Brain Gym PACE exercises at the beach https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cxvGJVJlJx8&t=308s
However, seek professional help if stress becomes unmanageable.
Book your free discovery call with me to find out how a better connected brain can help you or your family, privately or for business.
https://calendly.com/evelynbrey/20-minutes-free-one-on-one-consultation
References:
- Cigna Healthcare International Health Study 2024 https://comms.cignaglobalhealth.com/vitality-report-launch
- Anxiety & Stress? Here is a Quick Brain Neuroplasticity Trick for Instant Calm! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WqrDAm9jyjU
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Selye
- https://www.stress.org/workplace-stress/
- https://www.thenationalnews.com/uae/2024/02/02/burnout-and-financial-stress-among-common-concerns-for-uae-residents-study-shows/
- https://www.verywellhealth.com/general-adaptation-syndrome-overview-5198270
- https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9527040/
- https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/top-ways-to-reduce-daily-stress
- Brain Gym PACE exercises at the beach https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cxvGJVJlJx8&t=308s
- https://jmpas.com/admin/assets/article_issue/1638439124JMPAS_SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER_2021.pdf
- https://psu.pb.unizin.org/kines082/chapter/selye/
About the Author
Evelyn Brey, B.Sc., Ost.Med., is a certified Kinesiologist, Brain Gym Instructor, Member of the Board Brain Gym Austria, and the founder of Smart Moves X. With over 20 years of experience and extensive qualifications across a range of Kinesiology and other natural health modalities, Evelyn is passionate about helping her clients overcome their emotional, mental, physical, nutritional and energetic challenges to achieve their goals.
DISCLAIMER
This site offers health, wellness, and movement information and is designed for educational purposes only. This site is not intended to provide and does not constitute medical, legal, or other professional advice. The content is designed to support, not replace, medical or psychiatric treatment.
Please seek professional care if you believe you may have a medical condition.