Stress & Its Impact on Wellbeing

0:03 [Music]0:12 hi my name is Glenn tibo I'm a dad husband son brother former politician motorcycle Enthusiast 53-year-old0:20 kickboxer and the current executive director of government Affairs Advocacy and policy here at diabetes Canada I0:26 also live with type 2 diabetes and that's been a 7-year Journey for me so far and like most of you on this call0:32 there was some initial learnings that I had to go through when I was first diagnosed I was a little too proud to go0:38 see the doctor especially as an elected official I always said I was too busy but I knew something was up when I had a0:44 hard time seeing a clock across the legislature so much so that I was confusing the number 39 and 59 and why0:51 that's important is during question period the opposition parties have a set number of questions and each question0:57 can be a minute long and then the government can answer answer that with a one minute answer so you always want to1:03 fill that time to ensure there's no extra time for extra questions well for the first year I was always bang on 591:10 seconds to 1 minute then it started to end I started seeing 37 or 38 and 39 is1:16 59 consistently and I would always sit down thinking ha nailed it but all my1:22 colleagues were looking at me like what the heck you left them another 20 seconds do that three times and that's a1:27 full additional question well and when you're the minister of energy you get way more than three questions per1:33 question period so it was becoming a bit of an issue two weeks later and after a lot of heckling from my own party I1:40 finally went to see the doc he called me back the next day very concerned because my sugar was1:46 27 so with a lot of discussion some new medications and a new found reason to1:52 change my lifestyle I was able to get my di diabetes under control and where it needed to be and like I said earlier 71:59 years years later it's still a battle for me every day my job and responsibilities being a dad of two2:05 daughters especially one of them just getting through taining years and the other one smack dab in the middle of it2:10 being 16 still has stress and how I manage that stress is key for me rather2:16 than sticking to being you know a stress eater I would always hover hover around the pantry I would now I take my dog for2:24 a walk I go to a kickboxing class or sometimes I go for a nice long relaxing motorcycle ride and that helps me2:30 refocus on what I need to do to keep me where I need to be so I want to thank2:36 you for letting me share a small part of my diabetes Journey with you and with2:42 that it's my pleasure to introduce our keynote speaker cerra Stevens who will be providing information on stress and2:49 its impact on well-being Sierra is a registered nurse and diabetes a2:55 certified diabetes educator residing in the beautiful Annapolis Valley of Nova Scotia she has lived with type 13:01 diabetes for over 25 years and she's worked with people who live with diabetes in a variety of Health Care3:06 settings including both critical and primary care and one of Sierra's ultimate career goals is to help3:13 extinguish the shame stigma and misinformation that often surrounds diabetes both within General society and3:21 the institution of healthcare itself she is a self-proclaimed Fitness and Wellness nerd and recently completed her3:27 first Sprint Tri aalon and is a certified yoga instructor Sierra3:33 recognizes the importance of mental Fitness in both her day-to-day life and regarding her own diabetes self3:40 management she aims to live life outside of her comfort zone and ultimately hopes to help others living with diabetes do3:47 the same so this session will also be moderated by Kayla RKA from the3:52 knowledge and connection team at diabetes Canada so over to you Kayla welcome everyone to the first day4:00 of diabetes Canada connect I'm Kayla Ranka and it's my pleasure to moderate this session on stress and its impact on4:07 well-being with that I will turn it over to Siara Stevens our guest speaker today to introduce herself hello everybody um4:16 as k Sorry Kayla said my name is Sierra Stevens and I'm a registered nurse4:22 diabetes educator a yoga instructor and a self-proclaimed Fitness and Wellness nerd and I live well with type 14:30 diabetes and it's my pleasure to talk to you today about stress great thank you4:36 um so stress we all experience it um I sometimes very loud in your faith kind4:41 of stress and other times it kind of sits in the background weedling away at our our General Health and well-being so4:48 you know maybe we can just start by talking about stress we throw that word around a lot what ises it actually4:54 mean for sure I hear that word a lot whether it's at work or when I'm talking5:00 to family and friends and I'll definitely expand on it stress means the5:05 way our body feels and the way our mind5:10 feels and reacts in response to a stress sore and in other words stress is what5:17 you physically feel in your body when you encounter a stress sore or the way5:22 that um your thoughts start to kind of tumble around responding to a stress and5:28 how people respond to stressor or