Random shit to try to deal with stress
Discover more from Lou O'Reilly takes out the trash.
Random shit to try to deal with stress
Breathing, nuts, and an eight minute song, also a new section - sweaty science stuff.
A few weeks back I wrote about how unhelpful my advice was around how to feel better. That if you can magically get better sleep, drink more plain water, and fix your stress levels, you’ll start to feel better.
On paper that advice reads well, but in theory, just telling people to sleep better, drink more, and calm down a bit, is empty and useless. I wanted to do better, and I should always be doing better.
So, here, I wrote about the things I had tried and that had worked well for me to get better sleep and up my hydration. The lavender pillow spray, and the magnesium is still working, and I’m sleeping quite well. The water bottle gets used every day, so things are better there too.
Nada on the stress management, though. I’m still a trembly little bunny suffering chronic levels of stress. However, this is not how it ends, and I have scoured the internet and a bunch of medical journals and study summaries from PN to see what’s been investigated and what other people do for stress management. Maybe you can try some of these things with me and we can hash out what works and what is basically a waste of time.
1. Breath work v Meditation
My first foray into breath work was last year at Robett Hollis’ powermoves summit. On the first day we took a 3 minute dip in freezing cold water - which is next on my list to investigate, but on the second day of the summit, breath work was it. We drove out to a sunny spot in Tamaki Makaurau, piled out of the bus and lay down on the grass. Luke and Rachel from Taylored Health took us through a series of breathing exercises, that left all of us in a completely relaxed and refreshed state. I don’t totally remember all the types of exercises we did, but this study talks about cyclic sighing as being the breathing exercise that came out on top. Click here to read a bit more…
2. Walnuts? Why not?
A Californian walnut company funded a study to see if walnuts were good for reducing stress. The results said.. probably, but largely inconclusive. However, my unqualified reckons from the rabbit hole reading of other studies is that it’s probably the Omega-3 fats and folate present in walnuts (and a bunch of other stuff) that is probably a good shout. I’m not a huge fan of walnuts so instead of those I’m just gonna try an omega-3 supplement and see how I go. It can’t hurt, right? Pop over here to read a bit more of my thoughts on walnuts and Omega-3.
3. How an eight minute song helps reduce stress
The proper study exists somewhere, but this summary from British Academy of Sound Therapy with endorsement from my husband says that listening to Marconi Union - the ‘Weightless’ track in particular can chill even the most wound up person.
It makes sense doesn’t it? Music can be relaxing and uplifting. In this case, this track can cause sleepiness, and so a warning to not drive or operate machinery while listening to it is imperitive. Worth a shot?
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Air fryer update.
Topical information: You can toast hot cross buns in the air fryer. Cut in half, pop two in each basket face down, 3 minutes later, the best toasted hot cross bun you’ll ever have. No burned bits.
I am not an influencer but I have influenced one person to purchase a double Ninja air fryer. Sweaty Pals reader and pal from way back, Bridget, bought one and my other very good pal from way back, Nikki, sent me this extremely accurate and very funny reel. It’s important viewing, especially if you don’t want an air fryer.
New section - Sweaty Science Stuff
Lastly, I created a new section in this Substack. This platform just goes from strength to strength with the features it provides, and the ability to add sections with different topics is super cool. In an attempt to please everyone, I have created another place for all my extended science stuff - I get not everyone cares about that, and short snippets is better. But one of my favourite readers left a comment about how they were interested in the science stuff, or at least, the evidence to back up weird health claims. I agree with them. I hate wellness rolled in glitter. Give me at least a glimpse of a control group study or something to help us wade through the chaff from the wheat.
Anyway, this new section, you can subscribe to just like the regular sweaty pals stuff here - it won’t be as regular. Just updating when I have cool science stuff to share and I will almost always link to it from my main sweaty newsletter anyway. Oh, you can also just click the sweaty science tab up the top, too.
Thanks for reading this newsletter. I really appreciate the time you give to me for this and I hope you get some value from it. If you have any questions you can reply directly to this email or if you’ve landed here from a link, email lou@sweatypals.nz. You can also follow me on Twitter here, and instagram here.
Lou xx