By now, most of us have heard—and on some level, we know—that managing stress is key to feeling and functioning at our best. If we want to feel strong and healthy, we have to take action. Wellness isn’t something that just happens; it’s a proactive process.
The problem is, stress can be tricky and often misunderstood.
We live in a world full of social media influencers who promote the “treat yourself” mentality, like it’s some hedonistic, instant-gratification, puppy-brain lifestyle.
But with stress being a major factor in nearly every major medical diagnosis today—whether it’s cardiovascular, cognitive, immune, or metabolic—the idea that chocolate cake, bubble baths, and facials are the ultimate answer to stress management just doesn’t hold up anymore.
Understanding Stress: The Stressor and the Stress Response
One of the most challenging aspects of stress management is recognizing that stressors and the stress cycle are two parts of the same equation.
Stress refers to emotionally or physically demanding experiences that threaten your body’s internal balance, or homeostasis. Stress can be acute—a short-term response to a specific threat—or chronic, a long-term reaction to persistent stressors. When you encounter a stressor, your body activates its stress response system, engaging the sympathetic nervous system. While this can be helpful in short bursts during acute stress, it becomes harmful when stress is chronic, keeping your body stuck in a heightened state of alertness.
Managing or reducing stressors becomes nearly impossible when you’re trapped in the stress cycle, with your body in full-blown stress response mode.
To manage stress more effectively and improve our health, we need to treat the stressor and the stress cycle as distinct but connected. By strategically completing the stress cycle, we can gain more control over the stressors we face and navigate them more effectively.
Why Movement Helps Complete the Stress Response Cycle
Exercise is one of the best ways to complete the stress response cycle, engaging your body in movement that signals you’re responding to—and surviving—the stressor.
The sympathetic side of the stress cycle, where fight or flight reactions come from, is designed to mobilize you. It prepares your body for fast, powerful action in the face of perceived threats. Aerobic exercise mirrors this response with heart-pounding, sweat-inducing, muscle-activating movements that allow your body to release pent-up stress.
But does any aerobic activity work? Absolutely! The key is to choose forms of movement that align with your current abilities and experience. Overdoing it can backfire, keeping you in the stress cycle if the activity is too physically demanding for where you’re at.
Context is everything.
For instance, if you’re recovering from a long illness or injury, diving straight into a long run might push your body too hard too soon, potentially reinforcing the stress response rather than relieving it.
Similarly, if you’re new to strength training, jumping into a high-intensity HIIT class may feel overwhelming and could actually trigger more stress than relief. Instead, start with movement you’re familiar with and build gradually, giving your body time to adapt without adding extra strain.
Remember, the goal of using exercise to complete the stress response cycle is to support your health, not create additional challenges. So listen to your body, start where you’re at, and make adjustments as you go. This approach not only helps release stress effectively but also builds resilience, so you’re better prepared to face future challenges.
My Journey: Using Movement to Heal After a Major Accident
In 2013, I was in a major car accident. My car was t-boned on the driver’s side, all the airbags deployed, and the jaws of life had to be used to get me out. Despite the intensity of the crash, I was incredibly fortunate: my injuries included a bone bruise, some cuts from broken glass, whiplash, and a concussion.
In the ambulance, with adrenaline surging through my body, I felt jittery and tense—I wanted to sprint up and down the street just to burn through those stress hormones. But strapped to a board with a neck collar, running wasn’t exactly an option. So, I resorted to small ankle pumps, activating my lower leg muscles to help burn off some of those stress chemicals right there in the rig.
In the days following the accident, as the effects of whiplash and concussion settled in, my body shifted into a “freeze” response—a part of the stress cycle we’ll explore in a future post. At that point, sleep became my most valuable tool for healing while my central nervous system took the time it needed to recover. My movement strategies had to adjust drastically, focusing on gentle actions that didn’t overload my system but still kept me engaged in the recovery process.
I turned to breathwork, specifically the 4-7-8 Breath, Box Breathing, and the Spinal Cord Breath to help calm my tense, hyper-alert nervous system. I also started doing Tense & Release exercises to engage my muscles gently. As my body began to recover from the effects of whiplash, I shifted to gentle mobility work I could manage from bed. Practices like yoga were still out of reach, as the concussion made certain positions too dizzying.
Over time, with patience and the body’s natural ability to work toward balance, I gradually improved. I moved from bed-based exercises to short walks, then longer hikes. Within a few months, I reached a more balanced stress response state, where my injuries were healing well enough for me to enjoy bike rides—and even the occasional kitchen dance party.
Building Resilience: Completing Your Stress Cycle with Movement
Recovering from the stress of my own accident taught me a valuable lesson: our bodies are designed to heal, but they need us to work with them, not against them. Gradually reintroducing movement, from bed-based exercises to walks and eventually bike rides, wasn’t just about physical recovery—it was about completing each step in the stress cycle so my body could truly find balance again.
Whether your own stress comes from a major life event or the daily demands of work and family, the journey to recovery follows a similar path. By learning to tune into each phase of the stress response cycle and supporting your body through it, you can build a toolkit to better manage stress, restore balance, and regain resilience.
Your body has an incredible capacity to heal and recalibrate, but it works best when we support it in ways that fit where we are right now. Remember, stress management is less about eliminating stress entirely and more about understanding and guiding your body’s response.
Ready to start reconnecting with your body’s natural stress-relief mechanisms? Take that first step today—whether it’s a gentle walk, some mindful breathwork, or even just a commitment to listen more closely to your needs. Book a session with me, and let’s create a plan that’s tailored to you, so you can feel stronger, more resilient, and ready for life’s ups and downs.
