Managing the Symptoms of Conflict

In our previous article we highlighted some of the ill-effects that conflict can have on your mental and physical well-being. Now we will discuss some of the options available to help you with those effects.

Some of the best ways of managing the symptoms of conflict, and decreasing stress levels, are things like:

Rest – the adrenal glands regenerate while we sleep and a good night’s rest will contribute to a calmer, more focused mind-set. Don’t think of it as being lazy, but rather embrace naps and a healthy sleep schedule to help balance your health.

Diet – Sugar, food additives, preservatives, dyes, caffeine, chocolate, pesticides all trigger stress systems and they deplete neurotransmitters in your brain. The same goes for too much fruit and high-starch foods like breads, pastas, potatoes, and grains. Adopting a diet high in animal proteins and low starch vegetables will be beneficial to not only restoring balance to the autonomic nervous system, but for optimal health overall.

Environmental Toxins – pesticides, mould, and many of the chemicals found in everyday cleaning products,
cosmetics, and toiletries contains harmful toxins that not only overstimulate the sympathetic nervous system, but are destructive to the endocrine system, immune system, detoxification system and central nervous system as well. Eliminating these toxins from your environment and switching over to natural and organic products will help to cleanse our bodies and allow the healing process to begin.

Exercise – yes, we have mentioned this topic before but deep down everyone knows what is right and good when it comes to exercise. But remember that regular, mild exercise will initiate a whole host of positive benefits for your physical and mental wellbeing. If you exercise too hard, you could do more damage than good, so keep it simple and manageable.

Deep breathing – there are many ways to practice simple breathing exercises that have been scientifically proven to be effective in restoring balance to the autonomic nervous system. With our breath we can use our voluntary nervous system to influence our involuntary nervous system. You should practice deep breathing exercises every day, in the morning after you’ve woken up and at night before going to bed. If executed properly deep breathing exercises can actually help improve your sleep tremendously by relaxing you and bringing your brain to a calmer state. You can also practice anytime throughout the day whenever you feel particularly stressed.

Meditation – no one expects you to become some kind of new-age hippy, but mindfulness meditation or any activity that brings peace, harmony, balance and happiness to your life will also aid in soothing your stress response system. Activities that make you feel centred, like art, dance, volunteering, time spent with loved ones, yoga, writing, spending time with nature, smiling more often, massage, etc. will help in practising mindful meditation. Think about it for a minute; while you’re having a nice, soothing back massage are your thoughts still plagued by worries or are you simply lying there thinking how good it feels?

Supplements – a healthy nervous system and neurotransmitter production needs to have adequate levels of vitamin c, zinc, pantethine, folic acid, b12, b1, b2, b3, pyridoxal 5 phosphate, as well as a variety of amino acids, fatty acids and minerals. Consult with your doctor for the best advice on which supplements will work well for you.

Successfully managing the symptoms of conflict may even lead you on a path to resolving the conflict itself. If you can maintain a calm and peaceful demeanour and treat the other person that you are in conflict with, with an unwavering degree of politeness and non-reaction, then that may also eventually contribute to other person re-evaluating their behaviour and adopting the same conduct as you.

In the next article we will discuss ways that you can try and resolve the conflict itself and create a better environment for everyone involved.