Stress Management

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I have an extremely stressful job, and i know that extreme stress exacerbates/is exacerbated by PCOS. I find it very difficult to keep my stress levels in check much of the time... how do you manage your stress and do you have a tips/ideas to try?

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  • Bertie02
    Bertie02 Posts: 51 Member
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    I say go for a walk. Especially on the days you can feel the stress throughout your whole body. This is what I do and it seems to make things a little more manageable.
  • Dragonwolf
    Dragonwolf Posts: 5,600 Member
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    1. Get a new job. (Obviously, not possible for everyone, but something to consider.)
    2. Take up a hobby that helps relieve stress. Personally, I'm fond of boxing or other high-intensity martial arts, but it can be just about anything, as long as you do it at least a few times a week. I've found this to be huge in keeping me sane.
    3. Meditate/practice yoga. Both of these are useful for calming your mind, and the yoga has the added benefit of increasing your strength and flexibility.
    4. Take some "me" time every so often. If you get some kind of quarterly bonus, this can be even easier (because you can plan for it and use the money from the extra cash), but at least a few times a year (ideally, probably every couple of months or even more often for the big ones, but at least every couple of weeks for little things), don't be afraid to spend a little money for a massage, spa day, or other time of pampering for you. The more simple things that you can do more frequently might include a good soaking bath, home mani/pedicure, or other pampering, stress-relieving activity.
    5. Use your paid time off. Your employer gives you vacation time for a reason. Make use of it. How you do so depends on your situation, but use it.
  • CharRicho
    CharRicho Posts: 389 Member
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    Definitely recommend yoga. Studies have also shown yoga and meditation to be beneficial for women with PCOS (probably because of the stress-reduction). I'm only going to yoga once a week at the moment, but that one night is the best sleep I get all week, so I really want to start going more.

    Also 2nd walking... especially if you can get somewhere into nature that is calming for you. Walking after meals (even 10 minutes) also helps to reduce the effect of the meal on your blood sugar (can eliminate/reduce those spikes that PCOS women get) so can help your PCOS in multiple ways.
  • tospaa
    tospaa Posts: 8 Member
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    I definitely do not want to sound rude, but I survived a major depression (which lasted for more than 2 years) couple of years back. I am now happy as a person can get, and I learned how to appreciate it.

    My only recommendation is to stop pairing PCOS with stress. I know lots of sources say that, but I say that they don't come in pairs. You are forcing yourself to be depressed in your head.
  • CharRicho
    CharRicho Posts: 389 Member
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    I definitely do not want to sound rude, but I survived a major depression (which lasted for more than 2 years) couple of years back. I am now happy as a person can get, and I learned how to appreciate it.

    My only recommendation is to stop pairing PCOS with stress. I know lots of sources say that, but I say that they don't come in pairs. You are forcing yourself to be depressed in your head.

    Uh, she said her JOB is stressful, and said nothing about being depressed. She was looking for suggestions of ways to de-stress.

    Even if you don't acknowledge that stress is especially bad for women with PCOS, I think we can all agree that stress is bad in general. So someone (Anyone!) who is looking for a way to de-stress from a stressful job is doing the right thing for themselves.

    Besides that, stress is proven to be
    a) bad for weight loss - because of the effect of cortisol, the hormone that your body makes more of when you're stressed and
    b) bad for ovulation

    Given that the goals of the women with PCOS on here tend to be losing weight, gaining fertility or both, then I would say that stress is something that they might like to focus on getting out of their lives. Seems pretty reasonable to me, and frankly just telling someone that they are creating the problem in their head is not very helpful.

    http://www.webmd.com/infertility-and-reproduction/features/infertility-stress
    http://www.mayoclinic.org/stress/art-20046037
    http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-athletes-way/201301/cortisol-why-the-stress-hormone-is-public-enemy-no-1
    http://www.webmd.com/diet/features/can-stress-cause-weight-gain

    There are more references/related reading and links to studies within the articles.
  • tospaa
    tospaa Posts: 8 Member
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    I definitely do not want to sound rude, but I survived a major depression (which lasted for more than 2 years) couple of years back. I am now happy as a person can get, and I learned how to appreciate it.

    My only recommendation is to stop pairing PCOS with stress. I know lots of sources say that, but I say that they don't come in pairs. You are forcing yourself to be depressed in your head.

    Uh, she said her JOB is stressful, and said nothing about being depressed. She was looking for suggestions of ways to de-stress.

    Even if you don't acknowledge that stress is especially bad for women with PCOS, I think we can all agree that stress is bad in general. So someone (Anyone!) who is looking for a way to de-stress from a stressful job is doing the right thing for themselves.

    Besides that, stress is proven to be
    a) bad for weight loss - because of the effect of cortisol, the hormone that your body makes more of when you're stressed and
    b) bad for ovulation

    Given that the goals of the women with PCOS on here tend to be losing weight, gaining fertility or both, then I would say that stress is something that they might like to focus on getting out of their lives. Seems pretty reasonable to me, and frankly just telling someone that they are creating the problem in their head is not very helpful.

    http://www.webmd.com/infertility-and-reproduction/features/infertility-stress
    http://www.mayoclinic.org/stress/art-20046037
    http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-athletes-way/201301/cortisol-why-the-stress-hormone-is-public-enemy-no-1
    http://www.webmd.com/diet/features/can-stress-cause-weight-gain

    There are more references/related reading and links to studies within the articles.

    Yes, I get that and agree with everything you mentioned. Of course stress is bad for everything. I gained 60 pounds during my depression and was ovulating at most 1 time in 4-5 months. This was NOT my point. I can't agree more with you there - stress is BAD. But I still think the first step to de-stress, as you say, starts in the head.

    I get that daily life can be very stressful. It is for me, and I am still a student. But in my opinion, associating it with anything that we can't control (like PCOS in this case) is accepting it. I just refuse to accept that I can't be stress-free just because I have PCOS. There are of course solutions to de-stress as suggested earlier, like yoga and walking, but I believe one should believe it first.
  • bribrijean234
    bribrijean234 Posts: 90 Member
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    First of all, thank you to everyone for the suggestions - I really appreciate it. I bought a yoga dvd a few days ago and am trying to do a 30 minute routine once a day. I also like the suggestion of kick-boxing/martial arts - that is something I know I would enjoy. :)
    CharRicho - thanks for the tip about walking after eating - I will definitely try that.

    Tospaa - thank you for your imput, but a quick note. I do not in any way think that PCOS is the cause of my stress. I am generally a very happy person the majority of the time. That being said, my job is extremely stressful and for the majority of my life until this job, I was able to control stress with no problem. Unfortunately, at this particular time, I am not in a financial position to just pick up and get a new job as much as I would love to - so it is a matter of finding a way to cope one day at a time until I can. I was recently diagnosed and only started having many of the worse symptoms within the last 6 months. Based on some of the research I have done, I realized that stress has a major impact on PCOS symptoms - hence I want to do everything I can to not aggravate them further. Just looking for support and suggestions here not criticism.
  • bribrijean234
    bribrijean234 Posts: 90 Member
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    5. Use your paid time off. Your employer gives you vacation time for a reason. Make use of it. How you do so depends on your situation, but use it.

    and that is a very good idea. I tend to be afraid to use my time off. I typically am expected to give a rundown of "why" I need to take a day and what I will be doing - which frankly is no one's business but my own. I need to stand up for myself a bit more and take a day here and there as needed.