How to manage stress

We all want to lead a happy and fulfilling life, right? What it is that fulfills you and makes you happy, is different for everyone, of course. But there are a few things that can already help us get there :

We have to be healthy : being ill or having ailments brings about negative energy.
We have to have enough sleep : not being tired is crucial for feeling good.
We need to control our stress levels, which will have a positive effect on 2 previous points.

I am sure we all agree on that, right? Now let’s dive into that stress part.

Stress is something we need to have to survive. It is our survival instinct. Imagine crossing a road, you are dreaming away, your thoughts are elsewhere, most probably you are looking at your phone. All of a sudden a car approaches fast, he honks his horn, you look up, you are startled, you get a sudden rise of adrenaline and cortisol and you run for your life. As soon as you reach the sidewalk, that stress goes down and you continue on your phone. That’s how it should be, and that’s positive stress.

But nowadays, we get triggered all day, 24/7. Through emails that we need to answer now, text message that flood our phone, pressure caused by our job, family, etc. We live with a constant elevation of cortisol. In the long run, this causes illness and all kinds of ailments, it keeps us from sleeping well, it affects our mood etc. So we definitely need to tackle that stress.

But how can we do that, how do we avoid getting ill and having to go and see a therapist or doctor? How can we tackle that without much trouble before it gets too bad?

There is this one practice, that is very easy to do, which does not require much effort nor time, and is very efficient, and that is NSDR or Yoga Nidra.

Both are the exact same thing. Yoga Nidra is an ancient practice, and NSDR (Non-Sleep-Deep-Rest) is new name that neuroscientist Andrew Huberman invented to make it more accessible to everyone. Yes there are a lot of people that shy away from just about everything that makes them even think about Yoga or meditation.

What exactly is NSDR/Yoga Nidra?

It refers to a self-induced, meditative-like state of calm where the body is deeply relaxed, but the mind remains awake. It is somewhere between waking and sleeping.

Basically, it means that you lead yourself into a state of calm and extreme focus so for a short time your mind goes into a deeply restorative, but at the same time, a still alert state of mind. You can consider it as a short time-out, in the middle of a hectic day, after which you feel more calm, more focused, more productive and more in control.

There have been several studies of what NSDR does to your body, and even the physical changes are impressive. It is associated with all kinds of positive changes, like blood glucose levels, hormonal status, red blood cell counts. It also produces changes in dopamine release. And, what we are looking for in this post, it relieves stress.

So how does it work?

find a quiet space
lay down, on the floor, in a bed or on a sofa. It doesn’t matter where, as long as you are comfortable
follow a guided audio recording
follow the instructions and relax
stay present
when the audio ends, take your time to get back to the present.

It can’t be much easier, can it? An NSDR can take from about 10 minutes up to half an hour, and its effects are massive.

it improves sleep quality
it enhances focus
it immediately relieves stress
it enhances your memory
it helps to recover from a bad night’s sleep : it’s even better then a nap!
it improves your mood

Where do you find such audio guides?

google can guide you through it.
Youtube
apps like Insight timer, reveri…

Insight timer is the app that I use. It has many tracks that are for free to use, or you can become a member (62€ a year) and you get full access to all their material.

NSDR is something I do almost daily, it has a huge effect while doing a small effort…

Let me know in the comments if you already practice NSDR, or if you tried it out after reading this!