The stresses of election season might be hazardous to your health. Yoga instructor Nancy Hawk explains why stress is dangerous and how you can avoid it.
Daily Lobo: What are some causes of stress?
Nancy Hawk: Everything causes stress. It's the lifestyle - we are all so busy rushing around, and work..
DL: What are some of the effects stress can have on a person?
NH: The physiological stress response is a lot of chemical and hormone releases of things that can really hurt you and age you. They are hard on the heart. It causes high blood pressure, stomach problems.... Stress causes you to tighten up, and then you tighten up your muscles, and that hurts you.
DL: How can you relieve stress?
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NH: Deep breathing. The key is breathing. It's all about the breath. In yoga, the word for breathing is "ujjayi," and it's a victorious, upward breathing. When you bring yourself up, that's confidence and courage to help you get through things, so the deeper you can breathe, the calmer you will be, because the breath will bring oxygen in, and oxygen feeds your system. As long as you have a lot of oxygen, it helps you a lot. When you slow down your breathing, which you naturally do in your own way, it slows your heart rate, and it naturally calms you down.
DL: Do you have to do yoga to do this?
NH: The reason why consistent yoga practice helps is because in every yoga session you consciously make the decision to let go of competition, let go of anger, let go of anything you don't need. Those things will always help you. They help everybody, but you don't think about it because you're too busy. So, to consistently remind yourself of that is very helpful. Yoga is one of the best ways ever to reduce stress.... What it does that's unique from other exercises ... is the nature of the moves and the slowness and the holding of the poses - it really enhances the ability to be aware of your breath. So, it connects your body and mind in a way that no other exercise does. That's the connection that can really improve your outlook.
DL: Would other kinds of exercise help relieve stress, too?
NH: You've always heard that exercise makes you feel good and
everybody does it and with that - like cardio and weight lifting and things like that - that's the dopamine and endorphin release, so it makes you feel good one way, but in yoga it's different. You calm down your mind, so your brain starts working in the alpha waves, and that's the brain waves of sleep. Everyone knows how important sleep is, so you get the benefits of sleep while you're awake and while you're strengthening your muscles and your body.