how they experience stress is very unique5:33 just like being a human we're all pretty different right so you Ed the word5:38 stressor can you maybe give us a few examples of what those might be definitely I thought that I should touch5:45 base on a stressor in regard to diabetes as well in general and when I think of5:51 what a stressor is diabetes wise perhaps thinking about a high blood sugar in the5:57 morning so maybe somebody somebody has like something really special going on that day like their wedding and they6:03 wake up and they have a high blood sugar to start the day having that high blood sugar in itself can be a stressor or it6:11 can be something on Diabetes related which could be anything for a job interview for example and uh yeah people6:19 can be pretty cool as a cucumber for those or we have other people like myself when they're having an interview6:25 for a job who can feel pretty stressed so the interesting thing is whether it's6:31 a stressor for a high blood sugar a stressor that is a high blood sugar or a job interview your body sees those6:38 things in the same way and can start to react to that type of stress in the same6:44 way back in yeah back in the older like6:49 years and years and years ago when we used to be hunter gatherers and we had6:54 to you know flee from attackers or wild animals that stress response really it7:01 it especially came in handy to help us fight or flee when we encountered something like7:07 that and now stress is still useful we don't tend to encounter those type of things but our body still responds to7:13 the same way in the same way so stress can be a7:19 good thing definitely it definitely can and there's actually a word for good stress and that is use stress and really7:28 stress can be very motivating especially in short births to help you get something done like preparing for this7:35 interview today I knew that I needed to put it in my schedule and uh get my my7:40 thoughts going about it and that type of us stress helped me to get ready and be prepared so I could really give you7:47 useful information today um a little bit of stress can just really kind of help you be prepared for your day and be able7:53 to face it head on yeah I know I've heard people say they thrive on stress sometimes I am not one of those people7:59 but I I guess for some people that's a good thing um I'm assuming though that8:06 uh when you're exposed to high levels of stress or stress over a long period of time um that it does have some negative8:13 impacts on the body so can you speak a little bit about what stress does to our bodies definitely so um I think it's8:21 important to mention that while it can be useful too much of it or repeated exposure to it can be harmful and that8:28 response a person has to a stress to a stress sore and that stress they have uh8:34 can be kind of overdone and um kind of happen more quickly that stress feeling8:41 can happen more fast than it did initially when you're having repeated exposure to the8:47 stressors considering that stress is a pretty normal part of our our you know being human it's it's really something8:54 important for us to talk about in some cases though as I mentioned a person may experience that too often and then it9:01 becomes a normal part of their day I like to think of our brain as something that learns what's normal for us and as9:08 we are exposed to something um that stressor might beat beat down kind of like certain Pathways in our brain and9:14 then our brain will start to react in a similar way to a certain memory or a certain stress and then you know you get9:22 that heart rate response more quickly um type of thing and there's certain9:28 structures in your brain that recognize stress and set off a series of events and they do this through different9:34 hormones that our brain releases um one of one example of those hormones is9:40 cortisol and cortisol helps our body to be prepared to fight Invaders such as a9:45 virus and it gets our immune system ready to take action and in order to do9:51 that what our body thinks we need to do is increase our blood pressure increase9:56 our heart rate and even increase our blood sug sugar to give us more energy to comat combat that stressful10:03 situation some people notice things like um their stomach being upset when they're stressed some people might you10:10 know have more active bowels with stress or more constipation it just kind of depends on the person but it's kind of10:16 all that body's response to hormones um another thing is the chemical Messengers floating around to10:23 stress can speed up your heart rate like I mentioned and that's that um you know people feel like they have palpitations10:30 sometimes with stress or that their heart's just going really fast or is10:35 going really fast the good thing is is we know that there uh are ways to help manage stress to combat these negative10:42 consequences and I definitely want to make sure we talk more about those today yeah for sure and I'm gonna wing it here10:49 for a second yeah so I'm assuming that maybe the body responds differently to10:56 that immediate stress like that kind of butterflies in the stomach