Physical Ways to Cut Overwhelm: A 3min Read

Overwhelm: The Mini-Series - Day 1

To catch you up, I’ve decided to experiment with writing a mini-series, meaning a series of short posts on a single topic, giving me the chance to explore it from multiple angles.

Today’s topic: Physical Ways to Cut Overwhelm

Do you ever feel as if you might topple over, since your head is so swirly and overloaded? You’re in a fog. Things are cloudy. There’s simply too much noise.

That’s how overwhelm can feel to me.

Neuroscience has connected cognitive overload with physical symptoms like:

• tension in the neck and shoulders

• reduced physical energy

• increased heart rate

• difficulty breathing

• sensory overload - aka senses become more sensitive, exacerbating the impact of environmental stimuli. Lights may seem brighter, sounds louder, and textures more pronounced

Meanwhile, in the brain, cognitive overload can feel like:

• a cognitive storm

• thinking feels like wading through molasses

• mental confusion, making it challenging to discern priorities or make decisions

• reduced ability to concentrate

• struggling to come up with fresh ideas

• time slows down or speeds up, creating a false sense of pressure

Clearly staying in this state isn’t going to provide you with the physical and mental resources you need to do much of anything in life, let alone get yourself out of overwhelm.

So, what’s the fastest fix? One that takes no thought? A go-to that will snap you free quickly?

A deep breathing exercise.

This is probably the most frequently mentioned intervention there is, for all kinds of situations and feelings. The reason? It ties right into the physical systems of the body and adjusts our physiology in ways that get us into our best-self state.

Now, I have also read accounts from highly anxious people that breathing can actually amplify the anxiety, winding the mind and body up even further. If you’re in this camp, or experiencing unusually high anxiety right this moment, I might suggest skipping this exercise and going to the next idea: Shake Your Body!

Deep Breathing - 2 Minutes to Clarity & Calm

1. Get prepared. Take a seat. Put your feet flat on the floor. Sit up straight and release whatever tension you can.

2. Sigh, letting your whole body relax as you exhale all your air, maybe even letting yourself sit up just a little less straight for a moment.

3. Close your eyes.

4. Place your hands on your chest and lower abdomen.

5. Take a long, measured breath in, counting for four beats, or six, or eight (depending on your lung capacity)

6. Reach your head back up to the sky while you fill the air into your lungs, your chest, and then your belly. Feel your hands lift.

7. Hold this big, full breath in for a beat.

8. Release, counting out another four, six, or eight beats as you exhale it all. Use your core muscles to squeeze out every last drop of oxygen inside you.

9. Repeat 10 times, keeping things nice and slow; your breathing deep.

This practice activates the para-sympathetic nervous system (PNS) which is the system that shuts down fight-flight-freeze responses (from the sympathetic nervous system) and instead turns on your body’s “rest and digest” functions.

In rest and digest, the body responses will include:

• heart rate slowing

• blood pressure dropping

• stress hormones dissipating

• blood flowing away from the limbs (where it was ready to help you run or fight) and back to the brain, the heart, the digestive system and the gut

• muscles relaxing

Additionally, as your deep breathing re-oxygenates your bloodstream, you’ll feel more awake. The PNS will release neurotransmitters into your brain to turn on the “rest and digest” system, and these neurotransmitters will also change the chemical balance in the brain itself. You’ll re-gain:

• a state of calm

• enhanced memory

• sharpness and mental clarity

• a more positive outlook (in fact, long term, activating these neurotransmitters can even reduce depression and anxiety)

If that exercise doesn’t get you all the way where you need to be, or it simply starts in a place that’s too slow, and not where you’re at right now, try this:

Shake It - 2 Minutes

As I mentioned above, there’s a segment of the population for whom deep breathing isn’t going to be a great first step. Maybe you’re too deep into your crisis of overwhelm to sit calmly in a chair right now and simply breathe. Or perhaps you’re feeling highly energized by the overstimulation of overwhelm and you need somewhere for that energy to go. Here’s an alternative practice that will also stimulate the PNS:

Shake Your Body!

I encourage you to have a little fun with this one.

1. Get ready! Stand up, feet hip width apart. Stretch your arms up to the sky ask high as they can go. Tighten all your muscles and hold as you count to 10.

2. Now release and let your arms swing back down to your sides, feeling a bit juicy as they freely sway forward and back with the momentum of the release.

3. Now sway side to side, letting your arms swing wherever they want.

4. Try out some movements that feel good. Consider bending over, letting your body sway back and forth while your fingers drift along the floor, swirling in front of you. Or let yourself twist, your arms spinning around you. Enjoy the relaxing movements.

5. Remember to breathe big, like you’re working out!

6. Now, shake and tremble. Start with your right arm, shaking it like you’ve got a piece of tape stuck to your finger that’s got to get off! Let your muscles tremble freely. Release any hold on your arm, moving fluidly like you’re Gumby! Now repeat with the left arm.

7. Explore shaking different areas of your body like this. Legs, butt, head, shoulders, feet, toes, fingers, hands… find places where the release of shaking and trembling feels good!

8. Make sure you’re still breathing big and let yourself go! Be spontaneous, maybe even dance a little. Explore shaking the laugh muscles in your diaphragm. Consider making noise, ha, ha, ha!

9. After a few minutes of breaking free, shaking with abandon, moving (maybe even wildly) bring the movements down. Grow gentle. Center into your core. Sway.

10. Keep breathing.

11. Gradually bring the movements to a close. Notice the grounding of your feet. Feel the sky above. Tune into the sensation of the blood moving through your body. Notice your chest rising and falling.

12. You’re done.

13. Consider journaling about how you felt before and how you feel now. If any emotions are coming up, notice and accept them. This is your body releasing what it has been holding onto.

I hope this helps!

Next post, I’m going to explore what we can do to reduce the load more practically speaking, now that we’ve broken free from the biological symptoms of overwhelm.

xo

Marisol