Reduce Stress by spending time in nature, taking time for yourself or following some of the tips provided by Mountain Trek.

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Self Soothing to Replace Stress Eating

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Self soothing with food

Emotional Eating is a common stress release, or reward choice, for most of us. Using food as a way to work through our feelings, we lower the intensity, or even numb uncomfortable emotions by chewing, grazing, searching, tasting, craving, overeating or even binging. Unfortunately, eating can lead to guilt or shame when we do it for soothing rather than to stop hunger. In Susan Albers book “50 Ways to Soothe Yourself Without Food”, the author of Eating Mindfully, offers 5 other choices to replace stress eating:

  1. Mindful Meditation Techniques
  2. Changing Thoughts (journalling, affirmations, etc)
  3. Soothing Sensations to Calm and Relax the Body (baths, yoga, massage, etc)
  4. Soothing with Distractions (music, shopping, creativity, etc)
  5. Social Soothing (buddy system, furry friends, safe venting, etc)

Susan’s practical alternatives to stress eating are beneficial to all of us who anesthetize our difficult emotions with oral pleasures. Her crux, is to practice “Radical Acceptance”…the complete focusing on “what is” rather than on how we wish things should be…feeling our feelings and accepting them for what they are. Susan offers,”Emotional eating is the opposite of acceptance…it involves warding off feeling bad with comfort eating because we don’t accept the way we feel.” Acceptance doesn’t equal condonance, it just allows more grace to be with what is…and the spaciousness to explore our unmet needs. Check out Susan’s Book if any of these thoughts resonate for you.

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Sleep and Stress

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Woman relaxing in a bubble bath

If insomnia is plaguing your sleep, you are probably one of the 75% suffering from too little, or frequently interrupted rest, that is triggered by a current stressor (it’s also a symptom of menopause.) Most studies show that poor sleepers tend to have higher levels of cortisol and related stress hormones in their bloodstream. Cortisol affects our sleep depth, continuum, and state, and the long-term lack will affect our memory, cellular repair, and energy management.

If you are looking for that deep state of rest and recovery found in “slow-wave” sleep…do everything you can to reduce mental stimulation before going to bed. In 1910, the average night’s sleep was 9 hrs, now it is 7.5 hrs, and dropping.  A 100 years ago, we didn’t have the News on TV, emails, movies, etc. to stimulate us and absorb our pre-slumber hours. Allow “morphious” to seduce you away from your stressors by having a warm bath, massage, or meditate before retiring.

What is Mountain Trek?

Mountain Trek is the health reset you’ve been looking for. Our award-winning health retreat, immersed in the lush nature of British Columbia, will help you detox, unplug, recharge, and roll back years of stress and unhealthy habits. To learn more about the retreat, and how we can help you reset your health, please email us at info@mountaintrek.com or reach out below:

Stress Less…Sleep Deep

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If you are having difficulty falling asleep at night, try walking the perimeter of your home…checking that doors and windows are locked. Sounds silly, but you will allow the unconscious to relax, knowing that “all is safe”, when it is stimulated by high levels of the stress hormone “Cortisol”, this part of your mind will relax…enabling us to drop into deep Stage 4 sleep.