instant kind of stress differently than it does to11:04 this low grade constant stress that maybe some of us might be experiencing11:09 does it respond differently in that situation they it actually can respond11:16 it can your body can start to feel like that's your normal way of living with that lowgrade stress and you can11:24 actually a person cannot really realize that they're starting to live with that normal low grade amount of stress so11:32 that's where kind of getting really in tune with yourself like we'll chat about it in a bit can be really helpful great11:38 okay so same kind of negative impacts no matter if it's in your face are kind of hidden wow exactly yes all right so I11:46 know uh and the viewers know that you live with diabetes um you're also a11:51 health professional that works with people with diabetes on a daily basis so um I guess in your work as well as your11:57 personal experience um sort of what have you leared about12:03 stress I've I've seen that stress is one of the like a piece of the puzzle that12:09 can often be missed or not talked about perhaps as much as it needs to be and I've kind of thought about how it should12:17 really be another Vital sign when you go to uh talk to a health care provider um12:25 because you know I would say that one of the greatest barriers that people have to achieving their diabetes related12:30 goals is quite simply those things that are taking higher precedence in their life than their diabetes often because12:37 of stress and people they you know we need to feel safe as a human and we need12:44 to feel understood and in order to you know be our best self and to feel well our stress levels need to be managed and12:50 lower um and until a person can really see stress for what it is and have a personalized kind of game plan for12:57 managing it it can be ult to make strides towards diabetes related goals I used to like on a personal note13:05 I used to feel like you know that everyone always talks about diabetes and stress but I don't really notice it and13:11 I wasn't noticing diabetes immediately or I was noticing di diabetes yes I13:17 wasn't noticing how stress immediately impacted my blood sugars it didn't seem to to me and then as time went on I13:26 started noticing that maybe how stress influences my diabetes is in a more of a13:32 subtle and compounding way in that it builds up over time and then it kind of pushes my diabetes to the back of my13:40 mind and then all of a sudden I'm noticing that for example my time in range is getting lower or my A1C might13:47 be creeping up a little bit and it's because I'm the type of person who's kind of getting everything done for13:53 everybody else then maybe I'm taking a little bit of a backseat and then on the other hand I've met people people13:59 completely different from me who notice the minute that they're stress that their blood sugars are going up and I always I can't really drive it home14:05 enough that diabetes is so so individualized yeah I can imagine um and14:11 I mean obviously stressors are a normal part of a human experience um uh you14:16 know and most people living today also happen to have diabetes on top of just that normal human experience um so since14:24 we started just now talking about um how stress impacts diabetes management maybe you can continue on with that and um14:31 point out a little bit more in terms of the impacts on Diabetes from stress absolutely I think the the ultimate goal14:39 of healthy diabetes management is for a person to live well and that's you know what their picture of living well is and14:45 their ability to live well live well and long with diabetes and one component of14:51 this is to aim for you know blood sugars in that safe range and and blood pressure and cholesterol levels kind of14:57 that those three three things that really help to keep our blood vessels healthy and those healthy blood vessels15:03 are what to help to prevent or prevent progression of complications which is what you know all15:10 people living with diabetes are hoping for and working towards uh many people think mostly of blood sugar management15:17 when they think of diabetes and when they think of diabetes and stress they might think of how their stress15:24 influences their blood sugar but I think there's actually even more to it than that because um our responses can affect15:31 our blood sugar our response to stress but it can also perhaps influence our blood pressure as well and maybe even15:39 our cholesterol in other ways so it's interesting to think it's not really only blood sugar that we're thinking15:45 about is those other parts of diabetes I I got thinking about those15:50 other parts because my husband I was asking them you know I'm doing this interview coming up soon and uh you live15:57 with a person who has diabetes all the time and can you weigh in on how you think stress might influence me or16:03 other people with diabetes and it wasn't surprising that he was immediately naming things off and he was thinking16:09 about how um you know living with diabetes can influence your sleep uh and16:15 how stress can also influence your sleep so and and I think you know