Alexandra Voica, Breathing and Vitality Coach highlights how stress and anxiety often act as silent saboteurs of success in today’s fast-paced business world. These emotions can cloud mental clarity, making clear, rational decision-making difficult. This article delves into the impact of stress and anxiety on financial decisions, the scientific basis for these effects, and how breathwork can serve as a powerful tool to help mitigate them.
But first – What is Anxiety?
Anxiety is a feeling of intense worry, nervousness, or unease about something with an uncertain outcome. It often involves heightened alertness and physical symptoms like increased heart rate, sweating, and muscle tension. While it’s a normal stress response, chronic anxiety can interfere with daily activities and decision-making, leading to physical and emotional exhaustion.
Anxiety and stress are significant saboteurs in the realm of financial decision-making, especially for women in business. When anxiety strikes, it activates our sympathetic nervous system (SNS), which is our body’s “fight or flight” response. This reaction floods our system with stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline, preparing us for immediate threats. Chronic SNS activation can cloud our judgment, impair cognitive function, and lead to poor decision-making as the brain focuses on survival rather than strategic thinking.
Emotionally, this manifests as feeling overwhelmed, doubt, and fear, making it difficult to think clearly and act rationally. A constant state of high alert is depleting our emotional and physical resources, leading to burnout and decreased productivity. Anxiety also severely impacts our sleep quality, as we lie awake overthinking, the SNS remains active, preventing deep, restorative sleep. Lack of quality sleep over more than three days can significantly decrease cognitive abilities, impair memory, and hinder decision-making.
As a physical response to anxiety, you may experience increased muscle tension, which can lead to headaches and chronic pain. Imagine walking out of an exhausting meeting; you felt fine before, but now your neck and shoulders are tight, and a headache is creeping in. It’s as if the tension from the meeting has settled into your muscles, making you feel like you need a massage straight away. The physical response in your body can significantly impact your ability to think clearly and be present, which may lead to poor self-awareness. As a result, your ability to make rational decisions decreases.
This perpetual cycle of stress makes it incredibly challenging to remain focused, productive, and confident in our decisions. However, recognizing our emotions quickly and using a simple breathwork exercise to switch back to the parasympathetic nervous system (PNS) can be a powerful act of self-awareness. This practice can calm our emotions and anxiety, allowing us to regain our focus in just a few minutes and break free from the stress cycle.
When we activate the PNS, we can calm our emotions and reduce anxiety, leading to better focus and clearer thinking
Understanding the mind-body connection is crucial for managing stress and anxiety effectively. Emotions are complex psychological states that involve subjective experiences, physiological responses, and behavioural or expressive responses. By acknowledging these silent saboteurs and employing strategies to overcome them, we can pave the way for more effective financial decision-making and a balanced, successful life in business. Being one step ahead in recognizing and addressing these issues can save you from losing a big opportunity or valuable clients due to anxiety.
By addressing these emotions through breathwork, we can reduce muscle tension and alleviate pain, promoting a healthier and more balanced state of being. When we are physically relaxed and free from pain, our minds are clearer, and we can make decisions with greater confidence and precision. This state of physical and mental relaxation allows us to be more present, weigh our options more thoughtfully, and choose the best course of action without the interference of stress-induced cloudiness.
Research shows that when you are relaxed and awake, amazing things happen to you instead of being in survival mode, stressed out, and stuck in a routine. To create something new, we need to be in the present. Breathwork is a powerful tool to help us stay in this relaxed and awake state. By focusing on our breath, we can bring ourselves back to the present moment, where creativity and clarity thrive. Even to meditate or manifest, we need to breathe and be present.
Balance Breathing Exercise
- Sit Comfortably: Sit with your back straight and feet flat on the floor.
- Close Your Eyes: This helps you focus inward.
- Inhale: Breathe in slowly through your nose for a count of six.
- Exhale: Breathe out slowly through your mouth for a count of seven.
- Hold: After exhaling, hold your breath as long as you comfortably can without stressing your body or muscles.
- Repeat: Continue this cycle for 5 minutes
As you practice this balanced breathing exercise, you’ll notice a calming effect on your mind and body. This simple technique helps activate the PNS, reducing stress and anxiety, and promoting a sense of balance and clarity. By incorporating this exercise into your daily routine, you can build resilience and improve your ability to handle stressful situations with ease and confidence.
Remember, taking just a few minutes each day to focus on your breath can make a significant difference in your approach to business. You’ve got this, and your journey to financial abundance is just a breath away.
