Stress appears to be a major problem in today’s world, yet stress is not really the enemy, the enemy is lack of recovery.
Dr. Hans Selye conducted extensive research on the concept of stress and found there are two types of stress: there’s distress—what we typically think of when we think of stress; and yet there’s another type of stress called eustress. Eustress is not exhausting, it’s invigorating.
Eustress is the “creative tension” between where you currently reside, and the gap that exists between the point where you are, and the point of where we choose to go...
(upbeat music) - Welcome to our continuation of transmuting your body into a powerhouse. Hopefully you've been following along with us. We've been into this one for several episodes now. And so if you haven't been keeping up with us, we strongly encourage you to go back and catch up because they kind of build upon themselves. Just real quickly, best of all, why is it that we even care about transmuting our body into a powerhouse ultimately? - Well, because you need a strong body to do anything really. - Right, a strong body to do anything and most important to be what? - To be a clean conduit. - For the spirit of God to work through. - That is correct. And so what we want to talk about today is something that appears to be a major problem in the world, stress. - Yes. - Learn to manage stress. And yet here's the thing, stress is not really the enemy. What is the enemy? - Lack of recovery is the enemy. - Lack of recovery is the enemy. In fact, there's two types of stress that we don't hear a lot about most frequently. Hanselia conducted extensive research on the concept of stress and found that there were two types of stress. There's distress, which is what we typically think of as the things we call stress. And yet there's another type of stress called what? Do you remember what it's called? - U-stress. - U-stress, and that's spelled E-U-S-T-R-E-S-S. And can you give us a quick definition of your understanding of U-stress, Percible? - Not really. - You can't, sorry. (laughing) - Okay, I don't recall my apologies. - You don't recall. So U-stress is not exhausting, it's invigorating. U-stress is the creative tension between, oh, did you just remember? - Yes. - Okay, go ahead. - No, it's okay. You got this. - It's the creative tension between the point where you are and the point where you-- - Are you going? - You're going or you choose to be. Now this gap between where you are and where you choose to be creates a tension, which is stress, that motors you forward, and I think we'd all agree we want that type of stress. Without it, we sit in place, we become complacent, we become bored, and that's not any way to live life. But because so many are experiencing distress today, let's talk about this form of stress for a moment because this type of stress causes all types of maladies. In fact, a recent study shows that inflammation is caused by a variety of stress-related diseases. And now it's one of the leading causes of death. Infact, inflammation is one of the leading causes of death. As well as other diseases, including heart disease, diabetes, and many more, we maintain that once again to repeat, stress is not the enemy, the enemy is-- - Lack of recovery. - Lack of recovery, therefore it's important if you want to transmute your body into a powerhouse that you learn to manage and recover from stress fully and completely, and hopefully that makes sense to you. Not avoid it, but use it and recover from it because it's, is it possible to completely avoid stress, bear some of it? - No, I've tried. - You've tried and you haven't been successful, that one? - It doesn't work. - But it can be managed properly. There was an article published on everyday health, containing research by Dr. Alka Gupta, which finds a few important things. Number one, in emotional, psychological, or physical stress, your body goes into fight or flight mode. Fight or flight, which creates inflammation. And the disease, as we discussed. It releases during this kind of stress, it releases more cortisol into your system, which suppresses non-essential functions, like suppressing your immune system, and messing with your digestive system. It also releases hormones that produce more blood sugar, and there's a whole lot of people who are diabetic in the day's world, and it releases hormones which boost energy to large muscles in your body, taking it away from other places, preparing you to flight or flee, flee, right? - Flee. - Flee. At the same time, it inhibits insulin production, which narrows arteries, forces blood to pump harder just to get through the body. Adrenaline, next point, according to the research, is adrenaline is released and increases your heart rate and your respiratory rate. Your body becomes more sugar and makes more sugar, I should say, and decreases white blood cells that are part of what system? - Your immune system. - That's right. Your immune system leaving you at risk for viral infections. - Wow. - Pay attention. Like the common cold and many others. - Yeah. - All of this and more is a result of one thing. - Stress. - Stress. - So if you're still overweight and you've got a good diet and you work out, maybe you should relax. Maybe you should learn to recover more fully. Now hopefully, it's obvious why good stress management as well as good recovery are