him hearing16:20 my beeps he's thinking about the beeps he might hear at night but so sleep if16:25 your sleep is decreased that can influence your diabetes IES as well as your stress levels and stress might also16:31 influence um the way a person the choices a person makes for food whether16:37 that be certain food choices or the amount like some people when they're stressed they find they eat more whereas16:43 some people might find that they eat less and those different scenarios can influence diabetes in different16:50 ways I've also thought about how stress um interplays with the menstrual cycle16:57 for people who menstruate and different phases of the menstrual cycle uh you17:02 have more insulin resistance so a lot of people will need uh more insulin during those phases and if you add on top of17:09 that higher levels of stress that could mean even more insulin resistance so that's another way uh that our body can17:17 or that our diabetes could be influenced by stress movement of course is a an17:23 important piece of the puzzle when you live with diabetes every every extra bit of movement can um help to suck up that17:30 extra glucose from your blood vessels but if you're feeling more stressed getting out the door um for myself can17:36 be a bit more of a challenge but then once I do it of course I I start to feel I start to feel a bit better or a lot17:43 better um and I also mentioned before how stress may cause us to prioritize17:49 things a bit differently um you know when we have to do lists related to work and family and friends it might push17:56 that diabetes a little further back and the hormones that we released when we're stressed can cause decreased insulin18:02 sensitivity or that increased insulin resistance making it so that our insulin doesn't work as well as when we're less18:09 stressed and this can be a challenge even if we become less stressed and our insulin sensitivity returns to normal we18:16 may need to change insulin doses again if you're on insulin living with diabetes um and if you're not on insulin18:23 you might notice that your blood sugar start to return to normal so uh there's a lot of things coming into play there's18:29 lots of factors yeah no for sure and I I'm a registered dietitian by trade and18:34 and I almost feel like I I speak more to people about stress and sleep impacting18:42 their nutrition and the choices that they're making as much as I do about the actual food and choices that they're18:48 making so it sounds like that's pretty consistent um across the board um okay so yeah yeah no I um I I18:56 feel like we need to talk more about stress I was just yeah I was just thinking that I'd love to see more of it19:02 um starting earlier in school and maybe there is now I don't have children so I'm not sure what they're talking about19:07 in school but yeah yeah for sure and I mean you and I are both health professionals I think often um that19:14 makes us a little better equipped in terms of recognizing stress or stressors and then maybe having some cop coping19:20 mechanisms to um take care of that but can you share some tips or um you know19:27 some some management tactics that people might be able to use when you know the stress itself can't go19:34 away and I guess I'll give an example there so if you have a very stressful job but you need obviously to work and19:41 and make an income you can't just quit your job to get rid of the stressor so are there ways to cope with things when19:47 you know that stress is there and it's going to continue to be there yeah I think you touched on something really19:53 important and that's that not all stressors are going to necessarily go away and they may change change and look19:58 different over time and the fact that they'll be there makes it really20:04 important to be able to notice and kind of get familiar with your body and notice when you're feeling that you're20:10 actually getting stressed so you can uh take action in the healthiest way20:15 possible and healthy coping mechanisms for stress will look different so you might be somebody who needs to go spend20:22 time with people if you're stressed or you might be somebody you know who needs to go take more time for your yourself20:28 and with yourself and uh personally I'm usually like that I need to kind of back off and uh go spend some me time and I20:36 notice if I'm getting stressed I kind of start to feel more resentment which isn't like me but it's just because I need to go kind of take some Sierra time20:44 um and I think it's really important that you get honest with yourself about what you really do need when you're stressed and actually how much control20:50 you have over it and if I had to kind of break down how to uh kind of acknowledge20:56 and manage stress into a bit of a three part toolkit I'd say the first step is noticing how your body feels and when21:03 you're stressed the second naming the stressor so you're kind of that way once you've21:10 named it once you can notice when it pops up in your life and that may sound really simple but that practice can be21:17 really beneficial and then the third step is to have a plan of what you do21:22 when you when