If you’re recovering from an injury, it’s important to keep stress to a minimum so your body can heal more easily. Stress prolongs the healing process, not to mention it can make you feel worse. While you don’t have much control over how your body heals, reducing or eliminating stress can remove unnecessary barriers and help you heal more efficiently.
Stress prevents wound healing
Inflammation is an important part of the healing process, and your body naturally produces proinflammatory cytokines at the source of the wound in order to stimulate healing. However, stress has been shown to reduce the expression of these important cytokines by increasing cortisol levels, which prolongs inflammation. In this study, a marital conflict was enough to create a significantly negative impact on the level of cytokines required for healing.
If you’ve had surgery as part of your treatment plan, it’s even more important to stay stress-free. If you remain in a stressful state for long periods of time, your body will lose its ability to fight toxins and foreign substances, and combined with the inability to control inflammation, healing could take much longer than expected.
How to eliminate stress and support healing
Although stress seems hard to control at times, simple strategies can make a big difference. Here are some easy ways to kick stress to the curb while you heal:
- Get a lawyer to handle your case. If you’re thinking about filing a lawsuit, hire a lawyer. Trying to do it on your own will be an extremely stressful experience, not to mention how frustrated you’ll be when you realize you’re in over your head. Even if you’re just negotiating with an insurance company for a settlement, a lawyer will get you a better payout.
- Meal prep. The easier it is to eat, the more likely you are to eat healthy meals while you heal. Prepping meals ahead of time is the best way to ensure you get proper nutrition.
- Try supplements. There are many supplements that can help you relax, like l-theanine, ashwaganda, and magnesium, just to name a few. Ask your doctor if there are any supplements they can recommend, or if you want to try something specific, ask if it’s okay to take with your injuries and/or medication.
- Stay off social media. Social media is one of the most stressful things you can engage in, so try to avoid it while you heal. Don’t put yourself in a position where you’ll feel triggered by social issues or other people’s opinions and arguments.
- Get more sleep. Sleep will do wonders for healing, so get as much as you can. Go to bed before you’re actually tired to give yourself time to wind down, and if you don’t need to be anywhere in the morning, sleep until you wake up naturally.
- Make requests. If you live with other people, don’t hesitate to make requests that will support your healing. For example, if you need to take a nap, ask everyone to please respect your need for silence for a couple hours. If something in the house is causing you stress, ask for support to find a solution.
- Laugh. Laughter reduces stress and relaxes your muscles, and is an excellent way to lower cortisol and adrenaline levels. Find more opportunities to laugh, and if you can’t make it happen in person, watch funny videos online.
- Visualize. Visualizing yourself doing something has been shown to execute the same neural pathways as executing the actual task in the physical world. Many people say visualizing themselves recovering has played a significant role in their healing, especially athletes. Even if all it does is make you feel better, you’re still reducing stress in the process.
Do whatever it takes to protect your peace
Life can be chaotic, and you may not have complete control over your environment at all times, especially if you are going to work and taking care of a family. However, don’t let this deter you from making the changes you need to find peace among the stress. If the people in your life truly care about you, they’ll be supportive and willing to help you.
Talk to your employer about making accommodations for you if needed, including to keep your stress levels low. Rearrange your schedule at home and ask others to help a little more with household tasks. Do whatever is necessary to keep your stress levels low so you can heal faster.