Welcome to Weight Loss for Small Animal Vets podcast. I am Nadina Cojocaru, DVM and certified life and weight coach. Hello, friends. Welcome to episodes 28 of the podcast. This will be a live recording of a webinar where I present three tools to stop stressful patterns in veterinary medicine. Those three tools are easily accessible, easy hacks for your brain or to counteract the stressors in our vet lives. Enjoy it.
Hi, everybody. I am Nadina Cojocaru. I am a small animal vet and the certified life and weight coach for vets. And I'm here with Louisa who is my virtual assistant. Hi, Louisa. And we will talk today about three tools to stop stressful patterns in veterinary medicine. And this will be recorded and it'll transform in a podcast and it'll transform in a recorded webinar on my website. And all people who registered for the webinar will get a recording as well.
So you will have access to that even if you are not here from the beginning, you will have the whole recording and the slides as well. If you want to ask questions, hit the Q and A button and ask the questions there. And if Louis can, she will answer your questions. If not, I will answer to all of them at the end of that. So let's dive in. First, I want to talk to you about...
I will talk to you about the difference between stress and stressors. And what stressors are, are triggers that activate a stress response in our bodies. And they might be external or internal triggers. External triggers might be the patient load of your day, the cases that are booked on your patient appointment list, some words that a client or a pet owner or a colleague said, those might trigger a stress response.
Your perception of time, if you are late for an appointment or the pet owner is late or is not showing up or the amount of time that you have for a specific appointment that turns into if we are already here, that classical thing. Can you please look at this lump and can you please trim his nails? And can you remove that loose tooth on him awake? Because I'm so afraid of general anesthesia? And the initial appointment is because another vet has heard a heart murmur.
So you know how those appointments might trigger some stress responses in your body. Another external trigger might be cultural norms or expectations, especially from a woman. And the vet medicine profession is more and more dominated by women. Another external trigger might be your experience with discrimination, with inequity, your financial situation, or the money that you see in your bank account, or the money that you receive as a paycheck or the money that you see that you collect at the end of the day.
Another stress or external trigger for a stress response might be literally to get attacked by a patient, by an animal. Or for instance, if you are a deployed vet and you are going into war zones being under attack, literally under attack. The stress itself, or the stress response is the response that our bodies are doing when they got triggered by those external triggers. The problem is that stressors are also internal stressors.
What might be in an internal stressor or an internal trigger of a stress response? Again, for us women, our internal self talk about our body. And 97% of women have hateful voices in their heads about their bodies. So it doesn't matter what shape or form is our body in, only 3% of the women can think neutrally about how their body look like. And that internal self talk is a trigger for a stress response. Another internal trigger might be the internal self talk about your competence as a vet.
And I want to share with you that affects newly grads and vets who have been in this profession for 40 years and even those big professors or big names in vet medicine, who we are looking up to, and people who have a lot of letters after their names and the DVM acronym. So those are well established names in the vet profession, and they still have mean self talk in their heads about their competence as a vet.
Your internal beliefs about your ability to communicate with your colleagues, with pet owners, with your mother-in-law or with your partner, those might be internal triggers. Another internal trigger might be your memories about how you remember an event from the past or your projection of your future. So all those triggers both external or internal create a stress response.
So let's get back a little bit to what stress is. And stress is a neurological and physiological response of your brain and your body. When you encounter a stressor or a threat, it's a response of adaptation created by the evolution. And that preserved the human species and preserved our lives. When our brains, both the conscious and the unconscious part of the brain, decide in a split of millisecond that a trigger is harmful, it will create a cascade of neurological and hormonal secretion that will make you act for survival.
And we know from the biology that the stress response molecules that start the cycle are the adrenaline, the neuro adrenaline. Then the glucocorticoids kick in to maintain the stress response. And then some endorphins will help us ignore how painful it is going through that stressful event. So the cycle of stress is we have the stressor that triggers a stress response, that cascade of adrenaline, glucocorticoids and endorphins.
And then our bodies go into run, fight or freeze. What do I mean by that? So to go back to the evolution, if we are chased by a lion, which was the common cause of stress in our lives, we will run, we will stop and fight with the aggressor, or we will play dead, or we will freeze. And when we are in run or fight, our heart rate will go up, our blood pressure will go up, our respiration rate will go up. We will breathe more rapid or more intensely.