that stressor comes around and then if that plan doesn't see seem21:28 like it's working well for you not feeling like a failure but revisiting it and changing it so it might work better21:34 the next time so I guess if I use myself as an21:39 example there um when I start to feel stressed like I said I start to notice21:45 that everything on my plate feels like too much I might I might feel a little bit resentful even when people are21:52 asking me to do fun things like go out to dinner um so and I also so when I21:58 feel stressed physically I'll feel kind of like heat coming towards the center of my body like feel it moving inward so22:04 those are my physical signs of stress and those can be those cues like okay you're starting to feel this way again22:11 what might make you feel be feeling this way so naming it okay yeah I took on a lot in uh in September maybe maybe next22:20 time I'll I'll just kind of manage my schedule a little bit differently and then putting that plan into action so22:27 actually deciding on like okay so what will I do what uh how will I decide to22:32 manage my schedule differently and this plan of noticing acknowledging that22:38 you're getting stressed naming the stressor and putting a plan into action if you repeat that enough you start to22:45 kind of rewire your brain's way of considering scenarios and our brain is22:50 something it's called neuroplastic and that's a fancy word for that it can change so those um your normal way of22:57 thinking in your normal way of becoming stressed those Pathways can kind of get changed so you may not feel as stressed23:05 as early on the next time when you encounter a stressor yeah you um hit the23:10 nail on the head for me and how I know when that kind of low volume lingering stress has gotten to the point of too23:17 much for me and that's the feeling that things I normally can handle Small23:23 Things um start to feel much bigger than they actually are and that's a sure sign for me23:28 that um I need to do something about it so for sure thank you for that um you mentioned making a plan to manage stress23:36 so can you maybe give us a few examples of some so proven ways to help reduce23:41 your stress absolutely and there are there's lots of different ideas and options out23:48 there but I thought I'd kind of break it down into some little bite-size things that you could take away some tools23:53 today and I thought I would uh break it down simply into a bit of an acronym sort of abmt so24:03 a for acknowledge the stress which we talked about a little bit B for breathing M for moving and T for talking24:11 and we'll talk about each of these so a BMT and the a standing for acknowledging24:18 the stress and one way that you can do this is of course noticing how you're24:23 feeling in your body and for some people that's really hard to do like it's like what do you mean like I'm here I'm24:29 feeling that I'm here in this room but one way that you notice how you're feeling is through mindfulness which is24:35 a word we hear a a lot um especially as more research is being done and I think24:40 we'll just it's going to continue to be more and more present until one day it's starting to be prescribed just like24:45 exercise is being prescribed which would be a great thing um so earlier I talked about how your brain recognizes24:52 stressors and takes action be like using different parts of your brain to do that24:58 so if you imagine your brain like a factory there's three key workers in your factory there's more than that but25:04 when it comes to a stressor so I want to talk a little bit about your hippocampus and your amydala and your prefrontal25:10 cortex and that sounds really fancy but we're going to make it not sound confusing um so when you encounter a25:17 stressor such as a high morning blood sugar your brain May quickly remember25:22 that you've had this experience before and that's your hippocampus I always picture25:27 hippopotamus but that's your hippocampus taking part remembering like oh yeah I've experienced this stressor before25:34 and then the hippocampus connects with your amydala which takes note um that you remembered it and that also perhaps25:41 you felt frustrated and then if those two are working together you quickly go25:46 from oh yeah this again I feel frustrated I felt frustrated last time or maybe avoidant or maybe angry and um25:54 every time those two work together the hippo the Hipp campus in the amydala they can make you get to that from you26:01 know you might have felt fine before you checked your sugar then you saw it was higher they can get you to that frustrated angry stressed environment26:08 really quickly but luckily we have something in our brain called the prefrontal cortex which is kind of that26:14 when you can run something through that prefrontal cortex it helps to not make26:19 you go from zero to 60 as quickly so to speak so it helps our brain slow down26:25 our reaction to stress and respond to it more productively so even if you do go26:30 from 0 to 60 then once you do get your prefrontal cortex involved it'll help26:37 you to uh kind of calm yourself so mindfulness is one of these things that26:42 