Stressed? Me? Never. (Except yeah, sometimes.)
This is my happy place. I’ve been riding horses since I was 10. I was one of THOSE horse girls in school, and I’m not even remotely sorry about it.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
How often I get to spend time with horses affects my stress level. So much so that I make sure I get adequate equine time, including hanging out with Hazel (Lady Hazelden, if she’s feeling fancy) as often as possible. So much so that my doctor unofficially prescribed “Hazel Time” when stress was causing my depression to be a little less well controlled, at the beginning of the pandemic.
Stress affects our bodies in different ways. It can have an affect on our hormones, our energy level, and most certainly, on our muscles. A clenched jaw is a pretty universal symbol for someone experiencing stress. Someone stretching and rubbing their neck is another one. These aren’t the only places we store stress in our bodies, though
I’ll give you 3 guesses where else we can really feel our stress in our bodies. First 2 don’t count.
Ok, you got me, it’s your pelvic floor muscles. Clenching your jaw and clenching your pelvic floor really aren’t that different. If you think about it, your mouth and your anus are 2 ends of the same tube (yeah, I said it).
When we’re stressed, the super protective part of our brain that perceives stress as a threat can switch to “on guard”, causing us to tense our muscles in anticipation of either fighting or fleeing (or freezing, or fawning - something we’ll talk about more another time). Our abdominal muscles, our glutes, our neck and shoulders, and yes, our pelvic floor muscles, all joining in. Sound familiar?
Throughout our bodies, this response to stress can manifest in all sorts of ways. Maybe you start grinding your teeth. Maybe you get a headache that starts in your neck muscles. Maybe your low back aches because you haven’t stopped gripping with your butt muscles all day. Maybe you can’t seem to lower your shoulders from up around your ears.
When your pelvic floor muscles decide they need to be “on” most of the time, a variety of symptoms can develop. Some of them seem pretty obvious, like discomfort or pain when inserting a tampon or having sex. Some of them are less obvious, like having to strain to pee or have a bowel movement. And some of them seem completely counterintuitive - did you know that pelvic floor muscles that don’t contract AND relax in a functional way can actually lead to leaking urine?
Just because a muscle is “tight” muscles (I don’t love that term, but I can’t deny it’s descriptive) and strong muscles are 2 different things.
Do I have you wondering if your pelvic floor muscles are being affected by your stress level? Try a little experiment the next time you notice feeling stressed: notice if your jaw is tight, if your shoulders are tense, and then bring your awareness down to your pelvic floor muscles. Are you gripping with them, too?
If so, give me a shout. In addition to helping you learn how to have strong AND relaxed pelvic floor muscles, we can talk about lots of stress management strategies to help you live your best life!