Our muscle will tense and our pain sensitivity diminishes. And our focus will be only on the stressor ignoring what else might be happening around us. Remember that we get the same stress response, both from internal triggers and from external triggers. So our mind, our brains and our neural pathways in our brains, can't discern between something that happening for real and something that is created internally.
So the cycle of stress in nature is stressor, stress, response, run, fight, or freeze. And then the molecules that are secreted in our bodies get metabolized. And then if, for instance, we don't use that energy, that kick of adrenaline or cortisol, we will have to do something physically to shake our muscles or to run or to fight to complete the cycle. So in order to go through all this cycle and complete it, we have to have some physical activity at the end of it.
And if our nervous system will respond with run, we will run. If we will respond with fighting, we will fight. But that freezing mechanism is when the oppressor or the stressor or the trigger, or the lion is too big to fight with. And then all our nervous system shuts down. And if you think about a gazelle chased by a lion, and she's like a reg doll. When she fills the lion's teeth in her body somewhere, they just play dead.
So that is also the freezing mechanism when we play dead. Or if a cat is run over by a car, the car driver comes in with that cat, which is also as a almost dead. And then we see that the cat is shaking and standing up. And sometimes the driver is not even able to catch the cat to come with a cat to the vet because the cat just jumps up, shakes a little bit and runs.
So playing that or freeze explains the response to, for instance, repeated aggression towards our nervous system in situations when we are not able to deal with the aggressor. So for instance, if we are in a situation at work where we are bullied, or we are not listened to or something bad is happening time after time, or even in a relationship, we always question ourselves, or we question that person, why is she, or he not able to leave that toxic or abusive relationship?
Or why is she, or he not able to leave that toxic workplace? And the answer is the freeze that we are in, in our stress cycle when we shut down and we are not able to see that a solution exists. So in order to complete the cycle, as I said, even if it's, if we are running from that cycle, the cycle will complete itself. If we are fighting, the cycle usually is complete.
But if we are in freeze or we are unable to run or fight, because we cannot run after each other interaction with a pet owner, we cannot run after getting a new project in our inbox or a new conversation or hard conversation to be discussed with a pet owner. We cannot run after each of them. So we will have some molecules, some stress molecules, and some stress responses trapped, usually in our muscles. That's why we carry stress in some groups of muscles in our bodies, usually in our shoulders or in our back, in our spine or our vertebra muscles in our spines and so on.
So in order to complete the cycle and to release that stress from our bodies, some kind of physical activity is necessary. And the problem with our modern vet lives is we don't question our stress responses and we keep reinforcing the neural pathways of stress. What do I mean by that? So when I said that we can get triggered by situations at work. For instance, if we are looking at our schedule, the same situation might trigger different responses in different vets.
And if we keep thinking thoughts like, I don't have time, they overbooked me, this is too much, that will just keep reinforcing the neural pathways of stress. So the answer to that would be to question, is that situation worth my stress response to it? Is it something meaningful that I get to deal with in this moment? Is a lion chasing me right now? Is it useful to stress up myself about this particular situation, this discussion, this surgery that is booked on my list, that investigation that is done on my list and on my patient appointment list and so on.
The other problem is that we don't know how to stop those stressful responses dead in their tracks. So we know, we might recognize those stress responses. We might acknowledge that no lion is chasing me, but what to do with those stressful responses that are already happening? And sometimes they are triggered by our unconscious brain. So not necessarily under our control, immediate control.
And the third problem with our modern vet lives is that we don't complete the cycle of stress. That meaning that we accumulate those stress molecules in our bodies, in our muscles, so our muscles are constantly prepped for run, fight, and we don't do anything about this. So the tools that I've created in my coaching practice are a combination of causal coaching tools. That means that we address the thoughts that we have that perpetuate the stress response in our bodies.
So we see those triggers and we can modulate some of the thoughts that we have about those triggers and that addresses the cause. That is called causal coaching tools. We address with our tools, the cause of that stress. And we can tackle some of those stress triggers and not get so affected by a benign conversation with a pet owner. The second cluster of tools involve neuroscience and neuroplasticity. That means brain hacks that will interrupt the stressful responses in our brains.
