9 ways for businesswomen to stop the negative effects of stress

Have you been chased by a tiger lately?  Your body thinks so. 

We live in a modern world where we don’t typically worry about wild animals as physical threats; but the stone-aged instinct to gear up for a fast run or life-or-death fight still lives deep within our DNA.  As a result, day-to-day stressors that we see as “normal” and much less harmful than a charging beast are actually just as destructive to our bodies, though the deadly impact takes effect over a longer period of time.  Simple irritations like heavy traffic up to long-term anxieties like a slumping business can have grave impacts on your health if you are not aware of biofeedback.  Biofeedback is the term for signs of your body communicating when it is suffering through less–than-optimal conditions. It commonly shows up as a headache or tight neck and back muscles.  More gravely, it shows up as a heart attack — the leading cause of death for women in America.

Add to this your myriad responsibilities and relationships as a mother, girlfriend, wife, boss, volunteer or other roles, and you literally need to manage your wellness, just as you manage your business.

Dr. Murray Grossan, M.D. has worked for more than 30 years with patients suffering from degenerative health problems related to stress and anxiety.  As a solution, he says women literally need to look in the mirror when they are stressed to see how their faces and physical posture are contorted. Then they need to breathe and relax while looking in the mirror so they can see and feel the difference in a relaxed state versus a tense one.  He says the sight-mind-body connection of these exercises over time will result in muscle-memory induced relaxation even during times of stress. 

“It’s a fact. You cannot be stressed if your muscles are relaxed. You cannot be stressed if you have relaxed breathing.  Stress cannot negatively impact you if you are in a place of healing by using sensory imagination to be there. And you have control over all these things: Your muscles, breathing, imagination and thoughts,” Dr. Grossan says.  His book, Stressed? Anxiety? Your Cure is in the Mirror, details his research and exercises.

Women entrepreneurs may be particularly susceptible to increased stress due to their professional goals.

Denise OliveDenise Olive, a board certified biofeedback therapist since 1991, says be aware of doing too much. “We become ripe for burnout when we are under chronic stress and don’t feel in control of our lives or our time.  If [stress] symptoms persist and you begin to find you are disinterested in things and people you normally enjoy you should consider that a warning sign,” Olive says.  “Risk factors can include overuse of caffeine, food or alcohol to try to charge up or keep pushing in spite of feeling tired.  Loss of caring about quality of work or just ‘going through the motions’ can be another sign you’re burning out.” 

Olive says meditating or sitting quietly for a period of time each day can reverse the effects of chronic stress.  “Research shows that any form of meditation or relaxation technique for 20 minutes per day has a powerful effect on reducing the stress response, strengthening the immune system, decreasing headaches and other pain conditions.  If you don’t know how to do this, find a biofeedback practitioner to teach you,” she says.

Olive offers 9 easy solutions for rejuvenating from burnout and managing stress and anxiety on a daily basis:

1. Aromatherapy
2. Hot Baths
3. Time connecting with nature
4. Read a good book
5. Massage
6. Spa Treatments
7. Reconnect with friends or family you haven’t spoken to in a while
8. Watch funny movies
9. Turn off your technology