Speaker 1: Welcome to Healthy Ish. Thanks for tuning in to your
Speaker 1: daily podcasts. From Body and Soul with Me Felicity Harley. Now,
Speaker 1: if life the world is weighing you down, then you
Speaker 1: are listening to the right episode. It will give you
Speaker 1: a much needed pep up. I am joined by psychologist
Speaker 1: Anna Nikolau, who shares a few hand coping strategies to
Speaker 1: help bring more joy to your day. Hey, listening to
Speaker 1: extra healthy Ish, where Anna talks about well she shares
Speaker 1: some easy ways to regulate your nervous system. You can
Speaker 1: catch that one wherever we get your podcasts. Anna, Welcome
Speaker 1: to health Ish.
Speaker 2: Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1: How are you welcome? Welcome to Sydney From.
Speaker 2: Robert I'm loving it now.
Speaker 1: There's a lot going on. I feel like the world
Speaker 1: is really heavy personally. I know a lot of people
Speaker 1: we talk to, well, a lot of people I talk
Speaker 1: to at the schoolgate, in the in the Bristol line,
Speaker 1: feel like we're just impacted by everything else that's going
Speaker 1: on around us. What are you hearing and seeing and feeling.
Speaker 2: Then there's definitely a lot going on. We are, you know,
Speaker 2: overloading our schedule. Everything's at a fast pace and I
Speaker 2: think we just feel overwhelmed most of the time. You know,
Speaker 2: how can we fit everything in in such a short
Speaker 2: amount of time that we have.
Speaker 1: It is the other thing that overwhelmed the schedules, everything
Speaker 1: that's going on, technology, the world, you know, what's going
Speaker 1: on outside our borders. It all just it's like a
Speaker 1: big cloud over so many of us. How does our
Speaker 1: body deal with all of this stress?
Speaker 2: Well, I think what happens is because we are in
Speaker 2: a society now that is fast pace. There's a lot
Speaker 2: of change. You know, we've got we're advancing and moving
Speaker 2: quickly at a rate that's the fastest that it ever
Speaker 2: has been. I think with change. As humans, we don't
Speaker 2: generally like change. We like things to be predictable. We
Speaker 2: like to know what's ahead. And I think with this
Speaker 2: change that we are experiencing at a fast rate, we
Speaker 2: are feeling quite unsettled because of the unpredictability and the
Speaker 2: uncertainty of what's ahead. So with that brings on some
Speaker 2: anxiety and stress and worries, which we are starting to
Speaker 2: see more and more often.
Speaker 1: Are you seeing that in your practice more cases and
Speaker 1: more people coming with these anxiety concerns.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Look, anxiety and stress is one of our biggest
Speaker 2: issues that we're dealing with that we're seeing with our
Speaker 2: clients coming in because it's just a lot to deal with.
Speaker 2: As you said, if we look at everything that's going
Speaker 2: on in the world, even just in our day to day,
Speaker 2: it's a lot to manage, and it is how do
Speaker 2: we cope whilst this is going on?
Speaker 1: What are the health consequences of carrying this this stress?
Speaker 2: Well, I guess when we're stressed and anxious, there's different
Speaker 2: things that can happen. We all experience stress differently to others.
Speaker 2: What tends to happen when we are anxious and stressed
Speaker 2: is we start to neglect ourselves. We're too busy, things
Speaker 2: are too hectic, and we start, you know, neglecting what
Speaker 2: we eat, our exercise. We just think we don't have
Speaker 2: time for self care. So just from that, the consequences
Speaker 2: to our health start to we start to experience other
Speaker 2: consequences is in our the way we behave, the way
Speaker 2: we interact with others. We may start to withdraw because
Speaker 2: it's just too much. We stop socializing and we become
Speaker 2: more isolated.
Speaker 1: How do we manage how can we let's talk about
Speaker 1: from like a macro sense, how can we manage the
Speaker 1: stress of the world, and then micro how can we
Speaker 1: manage ourselves?
Speaker 2: And maybe we need to do it the other way around.
Speaker 2: Let's first focus on ourselves because I think when we
Speaker 2: look at the everything that's going on, it seems too
Speaker 2: big and too much. Let's focus on what we actually
Speaker 2: can control, because we can't control what's going on around us.
Speaker 2: And as I said before, you know, if things are unpredictable,
Speaker 2: we are unsettled. So let's focus on, well, what can
Speaker 2: I can control in my day to day that's going
Speaker 2: to make me feel more settled and that's going to
Speaker 2: be good for me. So I would be looking at
Speaker 2: first the self care. You know, that's something we can
Speaker 2: start thinking about right now. You know, looking at our diet,
Speaker 2: our sleep, routine, exercise, all those things, we see the
Speaker 2: benefits to our mental health. When we are looking after ourselves,
Speaker 2: we are sort of mentally strong and more resilient to
Speaker 2: then cope with the bigger things.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's a really good point. Actually, my husband joke said,
Speaker 1: I'm I mean, I'm very milli about my my sleep
Speaker 1: and my food and my exercise, Like I have to exercise,
Speaker 1: but he jokes about it. But for me, it's not
Speaker 1: a joke because it's actually how I cope, like personally,
Speaker 1: can cope with everything else going on.