So it's just like a mental surgery, not an actual brain surgery. And that is based in proved neuroscience methods and are based in our brain's ability of changing itself. So recent studies proved that even initially they said that neuroplasticity is not possible after 25 years of age. And recent studies prove that is not actually true, that our brains are capable of changing and our neural pathways are able of changing and reshaping themselves all the time.
So the second cluster of tools involve brain hacks that will interrupt the stressful responses in our brains and of course in how we experience stress in our bodies. And the third cluster of tools are stress releasing hacks. And I'm not talking about green smoothies and long baths. Even if that might help sometimes, stress releasing hacks are way beyond a green smoothie or just a bubble bath. And I am the bubble bath freak. So I really enjoy my bubble baths.
But if we are getting guerilla about guerilla attacks on our stress responses, then we will for sure use some really intense hacks for dealing with the stress releasing from our bodies. For this presentation, I've promised you three easily applicable tools that you can use at any point in your day. So those tools are one, the bilateral stimulation. Two, the peripheral vision, or shutting the world down is the other name of that tool. And the third one is run or better said, complete the cycle.
So these tools are tools that you can do at any point during your vet day at work. And for the first one, the bilateral stimulation, you will have to grab an apple, an orange or a bowl. And I will try to-. In order to record it, let's see if I can in my. Myself. Louis, how can you stop sharing the screen? To see if I can. Yes. Thank you. Nice. Good. So the bilateral stimulation. An orange or an apple or a bowl. And what does it do?
When we have a stressful event or an anxiety attack, or an urge or a craving, or an anger, intense anger, or even panic, what happens in the brain is that one area of our brain will start firing impulses and synopsis like crazy. And it will pulse, pulse, pulse, pulse impulses that will create cycles of neurons or neural pathways that will increase or will feed each other more and more and more and more from that area of the brain.
And what this method does, even if it's insanely simple, you will take that object. It can be even a pen. And you will watch my hands. So you will cross the midline of your body and you will toss it around for 30 seconds to one minute. This method has a more rapid effect if you keep the hand without the object in the middle, and then you will have the other hand swinging laterally like I'm doing with this orange.
So you will keep the empty hand in front of you, and then you will switch the object in the other hand, move it laterally, and then do it again. After you do that for one minute, stop, take a deep breath and then reassess. How to know that it is working, you can try it at home. Think about a stressful situation and rate that stress from one to 10.
And it's really easy to recreate a stressful situation even outside that stressful situation. And toss the orange around, passing it from hand to hand, crossing them midline. And stop, take a deep breath check in. And you might note that the anxiety or the stress dissipated or diminished drastically. By activating both hemispheres of your brain, because this movement is not possible without engaging both hemispheres of your brain, you will spread the blood supply and the electrical impulses to both hemisphere, helping deactivate that area that was all on autopilot and firing like crazy.
Check your anxiety or your stress, and rate it again from one to 10 and repeat this method until it reaches a manageable level, or it dissipates completely. You can do it by, as I said, tossing any object around. And sometimes this is useful for kids in school or teenagers who have stressful responses or anxiety disorders. They can do it under their desk. Or you can play with a ball or with an orange or whatever to pretend to play. Because right now, for instance, you cannot see what the heck am I doing under my desk.
It appears that I am just playing with a ball, but I am really doing this method, and it works. It's a physical hack that will decrease the amount of anxiety or the stress immediately. The other hack, the second one is called the peripheral vision. And for the psychologist that found it called it, stopping the world or stopping the internal self talk. And his name was Carlos Castaneda. So how can you do that? That is even a more useful method because nobody knows what the heck you are doing.
What does it mean? It means that you pick a focal point or a spot to stare at. And if you are in front of a computer, or if you use this tool to diminish your urges or cravings, you can focus your attention on your cookie that you don't want to eat. So pick a focal point or a spot to stare at, and then slowly without moving your eyes, I will focus my eyes on the tip of my nose on the screen.
So and then without moving your eyes, expand your peripheral vision to the corners of your room and try to see as much as possible on the lateral and then towards the ceiling, towards the floor and expand it even more as if you could have see behind your back. And then after you do that, refocus again on the focal point in front of you. And breathe. And do it again. Just focus on that focal point and then expand your eyes or the vision, the peripheral vision to the corners of your room, to the ceiling, to the floor and even as if you could see behind your back.
