Life can be challenging: Build your own resilience plan
Nantucket, a beautiful, 14-mile-long island off the coast of Massachusetts, has a 40-point resiliency plan to help withstand the buffeting seas surrounding it as climate change takes a toll. Perhaps we can all benefit from creating individual resilience plans to help handle the big and small issues that erode our sense of well-being. But what is resilience and how do you cultivate it?
What is resilience?
Resilience is a psychological response that helps you adapt to life’s difficulties and seek a path forward through challenges.
“It’s a flexible mindset that helps you adapt, think critically, and stay focused on your values and what matters most,” says Luana Marques, an associate professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School.
While everyone has the ability to be resilient, your capacity for resilience can take a beating over time from chronic stress, perhaps from financial instability or staying in a job you dislike. The longer you’re in that situation, the harder it becomes to cope with it.
Fortunately, it’s possible to cultivate resilience. To do so, it helps to exercise resiliency skills as often as possible, even for minor stressors. Marques recommends the following strategies.
Shift your thoughts
In stressful situations, try to balance out your thoughts by adopting a broader perspective. “This will help you stop using the emotional part of your brain and start using the thinking part of your brain. For example, if you’re asking for a raise and your brain says you won’t get it, think about the things you’ve done in your job that are worthy of a raise. You’ll slow down the emotional response and shift your mindset from anxious to action,” Marques says.
Approach what you want
“When you’re anxious, stressed, or burned out, you tend to avoid things that make you uncomfortable. That can make you feel stuck,” Marques says. “What you need to do is get out of your comfort zone and take a step toward the thing you want, in spite of fear.”
For example: If you’re afraid of giving a presentation, create a PowerPoint and practice it with colleagues. If you’re having conflict at home, don’t walk away from your partner — schedule time to talk about what’s making you upset.
Align actions with your values
“Stress happens when your actions are not aligned with your values — the things that matter most to you or bring you joy. For example, you might feel stressed if you care most about your family but can’t be there for dinner, or care most about your health but drink a lot,” Marques says.
She suggests that you identify your top three values and make sure your daily actions align with them. If being with family is one of the three, make your time with them a priority — perhaps find a way to join them for a daily meal. If you get joy from a clean house, make daily tidying a priority.
Tips for success
Practice the shift, approach, and align strategies throughout the week. “One trick I use is looking at my calendar on Sunday and checking if my actions for the week are aligned with my values. If they aren’t, I try to change things around,” Marques says.
It’s also important to live as healthy a lifestyle as possible, which will help keep your brain functioning at its best.
Healthy lifestyle habits include:
- getting seven to nine hours of sleep per night
- following a healthy diet, such as a Mediterranean-style diet
- aiming for at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity activities (such as brisk walking) each week — and adding on strength training at least twice a week
- if you drink alcohol, limiting yourself to no more than one drink per day for women and two drinks per day for men
- not smoking
- staying socially connected, whether in person, by phone or video calls, social media, or even text messages.
Need resilience training?
Even the best athletes have coaches, and you might benefit from resilience training.
Consider taking an online course, such as this one developed by Luana Marques. Or maybe turn to a therapist online or in person for help. Look for someone who specializes in cognitive behavioral therapy, which guides you to redirect negative thoughts to positive or productive ones.
Just don’t put off building resilience. Practicing as you face day-to-day stresses will help you learn skills to help navigate when dark clouds roll in and seas get rough.
About the Author
Heidi Godman, Executive Editor, Harvard Health Letter
Heidi Godman is the executive editor of the Harvard Health Letter. Before coming to the Health Letter, she was an award-winning television news anchor and medical reporter for 25 years. Heidi was named a journalism fellow … See Full Bio View all posts by Heidi Godman
About the Reviewer
Howard E. LeWine, MD, Chief Medical Editor, Harvard Health Publishing
Dr. Howard LeWine is a practicing internist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, Chief Medical Editor at Harvard Health Publishing, and editor in chief of Harvard Men’s Health Watch. See Full Bio View all posts by Howard E. LeWine, MD
Power your paddle sports with three great exercises
On the Gulf Coast of Florida where I live, the telltale sign of summer is not an influx of beachcombers, afternoon storms that arrive exactly at 2 p.m., or the first hurricane warning, but the appearance of hundreds of paddleboarders dotting the inlet waters.
From afar, paddleboarding looks almost spiritual — people standing on nearly invisible boards and gliding across the surface as if walking on water.
But this popular water sport offers a serious workout, just as kayaking and canoeing do. While floating along and casually dipping a paddle in the water may look effortless, much goes on beneath the surface, so to speak.
As warm weather beckons and paddle season arrives, it pays to get key muscles in shape before heading out on the water.