gets the prefrontal cortex involved it helps you to process that stress a bit more um manageably and mindfulness what26:51 is it so John kabit Zin he's kind of the mindfulness Guru um a professor and26:57 leader in the mindfulness world he describes it as paying attention on purpose to the present moment27:05 non-judgmentally and it's really just exactly that um just paying attention to27:11 something but not judging it not judging how you're feeling and uh not really27:17 thinking about all the other things you have to do but knowing it's normal that you'll do that because you're27:22 human and there are many ways that a person can incorporate mindfulness so27:28 how you can start to do that could even be through mindful breathing which is27:33 just sitting as you are and as you inhale saying inhale as you exhale27:39 saying exhale to yourself like you can do that in your head and that's taking you out of you know your environment and27:45 into your body and just kind of focusing on the way that breathing feels another27:51 way could be going for a walk and just kind of rather than just going through the paces of the walk like you know how27:56 if you're driving home sometimes times you might all of a sudden you're home you didn't even notice what was there but mindfully walking would be you go28:03 for your walk and you notice all the colors and you notice all the sounds or say to yourself I think I'm going to try28:08 to notice everything that's yellow so these things make you more Mindful and28:13 you process things through your prefrontal cortex more so you kind of get your brain used to being more28:19 Mindful and slowing down some people do something called the five senses meditation so that's um if they're28:26 noticing they're getting being stressed they'll notice they'll take a moment look around them what are five things28:31 that I can see what are four things that I can feel so maybe that's the temperature of the room you know the28:39 feel of the table beneath them and so on three things that you can hear so maybe28:44 like I can hear a long mower right now hopefully you can't two things that you can smell and that one thing that you28:51 can taste and by the time you're at the end of those five things it can kind of help with that anxiety cycle or the28:57 stress that's building in your body so those are a few ways to uh kind of acknowledge the stress or help you to29:03 become more Mindful and then for B that was a and b29:09 stands for breathing so we talked a little bit about mindful breathing and that is one way to come into your29:14 breathing take your head out of all the to-dos and bring your thoughts back to your body um Andrew huberman he's um he29:24 has a popular podcast called the huberman lab po podcast and he is a tenured professor at Stanford and a29:31 neuroscientist and um he has a breathing technique that he talks about called the29:36 fast lane to calm he didn't come up with it but that's what he calls it um and this technique is called the physiologic29:43 Sigh so before anybody tries this it's a good idea to know um like if you if you29:49 have a heart rate that's a lower heart rate or if you have any heart troubles you'd want to talk to your doctor before29:55 you tried it because it actually is Prov impr it like it slows down your heart and the benefit of slowing down your30:00 heart rate is when your body notices that your heart rate's slowing down it thinks okay I'm calm I'm safe and it can30:08 help with that stress feeling so the physiologic Sigh you do it by doing a double inhale and an exhale three times30:16 one to three times in a row and that that lowers your heart rate so it looks like the second inhale is kind of um an30:23 awkward feeling but I'll show you what it looks like it's like a30:31 so a nice long exhale and doing that one to three times can help to tell your30:36 body you're okay even when you're not feeling okay it's kind of a trick it's like a hack um and it's best used when30:42 you're starting to feel that stress build the m in the abmt stands for30:48 movement and of course it's no secret that there's tons of research about moving your body and I just always like30:54 to say it doesn't have to be anything fancy you know you don't have to be going to a gym or a runner a triathlete31:00 or any of those things it's dancing with your grandkids or playing outside or gardening any extra movement will help31:08 to um release some of those feel-good hormones that can help to combat those feelings you have distress with stress31:14 and any any breaking up of sitting time will be beneficial too so if you're sitting right now and you feel like31:20 standing feel free and then of course the T in the abmt stands for to and I mean mean31:28 basically talk social support So talking with someone if you're open to for some31:33 people that does mean counseling or therapy from you know a social worker or a counselor or a therapist psychologist31:40 um but social support has been shown to be invaluable um and improve resilience to31:46 stress and as humans we are wired for social interactions and research has shown that loneliness can be very31:53 detrimental to our health even