8 Things You Can Do Right Now to Downshift and De-stress
By Mia Nosanow, MA, LP
Mia Nosanow is the author of The College Student’s Guide to Mental Health and is a licensed psychologist and longtime college therapist who has spent the last twenty years counseling a diverse college student body. This article is excerpted from The College Student’s Guide to Mental Health, a comprehensive mental and emotional health manual designed specifically for college students and the loved ones and professionals who support them. It addresses challenging emotions, relationship-building prompts, and tools and actionable strategies to address common mental health struggles.
[Editor’s note: Stress is a part of life, regardless of age, but the healthiest, longest-lived people in the world in the world’s blue zones have daily routines that help them downshift, whether it is an afternoon nap, getting outside in the sunshine, or making time to meet up with friends. In recent years, mental health struggles, particularly among college students, have grown exponentially, with the number of students seeking mental health services increasing at five times the rate of enrollment, according to the Center for Collegiate Health.
To address this growing need, psychologist and therapist Mia Nosanow has written this guide to be a resource for anyone dealing with the stress and pressure of today’s world.]
“I feel really anxious and have a lot of negative self-talk….I’m scheduled from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m., and I really have no time to myself, but everything I’m doing is really important and I don’t want to let go of any of it.”
“I just want to be with my friends all the time. I stay up too late, but then I have a hard time getting to sleep.”
“I feel empty and don’t find my activities to feel as meaningful to me as I’d like … but I don’t like to just sit around. I want my life to always be productive.”
“I watch TikTok or Netflix every afternoon after class because I’m worn out from class. But they don’t really help me feel better.”
“I work on homework every Friday and Saturday night. I’m scared I won’t get it all done if I ever slow down.”
Our 24/7 culture promotes being always on — no more bankers’ hours or Sabbath days — and it values the highest productivity, no matter the cost. We focus on multiple screens, rather than nature or other people, which creates sensory overload. The bar for what we perceive to be success is constantly going up, as is our fear of failure (a very strong feeling). We value “busy busy” and view taking time to just be with ourselves as a luxury. Our bodies have become accustomed to being in high-alert, fight-or-flight mode much of the time, which is designed to help us respond quickly in the face of life-threatening dangers, but the resulting stress takes a toll. At times it seems hard to know where we’re at on a deeper level.
How can we create some balance in our bodies? How can we shift out of fight-or-flight mode (which is related to the sympathetic nervous system) and into “rest-and-digest” mode (related to the parasympathetic nervous system)? The answer is simple: Slow down. Once we slow down and tell our bodies and minds that we are safe, we can replenish and connect with ourselves in a deeper way.
Why quiet time is a challenge
Continued on Source: 8 Things You Can Do Right Now to Downshift and De-stress – Blue Zones
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