Healthy Living

Knee-jerk stress reactions. When our bodies are stressed, we look for ways to cope. It’s a built-in biological mechanism stemming from fight or flight days on the savannah. However, while we used to be stressed from animals chasing us on the savannah, to which we reacted by running, we are now stressed by things like traffic, our families, jobs, co-workers, or friendships. And our reactions are often much less physical than running away. For many people, coping reactions look more like eating, smoking, drinking, nail-biting, or speaking angrily to family or friends. Left to build up, these stress and coping reactions can have long-term negative impacts on our lives.

Nasty habit #1 Name your negative stress reaction and break it.

This is not easy, it takes some people years of therapy to stop drinking, using drugs, or eating as reactions to stress. Let’s focus on something simpler that you do on a regular basis. Nail biter? Foul language? Eat? Name the stress-reaction habit you want to break, then state why and when you do it. Next, come up with an easy and positive replacement for it. For example, every time you reach for food when stressed, asses if you’re truly hungry, or just stressed. If stressed, angry, tired, or some other emotion is the answer, ask yourself what made you feel this way. Take care of that emotion first. Then, if you still have the urge to nibble (food, fingernails, whatever) substitute a healthier behavior, for example, chew gum, or drink water or tea.

Naming the feeling, naming the reaction, and then substituting a positive behavior is a clear, simple, cognitive way to change your behaviors. Take care of the emotion, then decide if you’re still hungry.

Try it and let me know how it goes!

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