And then come back to the focal point. It will feel awkward. It will feel really unnatural to do that. But after doing that three to four times, you will start to feel a calmness spreading in your body. And I don't mean doing it three to four times in a specific situation. I mean, just try to do that outside or whatever, just do that so you can allow your body to feel that calmness. Our bodies are not trained to accept positive sensations.
They are so caught in that stress cycle that sometimes we need some repetitions until we allow our bodies to receive that calmness. So train your brain and train your body by testing this method a few times, until you allow yourself to that calmness. It feels like a wave of calmness spreading in your body. And smile, because smiling is also a really good stressor in the moment. How does this shit work?
And that is by stimulating our parasympathetic nervous system and stopping the loops created by the sympathetic nervous system and the adrenaline cortisol cascades. So by shutting the world down or silencing the world or silencing the inner self talk, that is really useful for mean self talk as well, to make as a boundary with yourself, to not allow yourself to speak to yourself internally in a diminishing way. And by doing that, it will shut down that stress cycle. And the third of them is run or better said complete the cycle.
And all the studies have shown that the best method for releasing stress from our bodies, the best method to complete the cycle is some kind of physical activity, some kind of activity that involves our muscles. Because stress is stored in our muscles and this moving our bodies is by far the most useful tool against stress. 20 to 40 minutes daily, they say, but everything counts, running, power walking.
I am not a runner, so I don't like running. But even walking or moving your body or dancing like nobody's watching, just move those muscles in a way that is intentional for distressing yourself. Some people hate working out. Some people, they want to do that. They hate that with all their intensity of their bodies. They get injured. They cannot do it. For those people, even lying in bed and successively contracting all your muscles from your toes up to your feet, your calves, your thighs, your belly, your shoulders, your hands.
So we contract them successively up towards the head and then down and keep that contraction for 10 seconds. Even that is counted as a physical activity that will release stress from our muscles. What might happen is that you might feel some emotions. You might start crying, you might start shaking. That unfreezing thing that is happening, that is normal because all our emotions are stored in our muscles.
So when we use those muscles, we will release some molecules that will create emotions. That is, as I said, totally normal. And remember that shaking thing that happens after the car run over the cat and the cat just was fine, just playing dead. Or when our patients are waking up the anesthesia, they are shaking, or when we are going through a surgery and the general anesthesia, and we are shaking when we are waking up, this is a part of going through a stressful event.
Even if we are not conscious during that surgery, the body and the nervous system, the unconscious brain will collect those molecules that needs to be shaken out of the system. That shaking, that uncontrollable movement of our bodies is a healing process that is totally normal. So no problems for, if you are experiencing something like that. As I said, be okay with that, that's a part of processing stress.
So if we are not able to do those 20 to 40 minutes daily, you can even use, or let's say, I have so much to do. I have three kids and a lot of things to take care of and a lot of activities. And I have to take care of dinner and all the things. I don't have 20 minutes to do that. Every intense intentional movement counts. For instance, if you are walking in your clinic in the hallway, you can imagine that you are punching with your feet on the ground, the person's faces that you don't like for instance, just saying.
So everything or a situation, you can punch a situation, or you can step on a situation in your imagination. So that movement will be for your unconscious mind and for your nervous system, that will complete the cycle. That is so amazing about our nervous systems, especially our unconscious brains. They don't know that that specific situation hasn't happened. So when we go in our clinics and we step on things and we laugh about that, belly laughs, that helps release the stress.
So you don't have to do that in a, you have some time on your calendar, even if that would be recommended to do that. Just pick some windows of small exercising and imagine that you are dealing, you are punching or doing something while you are going or walking in your clinic, or while you are moving from one place to another, just with the intention of releasing some stress. Everything counts, everything counts. If you think in your brain that you are punching or doing something about that situation, that would complete the cycle. So be open to test things.
And as I said, belly laughs. God knows how many endorphins and how many stress hormones are released by belly laughs. So use your imagination, love, smile, shut the world down. If it's too much or toss an orange or a ball or an apple around. So everything counts to release or reduce the stress in your life. That was all my friends. Go to my website, www.vetcoach international.com. If you want to find and download the video or the filmed version of this webinar. Have an amazing rest of your day. Lots of loving hugs. Mwah.
