Welcome to week 5 of ReNew You!

Rather than set resolutions, I hope you've felt the power of making small shifts in your health that have big rewards.

I help my one to one clients make these changes, and I'd love to help you make them, too.

You’re not too late; if you’ve missed any of the previous weeks, you can find them here.

As I work with clients, I see how stress impacts everyone. 

Did you know that 90% of emergency room visits are stress-related?

We all are familiar with the typical modern-day stressors: 

• money 
• relationship dynamics
• career demands
• family responsibilities and caregiving

There are other elements of stress that we may not be aware of:

• Nervous system dysregulation - Living in a state of fight or flight or survival mode 
• Rehearsing and ruminating on fear-based thoughts
  
• Eating quickly  
• Undereating - not fueling yourself with nourishing foods 
• Blood sugar dysregulation - eating a lot of processed carbohydrates and sugar 
• Relying on caffeine to make it through the day
  
• Overexercising 
• Sitting all day long and never getting outdoors
  
• Overcommitting your time and energy 
• Always being overscheduled and on the go - never taking time to rest and decompress
  
• Staying up late and getting less than 7 hours of sleep/night 
• Scrolling social media and the news
  

You’ve likely heard of the stress hormone cortisol. 

We need this hormone to rise in the morning to help us get out of bed and start our day. 

If you live life feeling like a tiger is constantly chasing you, this can have a downstream effect on your blood sugar, digestion, and sleep.

Stress is one of the five pillars of health I support my clients with.  

In our modern world, how can you support your stress response without creating one more thing you must do?

It’s important to pause and listen to what your body needs.  

Women are often socialized to put everyone else’s needs ahead of their own.  

I encourage you to check in to see what you need to support your body.

Some ideas to help manage stress:

• Feel your emotions rather than bury them
• Ask for help - so often we believe we have to go it alone in life - or we assume others can read our minds
• Put your phone on do not disturb
• Say “no” and risk disappointing someone
• Take a walk
• Take a nap - rest is productive
• Eat a nourishing meal 
• Close your eyes and take 3 cleansing breaths
• Take time to sit and do absolutely nothing - and don’t shame yourself for it
• Listen to your favorite music
• Read a book
• Connect with a friend
• Spend time in nature

Can you take one of these items and put it on your calendar?  

Carve out time to support your stress level and nervous system.  

It will have a powerful ripple effect on your overall health.  

I hope these five weeks of ReNew You have assisted you in establishing healthy habits that you can maintain throughout the year.

If you want my help creating a personalized plan to support you in reaching your health goals, please reply to this email.