Want That Poolside Ready Summer Body? Enjoy The Savasana.

Whether it's a short dose of acute stress like just missing a green light, or a chronic level of stress caused by something like work, family, or financial troubles, stress can seriously affect our bodies.  

Some estimates suggest that 70% of doctor visits and 80% of serious illnesses may be exacerbated by or linked to stress. Not only can stress send you to the doctor, chronic stress can even contribute to weight gain. When we are stressed out, our bodies release a hormone called cortisol. The job of cortisol is to increase our blood sugar and suppress our immune system, while aiding in fat, protein, and carbohydrate metabolism speeds. Releasing too much cortisol in our bodies can slow our metabolism, causing us to gain more weight.

As if stress working against all of our hard physical training wasn't bad enough, excessive amounts of stress even affect which parts of the body we tend to store fat. Higher levels of stress are linked to greater levels of abdominal fat. 

There are many different kinds of stress. Most of us only think about psychological stress when we hear the word “stress”. It is true that many of us most often incur mental or psychological stressors but what many of us don’t realize is that there are also a lot of physical stressors such as:

• Lack Of Sleep
• Chronic Inflammation
• Autoimmune Disease
• Environmental Toxins
• Lack of Quality Food
• Too Much Exercise

Did you catch that last one? That's right. Too much exercise is actually bad for your weight loss goals. Not only that, its actually bad for your body. The European Heart Journal published a German study that looked at runners. In this study Researchers looked at the hearts of 108 marathoner runners and compared them to several non-runners hearts. The study found that the marathon runners showed much more artery plaque build-up than the non-runners. Another study published by the Medical Journal of Australia furthered these findings. Researchers in this study did blood tests before and after runners participated in a race. The study found that 32 percent of the runners had high levels of cardiac troponin. Doctors consider troponin a marker for heart disorders. Induced physical stress = Increased troponin = Heart damage.

So what can we do?  It sounds like stress is not only ruining our physical appearance goals, but also hurting our physical health. The chances aren't very good that you'll never hit another red light, or won't have a boss telling you you need to do 15 things in the next 10 minutes ever again. So it's about controlling what you can, and reducing stress when you can. There is good news! Participation in a single Hatha yoga class can significantly reduce perceived stress, further more doing Hatha yoga regularly can reduce perceived stress even more significantly. (If you are wondering, Hatha yoga is the type of yoga taught at Vibetality.) 

As it turns out even 15 minutes of slowing down and being mindful, taking deep breaths can really help you reduce your stress levels. Which is why RenewVibes can be so important in your fitness goals.

So if you're looking to lose a few inches this summer and think that slamming your body against the pavement, treadmill or even cramming in as many FitVibes as possible is all you have to do, think again. You might want to take more yoga classes and enjoy the savasana if you really want to look great in that swimsuit.