heard it kind of compared to smok um and some research even suggests that32:00 loneliness increases stress so finding ways that you can connect even if it's not with humans if you're not a pupil32:06 person maybe it's with pets or connecting with nature nature I32:12 was just going to say I'm G to add an end to your acronym nature for me is a huge driver the fresh air and the beauty32:20 and everything it just takes you to a place that um you know sitting on your couch probably doesn't do or or you know32:27 know anything else so get Outdoors um so I know you're a yoga32:33 teacher and you have an interest in meditation and um meditation and yoga32:38 have been amazing in my personal life to help me deal with stress over the years32:43 so um would you be able to lead us through a brief meditation just so people can understand what that32:50 component of managing stress might look like for sure I'd love to and meditation helps to tap into that mindfulness of32:56 course um sometimes I find that when people hear meditation are like nope can't do33:02 it can't slow down my mind and that's I mean that's the whole reason we do it right um I there's a saying and I can't33:10 remember it exactly on the spot but the the more resistant you are to it to try it you probably need it a bit more right33:16 and and it's it's okay to feel like you can't calm down your thoughts because that's the whole point that it's to help you um to be able to maybe start to slow33:24 them down or just have the experience what it feel like to have your thoughts slow um one of the favorite one of my33:31 favorite meditations that I would teach in classes is one that comes from uh the33:37 Calo Center or KOLO I might be saying it wrong um in Maine and uh it was created33:43 by two senior yoga teachers named sand of shear and Grace McLoud and uh it33:49 helps to move you through your senses a bit like the five senses uh the five uh Technique we were talking about earlier33:56 and gets you out of your thoughts and into the present moment so you can do it sitting right in your chair as you are34:02 now and if you want to just um take a moment to close your eyes if you're34:08 feeling comfortable with that and I'll just talk you through34:16 this so the first part of this meditation is to notice your breath34:22 notice your breathing34:29 and notice where you feel your inhales moving through your34:40 body as well as your exhales do your inhales reach your34:48 throat or do they land somewhere mid chest or do your inhales happen to land34:56 all the way down within your abdomen in your35:05 belly start to notice the length of your inhales and your35:15 exhales not judging how anything feels but just noticing how your body feels when you35:21 focus on your breath and if it's challenging today just know that that can change with35:34 practice and as you start to bring attention to your breathing you might notice you know that there's a different35:40 temperature when your air exit your nostrils compared to when your air is coming [Music]35:46 in you might even be able to start feeling the air as it moves through the sinus cavities in your35:55 head and you may notice that the inhales start to reach more down into your belly36:01 whereas you could really only feel them in your throat36:16 start so just resting your air your your thoughts on your breath the inhales and36:23 the exhales and when you when you start to notice your mind wandering to walking your dog later or whatever it is don't36:30 judge that just allow your thoughts to come back to your36:39 breath the next component is relaxing how much more can you relax36:46 your body right now notice what your face feels like and36:54 can you release any p up kind of pressure or tension between your37:02 eyebrows behind your ears to kind of soften your37:09 jaw can you relax your neck muscles your37:15 shoulders your arms and elbows your palms maybe they're baled up maybe you can just let your hands fall37:24 open maybe you're holding your belly tight just let it relax your lower37:33 back notice what your hips feel like people often tend to hold a lot of tension37:40 there your glutes your thighs your lower legs your37:48 feet and just take note does your body feel differently than it did about you know one minute ago when you brought37:54 some attention to the tension where you that you might have been38:06 holding next notice what you feel notice what it feels like to connect with38:12 either your chair maybe you're sitting on the floor notice the vibrations in the room38:19 if there are any do you hear any sounds38:29 perhaps you're starting to get a bit of a cold do you notice any any uh pain or congestion in your38:40 body and if you feel any of that tension just like we were talking about before38:45 try to as you inhale send some relaxation to those38:54 areas and start to notice also so how you feel38:59 emotionally and know that just like the weather you're a human being and that39:04 being perfect and feeling perfect every day is probably not a realistic39:10 expectation but when you do have those great days to Rebel in it and enjoy39:21 it and next I'd ask you ask you to watch the thoughts that