3- Get active and reduce PCOS stress
PCOS patients frequently experience high levels of stress, owing to the disorder’s numerous unpleasant and debilitating symptoms. Stress can manifest itself in a variety of ways, including insomnia, binge eating, mood swings, and stiff muscles, as well as general anxiety, a decrease in libido, and high blood pressure. If you are experiencing any of these symptoms, your stress levels are likely to be elevated.
Relaxation is the best stress reliever, but we understand that it might be difficult to relax when you’re dealing with high stress and PCOS. Fortunately, some practices and activities can help you relax and improve your moods, such as meditation, deep breathing, and yoga. Daily meditation and visualization exercises can help to change the way you react to stress, allowing you to deal better when anxiety and worry attack. Meditating also improves impulse control and sharpens focus, allowing you to stay in the now and be more resilient. If you have PCOS, set out 10 minutes each day to relax and meditate. You can focus on visualizing a tranquil scene if that helps, or simply let your thoughts flow without stopping to analyze. Concentrating on your breathing can help your system if it’s feeling overloaded, especially since when you’re tight, you tend to take shorter, shallower breaths. Whether you’re apprehensive or tense, breathing and exhaling deeply and purposefully can help to settle you down and serve as a mini-reset for your body and mind.
Sunshine is essential when aiming to reduce stress levels because it is the key to increasing both mood and the immune system, which can be compromised due to the elevated inflammation levels associated with PCOS. Open the curtains, spend time in rooms with lots of natural light, and walk outside as much as possible to get a free Vitamin D dose – and you’ll be helping to reduce your stress as well!
There are many effective ways to deal with stress and anxiety, ranging from mood-boosting supplements like St John’s Wort and Rhodiola Rosea to gratitude journaling, in which you write down everything you are thankful for – and don’t forget to spend time with your furry friends, like your cat or dog. Petting animals has been shown to lower blood pressure and stress and having a pet to care for not only reduces anxiety but also gives you a feeling of purpose.
Adaptogenic herbs, such as ashwagandha, have been demonstrated in studies to aid promote stress resistance by allowing your body to withstand higher levels of stress without experiencing a surge in stress hormones.
Don’t forget about exercise, which relieves stress by increasing endorphin levels and mood, but for the ultimate in relaxation, try yoga. Yoga is an excellent approach to lessen your stress reaction, and you don’t even need to attend a class because there are many helpful videos available online for free. Just 20 minutes of regular yoga in the morning or before bed will have a significant impact on stress levels, calming you down and minimizing the damaging inflammation that contributes to PCOS.
