With the events of the last two years and their resulting consequences, it is no wonder that more and more people are complaining about enormous stress. If it wasn't already strenuous enough to juggle work and private life, it has become even more overwhelming in the new normal.
This brings us to the topic of today's article: how best to escape the stress of everyday life and free yourself for a moment from all disturbing factors to focus purely on your own well-being.
How Stress Arises in the Body
Stress is the result of a normal reaction of the human body to delicate situations. If we feel uncomfortable with a challenge or feel that we might not be able to manage a task, our brain releases stress hormones. When confronted with difficult circumstances, the body first releases the hormone cortisol. The organism prepares for danger and is ready to cope with great challenges.1
Increased cortisol also means increased pulse and blood pressure. This means that both the brain and the muscles are supplied with an extra dose of the stress hormone adrenaline to achieve a maximum of energy as quickly as possible.2
Our pupils dilate, our heart beats faster, concentration increases, digestion slows down, muscles tense, and we are ready for any challenge. This stress response is natural and necessary to get by even in tricky situations. For a short time, one is capable of greater performance, thanks to the stress hormones in the bloodstream.
Factors Triggering Stress
Stress is perceived very individually. Each person has a different stress tolerance. This means that what is a positive burden for one person can already lead to overwhelm for another.
A situation is most likely perceived as threatening if we do not feel up to it. People also differ greatly in this assessment, as some people seek challenges, while others long for security. Self-assessment does not necessarily have to correspond to reality. Here, it's purely about whether our brain classifies a change in the situation as positive or negative and thus as manageable or insurmountable.3
These individual and diverse stress factors are also called stressors. These can be both internal and external stimuli. However, it is important that stressors always mean change that requires an adapted reaction.
Some of them are, for example:
- hard workdays
- constant availability
- high competition at work
- performance pressure
- environmental influences such as noise
- darkness
- cold or fear
- time pressure
- losses or conflicts in private life4
Many more factors could be listed here, as they seem endless and each person perceives and assesses these causes of stress differently. It is important to become aware of one's stress in order to actively work on reducing it and supporting one's personal stress relief.
Why Too Much Stress Can Be Toxic
Often, you hear people talk about "healthy stress." In itself, this statement is not entirely wrong, as short bursts of stress are an evolutionary response of the body to protect us from danger and threats.5
However, the prerequisite for positive stress is that it is truly only a temporary burden and that the hormone system then returns to calm. The reserves consumed during such an adrenaline rush last about 15 minutes. During this time, people feel enormous strength to deal with said stressful situations. One is temporarily capable of peak performance that would not be possible under other circumstances.6
A rapid build-up of energy must be followed by a discharge. If this is not the case, we speak of chronic stress. The signal that the dangerous situation is over and the organism can function normally again is absent, and the body is confronted with a prolonged stressful situation. One consumes an enormous amount of resources, but can no longer recharge the expended energy.7
This means that the body remains in a long-term fight-or-flight reaction and must function. It quickly becomes clear that this is not optimal in the long run when looking at the possible consequences of chronic stress. These include both psychological illnesses such as anxiety, depression, and sleep disorders, as well as physical health problems such as digestive problems, headaches, weight gain, high blood pressure, and an increased risk of heart disease and stroke.8,9,10
What Helps Against Everyday Stress
Studies show that the most effective solution for everyday stress is a balanced lifestyle with a healthy diet, enough exercise, and sufficient sleep. This is often easier said than done and may require aids. For example, creating a schedule or keeping a journal can help to have a structured daily routine and better separate work and private life.11
It is also helpful to drink enough water, take short breaks during the workday, and especially to avoid cell phones, computers, and the like in private life. Focusing on hobbies and exercise can also help to escape the stressful reality. Mental and physical breathing and yoga exercises are particularly good for this. Controlled, calm breathing in conjunction with correct body tension can help to forget the stressful everyday life for a few moments.12,13
Those who actively try to reduce stress in everyday life can also try breathing exercises or meditation. Whether you prefer to write down your thoughts or gather yourself in peace with pleasant music: it is important to treat yourself to a moment alone. Relaxation in an infrared sauna is also an option here, to become both mentally and physically more relaxed.
How the Infrared Sauna Can Help Against Stress
How can going to the infrared cabin help with stress?
As already mentioned, exercise is one of the most important recommendations for minimizing stress in everyday life. Studies show that infrared saunas put us in a similar state to that after a workout. If a balanced workout is combined with a visit to the infrared cabin for relaxation, the effects are even more noticeable.14
On a more personal level, we believe that users of an infrared sauna can experience a form of meditation. Even people who have never used a sauna for stress relief and do not actively engage with the topic of meditation will enter a meditative state while taking a sauna.
Mindfulness, relaxation, and meditation are the basis for a stable state of mind, which not only keeps us healthy but also ensures that we are capable of peak performance over a longer period.
With the right breathing exercises, you can regularly practice meditation in the sauna and thus better enjoy the health benefits of relaxation. Deep breathing helps our body calm down and lower cortisol levels, while increasing the amount of oxygen-rich blood in the body. Thus, our brain is even better supplied and can process thoughts better.
Certified Wim Hof trainer Johannes Egberts talks in this video about how breathwork has been demonstrably shown to alleviate both inflammation and cortisol levels.
The Relaxing Effect of the Infrared Cabin
Although the question of whether sauna sessions are relaxing or not has been scientifically examined multiple times, it is, of course, up to each user to answer it, as everyone experiences a sauna visit differently.
From years of experience, however, we can say that most users of an infrared sauna have a relaxing experience and feel better after the sauna session than before.
In any case, it has been scientifically proven multiple times that going into an infrared sauna is effective against stress and has extensive effects on the psyche, stress, and relaxation. The infrared heat promotes muscle relaxation, which in turn has a positive effect on body and mind. The time in the infrared cabin thus not only brings relaxation but also helps to combat stress.
So why not embark on a stress-free everyday life with Clearlight?
Conclusion
As we have now sufficiently established, chronic stress can have serious physical and mental consequences for people. These often only creep in gradually and make our daily lives enormously difficult.
Often, it is not immediately clear to us how stressed we actually are, what factors stress us, or how this stress affects our entire life content.
It is therefore clear that there are a host of health benefits to be gained by combating stress in our lives and indulging in a true form of relaxation, a type of relaxation that we believe is best achieved in an infrared sauna.
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