Speaker 2: You've seen how it does help you then get through
Speaker 2: the day to day. And we do need to prioritize
Speaker 2: it because if we're not looking after ourselves and that
Speaker 2: drops off, we become more vulnerable to anxiety and stress
Speaker 2: and negative thinking and not coping. So we really do
Speaker 2: need to prioritize self care.
Speaker 1: What about when we get caught up in conversations about
Speaker 1: what's happening overseas, you know, whether it be the war
Speaker 1: in Ukraine, what's happening in the US, and you know,
Speaker 1: often you can get suck into these conversations and you
Speaker 1: can't help but take on some of the stress and
Speaker 1: anxiety from those conversations. How can we kind of protect
Speaker 1: ourselves from that when we're unwittingly well, we look at
Speaker 1: a headline and then it triggers something or I.
Speaker 2: Think it's also important to stop and notice the good
Speaker 2: things that are going on. It's not all doing my
Speaker 2: gloom and negative. There are a lot of good things
Speaker 2: that are going on in the world, but we do
Speaker 2: tend to sort of gravitate towards the not so good things.
Speaker 2: And obviously, if we're exposed to social media and you know,
Speaker 2: things that are coming through our feed, we can get
Speaker 2: pulled into that. But I think it is important to
Speaker 2: be more aware and mindful of looking at the good
Speaker 2: things that are going on, so it's a more balanced view.
Speaker 2: The other thing I would suggest is maybe you know,
Speaker 2: switching off your devices as well at times, or not
Speaker 2: looking at some things that are more triggering that's going
Speaker 2: to bring about more anxiety in stress.
Speaker 1: How can we tap into that joy, more tap into
Speaker 1: the feel good emotions. I'm with you, don't think about this,
Speaker 1: Let's think about this. How do we actually do this?
Speaker 2: Yeah, so I think we just we can easily get
Speaker 2: pulled into, like I said, and be distracted by a
Speaker 2: lot of noise that's going on, and it really for
Speaker 2: us to experience joy, we need to just focus being
Speaker 2: present in the moment. Let's just focus on where we
Speaker 2: are right now and what's going on in front of us.
Speaker 2: And I think if we can practice being more present
Speaker 2: and more engaged, we're naturally going to feel a lot
Speaker 2: more connected and that brings about positivity and joy. So
Speaker 2: I talk about with my clients you know, when you're
Speaker 2: interacting with someone. Majority of the time, I think we
Speaker 2: can all relate. When we're talking to someone, we're not
Speaker 2: fully listening and we're already planning or thinking about what
Speaker 2: we're going to do next, or what am I cooking
Speaker 2: for dinner? Or you know, what do I have to
Speaker 2: get at the shops, and we're not fully present and
Speaker 2: engaged in that moment. So the best way to be
Speaker 2: engaged in present is focus on your senses. What can
Speaker 2: I see, what can I hear? What can I smell?
Speaker 2: What can I touch? In some examples, and that brings
Speaker 2: us really to the present, and then we enjoy that
Speaker 2: interaction or that experience a lot more full fully, and
Speaker 2: you will notice it, it's more enjoyable.
Speaker 1: It's often hard to kind of catch yourself in the moment,
Speaker 1: isn't it. It's almost like a muscle that you you
Speaker 1: have to train to think, okay, like focus, stop thinking
Speaker 1: about that. Like it's so easy to get caught up
Speaker 1: in that. It's so easy the thoughts that, you know,
Speaker 1: the rumination and the cycles of I need to do this,
Speaker 1: I need especially at this time.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Well, research is showing too that we can't hold
Speaker 2: attention as long as we used to. You know, over
Speaker 2: time now our attention span is reducing significantly. Everything we
Speaker 2: want is immediate. I mean when we read an article,
Speaker 2: we skim through it. We've sort of lost that ability
Speaker 2: to hold attention. It's something we really need to start
Speaker 2: practicing more. And it's really being just aware to hold
Speaker 2: that attention, to be present to you know, not be
Speaker 2: pulled in or distracted by other things or picking up
Speaker 2: our phone at the dinner table. It's something we've really
Speaker 2: got to practice because we've slipped into some bad habits
Speaker 2: and it's really something we go to train our brain
Speaker 2: to hold attention. And I think by focusing on your
Speaker 2: senses and more aware of that, that's the best way
Speaker 2: to practice holding attention. And when you do practice that,
Speaker 2: you notice it actually hurts, like it you feel your
Speaker 2: brain hurt when you have to hold attention and notice
Speaker 2: your senses. But that's good. You've got to work that.
Speaker 2: There's something that over time you can and.
Speaker 1: It does get easier.
Speaker 2: It does get easier.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And I thank you for coming on Healthish, thank
Speaker 1: you for having me well. Thanks for tuning in too
Speaker 1: Anna's wisdom. If you do want more from her, listening
Speaker 1: to extra Healthyish, where we take a bit of a
Speaker 1: deep dive into the nervous system. If you want anything
Speaker 1: else from us, you know where to go bodyansoul dot
Speaker 1: com that you follow us on socials, Grab our print
Speaker 1: edition which is out in your local Sunday paper, and
Speaker 1: until tomorrow, stay healthish.