Top AFS Tips to Deal with Stress

Watch and listen to Dr. Carrie Lam and Dr. Jeremy Lam talk about how to manage stress practically when you have Adrenal Fatigue Syndrome (AFS).

00:56 - Tip #1 Exercise
02:36 - Tip #2 Time management
03:55 - Tip #3 Checklists
04:43 - Tip #4 Engaging with others
05:43 - Tip #5 Adequate Sleep
07:06 - Tip #6 Letting go
09:00 - Tip #7 Seek help
09:34 - Tip #8 Complimentary Aids
10:17 - Tip #9 Don't self medicate

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Transcript

Dr. Carrie Lam, MD: 0:06

Hi, welcome to the Dr. Lam Show. Today, we're going to give you top nine tips to manage stress. I'm Dr. Carrie Lam, and I'm board certified in family medicine, functional and metabolic medicine.

Dr. Jeremy Lam, MD: 0:19

I'm Dr. Jeremy Lam, an internal medicine doctor who's also board certified anti aging and regenerative medicine. Today we're going to be talking about some top tips to manage stress. Stress is inevitable in today's society. It pressures us to be successful in our standards. However, that doesn't mean that you need to give in to the stress or have it overwhelm your body. We'll talk about tips to manage your stress effectively and easily. So Dr. Carrie, give us the first tip for managing stress?

Dr. Carrie Lam, MD: 0:55

The number one thing is to exercise. Exercise is an important part of any optimal body function. In general, if you have adrenal fatigue, you have to make sure you know what level of exercise to do for the state you're in. Because we have a lot of different types of levels and restoration. Depending on how sensitive your body is, and what stage of adrenal fatigue is, whether it's yoga, or circulation exercises, or stretches or aerobics, you have to go step by step based on the state of your body. One of the things you will know is that if you exercise beyond what you can do, you can feel tired and crash even worse. So don't just exercise hard, you need to pace yourself and understand your recovery process. Maybe no exercise is actually better than exercising. So ask your healthcare practitioner or if you don't know, gauge yourself. Let's say you go for a walk, if you feel tired after your walk, maybe even that walk was too much for you. Okay. But hey, if you feel good, we're doing yoga and breathing exercises, do that. And that's great to help you manage stress. We've learned from so many of our patients that make mistakes of doing beyond what they can do, and it actually stresses them out even more. So short and sweet, good exercise, depending on your body's state is very good for managing stress. The second tip for managing stress is managing your time. As we are busy people, a lot of people with adrenal fatigue, we are Type A, we are successful, we are always busy, and it can be hard to say no. Right? So, time management is key to managing stress. If you can't do it yourself, maybe find an accountability buddy to be able to help you manage that time. For me, it'll be my husband as he tries to slow me down. Because it's good for my health, I need to learn the ways of managing my time. One tip that I like to do actually is tell people Oh, actually have something in my calendar. And it's the word something. So I'm not lying, because I definitely always have something in my calendar. If you need to set that boundary, to say, Hey, I think this is going to be too stressful for me, set aside your time to say no. Ultimately, you have to take that step back and limit the number of things. Delegate, tell people ahead of time that this is your boundary, maybe I can't do it during this time. So, more communication will allow you to help you manage your stress.

Dr. Jeremy Lam, MD: 3:55

Three is to use checklists. These are a highly efficient way to get things done in a short period of time. I use it all the time, especially if I have a lot of things on my plate, I want to make sure that I get them done because that's just the nature of my character. I don't want things to keep dragging on and on. Using a checklist helps me to address each issue and not let them burden me unnecessarily. Your mind will also get a little dopamine rush. Whenever you check something off your checklist, it feels pretty good.

Dr. Carrie Lam, MD: 4:29

And it's important on your checklist to actually put due dates, because then you give yourself a boundary of when you need to complete it by then you can see which one is more priority.

Dr. Jeremy Lam, MD: 4:42

Number four is to become more involved. Well, humans are social creatures, and becoming involved with other people can help manage your own stress. Being involved means it's a two edged sword. Many people that we take care of with Adrenal Fatigue who are weak, I actually tell them not to be too socially active, because sometimes it can drain you. It takes energy to be socially involved. So the question is really about communicating about letting people know, hey, I can only be here for five to 10 minutes, and then I have to go back to my room, take a break, and then come back. And people understand these things. It's just really a matter of communication, and making sure that everyone's on the same page.

