Mastering Stress - Episode 2: Why stress can be good + how to get activated

When we think of being stressed, we often view it as a negative. "I'm so stressed, I just don't know how I can cope with everything!" is a phrase most of us have either heard or said before in our lives and it implies that we've reached our limit of what we can handle. What if the way we've looked at it this whole time is wrong??

I would like to introduce a different way of thinking - instead of saying we are stressed or not stressed, we should rather say: I am activated (for action) or deactivated.

Today's action/tool: Rapid Deliberate Breathing and/or Cold Exposure
When our Sympathetic Nervous System gets activated in response to external stimuli and we feel stressed, two very attractive outcomes are achieved in the short term:

1) Our whole system becomes primed for cognition - our pupils dilate resulting in tunnel vision, Adrenaline is released throughout our body and we enter into an alert, energized and focused state with all mental facilities are now firing at peak output;

2) Our immune system becomes primed to fight infection - our body releases killer cells to fight incoming bacteria/infection i.e. our immune system is temporarily strengthened.
It is important to understand that activating ourselves (via our Sympathetic Nervous System) can be a powerful tool for achieving peak performance in moments that are advantageous to us, therefore it is absolutely essential to know tools which can allow us to tap into this state. Two of these tools are Rapid Deliberate Breathing & Cold Exposure.

1) Rapid Deliberate Breathing - more commonly referred to as the Wim Hof Method. This pattern of breathing liberates adrenaline from the adrenals + allows your sympathetic nervous system to be activated. See below link for introduction to the method. WARNING: Don't do this whilst driving/in a body of water/ in the midst of battle with your sworn enemies etc.

2) Cold Exposure - The shock from cold exposure either in the form of a cold shower (30 seconds at the end of your normal shower to start), ice bath etc. will also trigger the release of adrenaline from the adrenals + activation of sympathetic nervous system resulting in same outcome.

Try it out, get activated and give those deadlines hell ladies and gentlemen!