imperative to your health and longevity. So here's a few of the simple things you can do. What's a really simple thing you can do to manage stress, bear suppose. - Work out. - One of your favorite things. - Work out. - Now, does working out create stress in the short term? - On your body? - Sure. Sure it does. It helps decrease mental and emotional stress though. And we suggest that you work out at least four days a week. - Yes. - Now an interesting aside that we can talk about and it's proven true for us is a psychological study show that couples who exercise together have happier, more connected relationships which are great for recovery as well. - First of all, and I have been workout partners for how long, how many years? - Consistently, it's been seven years. - Yeah, at least seven years. And we're actually workout partners. Some couples come to our gym and, you know, - They do their own thing. - They do their own thing. We don't do that. We do our thing together. We trade off. Here's another good one, meditation. Meditation is really great for dealing with stress and it doesn't have to be more than 10 or 15 minutes. - Sure. - And when you couple it with breathing, and what kind of breathing, Berzba, is the right kind of breathing to address stress? - Deep diaphragmic diaphragm. Diaphragm, blah, blah, blah, blah, diagram. - Breathing from the core. - Breathing from your stomach out. - That's right, diaphragmatic. - Diaphragmatic. - That is a tough word. Breathing is even better. In fact, deep breathing is great on its own. And you'll notice a lot of times when you're really stressed, you'll just intuitively take it in a deep breath and blow it out. You often find that your body naturally does this and releases naturally when you're stressed. Here's another good one, yoga postures are great to release tension in your body and your muscles, create flexibility, decrease stress. You can certainly go to a class if you like, but that's not necessary in our opinion. I do several yoga postures every single day on my own in the morning, just a stretch. Now, Berzba doesn't do as many yoga postures, but what do you do? - I watch you do yoga postures. - You watch me, but what do you do for your role? - I roll out. - You roll out. - I do a lot of rolling. - Yeah, talk about that a little bit, every day. - Every single night before bed. - And we'll get the gym too, I have to work out. - That's right, twice a day, literally. And it's great for physical relaxation as well. - Sure. - Here's another one that we've talked a lot about and you can go back and review some of the specifics. We won't get into them here today, but eating good, healthy foods is a huge factor that helps with stress. When your body has proper nutrients, it performs much more efficiently and effectively. - Now, what are proper nutrients, Berzba specifically? - Well, we say, generally speaking. - Generally speaking is we eat a lot of beef, which is grass-fed and finished. - That's right. - Organic, organic, yeah, all-round greens, water. - Going back to the beef though, what does that provide for your body, besides just overall nutrients? - Well, you have all your amino acids and essential fatty acids that you need. - Much, much more complete than you get in anything else. - Sure. - Now, we know this goes against the common narrative. - Well, we go against the common narrative. - We go against, that's our MO. - That's right. - But grass-fed and finished beef. You know, I read a quick study today that said that about 12% of the population eats 50% of the grass-fed and finished beef. - That's it? - Yeah, 12%. And they are the healthiest and have the strongest immune system of any of the people studied. So then the second thing you said was, you were talking about greens. - Eat a lot of organic greens, not a lot, but you know, a good amount. That's what we do. We have greens, what, five days a week, two days out of a week, we have sourdough bread, just one slice. - Just one slice of sourdough. - Yeah, we don't overdo it. - Yeah, sourdough bread is really-- - Good for your microbiome. - Good for your microbiome. Plenty of pure water, emphasis on pure. - Yes. - Because that flushes out the system and you're not bringing in additional toxins. Avoid white flowers, sugars, and junk food. - Yes. - It's going to really help your stress levels. You know, it's interesting because when people get stressed, where they get depressed, they eat. They eat and they eat what's called comfort food. - Yeah. - You know, very short-term return on that, which actually brings long-term pain. - Sure. - There are probably a lot more strategies, but hopefully this gives you some ideas to implement. And in this way, you can begin to turn your body into a powerhouse, into a proper vehicle for the spirit of God to come through and to work through. And you'll have more energy. You'll have more, a better attitude and more-- - Yeah, and a joy in your life. - More joy. Oh, that's a good word. Joy, are you joyous, Benjamin? - Thanks. - I am. Took me a long time to get here. Here I am. - You did a lot of work to get to a joyous place. - Yes, I did. I've earned my joy. - She's earned her joy. Hopefully this is helpful today. - Thank you for being here. - It gives you some things to work on. God bless, we'll be back with you next week. - Thank you. - Take care. (upbeat music) (upbeat music)