Dr. Carrie Lam, MD: 5:29

That's great. I am an extrovert. So I definitely can manage my stress when I'm around other people. But you know, it can be stressful for those who are introverted, but you need that balance. Number five, on how to manage stress is to sleep adequately. Sleep is so important, it allows your body to rest from the day, but also process everything that you've gone through. When we sleep earlier, let's say around 9 or 10 o'clock, physiologically is much healthier than sleeping later. So, if you are a person that have a lifelong habit of sleeping late, for example, and you try to force yourself to sleep early, it can trigger more stress. So it definitely has to be gradual change. If you want to make that change. Everybody is different. So don't just follow this book and say, Hey, I need to sleep earlier. If you're used to sleeping later, you have to do it very gradually, or learn to listen to the whispers of your body about when the best time to sleep. When people ask me, what's the best type of sleep pattern, you know. You want to have a structure that allows the maximum amount of cortisol balanced to overcome your own body's rhythm. So sleeping around seven to eight hours at night, and having a regular circadian rhythm is very important for healing and managing stress. What's number six Dr Jeremy?

Dr. Jeremy Lam, MD: 7:05

Number six is learning to accept and to let it go. I have a hard time with this. Because the reality is a lot of us are driven. And that's what has led us down this road and kind of our health journey. A lot of us require excellence and that drive, as well, requires us not to accept mediocrity. However, this is a personal challenge and I deal with it. We really have to learn to accept failures, learn from them, and ultimately move on and not dwell on the past. And that's really the key is to accept your reality, and let go and trust. A lot of the people that we deal with, they're used to being able to go run marathons and being able to be on call 24/7. And ultimately, when they let go, they learn to trust us, they learn to listen to their body, then that's the first step in their recovery process. And they start finding that everything else starts to get better at that point.

Dr. Carrie Lam, MD: 8:13

This can be very difficult. One of the most difficult things for people on their journey, because they just want to go to Dr. Google, to diagnose themselves and they want to find out what is wrong and do whatever they can before they come and seek help. But sometimes doing that to yourself can be worse, it can cause a downward spiral. You can do things wrong on yourself, it can take us a long time to understand what the medical system and healthcare is all about. We don't know that can be an admission of failure, which can be very challenging,. But just letting go and being able to trust in somebody who can answer all your questions about anything that you're going to would be so beneficial. Whether it's a doctor, whether it's healthcare provider, whether it's a therapist, anyone to be able to listen and guide you, along your health journey is very important to helping you look outside the box. It's very simple. So seek help. If you don't know if you're stuck, or even if you are in the beginning stages, it's always good to find that extra ear for someone to listen to what you're going through. So that's tip number seven to manage stress.

Dr. Jeremy Lam, MD: 9:34

Number eight is to use complementary aids and nutrition. In an adrenal fatigue environment because the pathologies are absent, the best way is to allow the body to regain its vitality, give the body the nutrients and the tools that it needs to heal itself. And there's no better way to do it than to use proper nutrients. The keyword is proper isn't just not any nutrition, because you can eat fried food, fast food and get the nutrition that you need. But it's not what your body needs. So I think that's really, really important is to get proper nutrients that your body needs to self correct yourself. And lastly, number nine is don't self medicate, like Dr. Carrie mentioned before. We all love to go to Dr. Google and see what's wrong with us. But learning to seek help from healthcare professionals and finding the best person to help you and understand your body is the best case. We live in a world where there's too much data. So it's almost impossible not to find something wrong with you if you look up. The key is how to navigate through that and not mislead yourself which can actually make you more stressed, instead of helping your body recover. Especially with people with adrenal fatigue, because it gets so convoluted, and the symptoms can confuse a lot of people. Make sure that you're not sidetracked or navigate by yourself. You have to be careful with what you're going to address first. The number one mistake when we see people come to us is that they try and fail and when you fail, you make things even worse. So really learning not to self medicate is number nine.

Dr. Carrie Lam, MD: 11:40

Well, we hope this helps you understand the top nine tips to manage stress. We never ignore stress because we've seen how it affects the body. So just remember, it's your body you know what's going on. We hope that you can learn to manage your stress. Don't stop searching until you get the help and guidance you need. Thank you for being here with us today and the Dr. Lam Show. We hope you find this helpful. So please subscribe, like share with anyone who needs it. We're here to empower you to take control of your health

Unknown: 12:22

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