flow through your39:29 mind non-judgmentally so noticing them maybe not adding a whole lot of extra39:37 thought to them just being kind to yourself about what's taking up the content of your39:42 brain but noticing what's taking up that time in your mind and and is it is it worth it for39:51 you and almost imagine being a witness to your thoughts so kind of like like a silent40:01 Observer letting your sense of feeling move Beyond you know that physical part40:06 and just watching watching the thoughts that are floating through notice how the40:12 rational mind um kind of wants to compare and judge and seek40:19 understanding um and just kind of say we don't need to do that right now we'll just40:25 be40:31 and then allow how much can you allow your experience right now to be exactly what40:38 it is no less no more and know that it's it's the right40:43 thing right40:54 now so together together we'll take some nice easy breaths just inhaling through your41:01 nose and exhaling through your41:07 mouth and two more like that a nice long41:14 inhale and release that breath let your shoulders41:21 drop and then one more breath [Music] in41:27 and let that breath go and if your eyes are closed just gently letting them come back to open41:34 and coming back to the room back to the present moment just notice how your body feels41:41 and if if you are finding like it feels better that's amazing if it was a bit uncomfortable that's that's pretty41:47 normal too but like I said research has shown that with time this can be so41:54 beneficial that was great thank you you and also like I um I feel like to the42:00 point we were discussing earlier that becoming more aware of your body and the feelings going on in your body help you42:07 become more aware of the stress that you're experiencing and I feel like meditations like that one where you42:13 aren't doing affirmations or listening to music or sounds but rather just being42:18 in your body um really help with that body awareness that can help you42:24 identify and then EX dress better that's such a good point yeah it's great for42:30 sure so just before we close this session off um are you able to share any42:35 books or podcasts or apps I know you've mentioned a few throughout um that people could maybe take away from today42:42 and um use to help manage their stress at home definitely for sure one that I42:48 have used myself and that I recommend to people I work with or my friends or42:53 patients is the free app from anxiety Canada called Mind shift and it's got it43:01 has a number of useful like applications within it my favorite one is the thought Journal so if you're having these kind43:07 of repetitive thoughts on repeat um you can go in and write out a thought and then it'll help you change it to be43:14 maybe a bit more of a rational thought or um just to kind of make you question43:19 your thinking because everything we think isn't always right so that's a great one uh another thing to do is to43:26 look into the mental health services that are offered in your Province I know43:31 I'm in Nova Scotia and uh there are a ton that not necessarily everyone is aware of so uh talking to healthc care43:39 providers uh we have a number we can call here it's 211 to find and ask questions about that so if there's a43:45 phone number you can call in your Province to see what resources are available uh that's a great43:50 idea trying a free trial of any of the meditation apps like Comm or head space43:57 if you need something or you would like something to listen to while you're trying out meditation or you know free44:02 free YouTube videos there's a lot of great um YouTube things on YouTube and44:07 it's about finding someone that you connect with a few books that I've really liked are the stress proof brain44:14 by Melanie Greenberg uh I've read that recently and it just really broke down stress piece by piece and the best part44:21 of it was the kind of the tools that are in it and uh are it's like an it's an44:27 easy read it's not overly medical so I highly recommend that I like Buddha's44:33 brain by Rick Hansen and Richard mandas and I like that kind of especially because of my yoga background but they44:39 connect the S like Buddhism and mindfulness and the science like the neuroscience and the Brain science so44:46 that's a really neat read and then lastly of course uh the Live free with type one diabetes podcast by the44:52 diabetes psych psychologist mark hyon is a is a something that could be really44:58 helpful with stress as well so I know that's type one but I think anyone with diabetes can benefit45:05 from that yes what unites us um that's wonderful I know I have45:12 taken a lot away from today um and I'm sure that um the people watching this45:18 will also find it very informative so thank you oh you're you're so welcome and I I hope everyone's enjoyed45:24 themselves today and uh I hope you'll uh if you have any questions or comments please join us in the diabetes dialogues45:32 room from 1: to 2:00 p.m. on November 18th great yes yeah s will be there to45:38 answer all your questions on that day so we'll see you then thank you again you're45:47 [Music] welcome