Tuning up muscles: Focus on core, back, arms, and shoulders
“Paddling a kayak, canoe, or paddleboard relies on muscles that we likely haven’t used much during winter,” says Kathleen Salas, a physical therapist with Spaulding Adaptive Sports Centers at Harvard-affiliated Spaulding Rehabilitation Network. “Even if you regularly weight train, the continuous and repetitive motions involved in paddling require endurance and control of specific muscles that need to be properly stretched and strengthened.”
While paddling can be a whole-body effort (even your legs contribute), three areas do the most work and thus need the most conditioning: the core, back, and arms and shoulders.
- Core. Your core comprises several muscles, but the main ones for paddling include the rectus abdominis (that famed “six-pack”) and the obliques, located on the side and front of your abdomen. The core acts as the epicenter around which every movement revolves — from twisting to bending to stabilizing your trunk to generate power.
- Back: Paddling engages most of the back muscles, but the ones that carry the most load are the latissimus dorsi muscles, also known as the lats, and the erector spinae. The lats are the large V-shaped muscles that connect your arms to your vertebral column. They help protect and stabilize your spine while providing shoulder and back strength. The erector spinae, a group of muscles that runs the length of the spine on the left and right, helps with rotation.
- Arms and shoulders: Every paddle stroke engages the muscles in your arms (biceps) and the top of your shoulder (deltoids).
Many exercises specifically target these muscles, but here are three that can work multiple paddling muscles in one move. Add them to your workouts to help you get ready for paddling season. If you haven’t done these exercises before, try the first two without weights until you can do the movement smoothly and with good form.
Three great exercises to prep for paddling
Wood chop
Muscles worked: Deltoids, obliques, rectus abdominis, erector spinae
Reps: 8–12 on each side
Sets: 1–3
Rest: 30–90 seconds between sets
Starting position: Stand with your feet about shoulder-width apart and hold a dumbbell with both hands. Hinge forward at your hips and bend your knees to sit back into a slight squat. Rotate your torso to the right and extend your arms to hold the dumbbell on the outside of your right knee.
Movement: Straighten your legs to stand up as you rotate your torso to the left and raise the weight diagonally across your body and up to the left, above your shoulder, while keeping your arms extended. In a chopping motion, slowly bring the dumbbell down and across your body toward the outside of your right knee. This is one rep. Finish all reps, then repeat on the other side. This completes one set.
Tips and techniques:
- Keep your spine neutral and your shoulders down and back
- Reach only as far as is comfortable.
- Keep your knees no farther forward than your toes when you squat.
Make it easier: Do the exercise without a dumbbell.
Make it harder: Use a heavier dumbbell.
Bent-over row
Muscles worked: Latissimus dorsi, deltoids, biceps
Reps: 8–12
Sets: 1–3
Rest: 30–90 seconds between sets
Starting position: Stand with a weight in your left hand and a bench or sturdy chair on your right side. Place your right hand and knee on the bench or chair seat. Let your left arm hang directly under your left shoulder, fully extended toward the floor. Your spine should be neutral, and your shoulders and hips squared.
Movement: Squeeze your shoulder blades together, then bend your elbow to slowly lift the weight toward your ribs. Return to the starting position. Finish all reps, then repeat with the opposite arm. This completes one set.
Tips and techniques:
- Keep your shoulders squared throughout.
- Keep your elbow close to your side as you lift the weight.
- Keep your head in line with your spine.
Make it easier: Use a lighter weight.
Make it harder: Use a heavier weight.
Superman
Muscles worked: Deltoids, latissimus dorsi, erector spinae
Reps: 8–12
Sets: 1–3
Rest: 30–90 seconds between sets
Starting position: Lie face down on the floor with your arms extended, palms down, and legs extended.
Movement: Simultaneously lift your arms, head, chest, and legs off the floor as high as is comfortable. Hold. Return to the starting position.
Tips and techniques:
- Tighten your buttocks before lifting.
- Don’t look up.
- Keep your shoulders down, away from your ears.
Make it easier: Lift your right arm and left leg while keeping the opposite arm and leg on the floor. Switch sides with each rep.
Make it harder: Hold in the “up” position for three to five seconds before lowering.
About the Author
Matthew Solan, Executive Editor, Harvard Men's Health Watch
Matthew Solan is the executive editor of Harvard Men’s Health Watch. He previously served as executive editor for UCLA Health’s Healthy Years and as a contributor to Duke Medicine’s Health News and Weill Cornell Medical College’s … See Full Bio View all posts by Matthew Solan
About the Reviewer
Howard E. LeWine, MD, Chief Medical Editor, Harvard Health Publishing
Dr. Howard LeWine is a practicing internist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, Chief Medical Editor at Harvard Health Publishing, and editor in chief of Harvard Men’s Health Watch. See Full Bio View all posts by Howard E. LeWine, MD