Like hairdressers, Mitchell Scott Lewis listens to people’s stories and takes on their stress. A professional astrologer who works with a large range of professionals, Lewis has learned to make sure his clients’ stress does not become his stress, too. 

“I used to be a bartender,” says Lewis, who also is the author of a murder mystery series. “I’d stand at the bar for 10 hours or more, and I didn’t have a lot of breaks. Taking a break by taking a drink isn’t helping the problem! In my current career, after I give a reading I go out and take a walk to shake off that karma. Hairdressers should try to make time to do the same. If you’re doing hair for eight hours straight, you won’t be able to release that stress without a break. Although you love your clients and you enjoy chatting, take breaks, even in the staff room, so you can shake off each client’s energy and stress to avoid bringing it to your next client. It starts out as mental stress, but then you feel it in your shoulders, upper back and lower back. You take it home with you, and it becomes part of your physicality.”

Some people are better than others at naturally shaking off stress, Lewis observes. They let stress “roll off their back.” If you’re not one of them, Lewis says you’re likely to experience stress primarily in one of three ways:

• Physical reaction to stress—a stressful situation causes you digestive problems, shoulder soreness, back pain, migraines or other body aches.

• Psychological reaction to stress—your behavior, mood or ability to focus changes when you’re stressed.

• Spiritual reaction to stress—at times of high stress you question long-held beliefs, feel a lack of joy or inner peace, have difficulty expressing love or are not as giving and open to other people. 

Lewis helps his clients identify which of the three ways of dealing with stress applies to them. Together, they work on strategies to handle stress to limit or eliminate physical, psychological or spiritual damage. In general, to function well in a stressful world, Lewis recommends:

• Customize your diet. Eating the best foods for your particular physicality requires a little research, Lewis says. If you battle high blood pressure, for example, do an online search for natural remedies so you’ll be able to lower it without, or with minimal, medication. “Stay away from a diet that suppresses your chi so that your digestion is not flowing,” Lewis adds. “Or change your diet if it causes inflammation in your joints.”

• Meditate. “Meditation is just a technique of sitting and letting your brain stop for 30 minutes,” Lewis says. “The issues are still there when you’re done; meditating doesn’t cure anything, but you have better ability to deal with the issues.”

• Exercise. “Standing all day is not exercise!” Lewis notes. “I’m a firm believer in walking. You must move that chi! You’ll sleep better, and your blood pressure will drop. The parts of the body that tend to wear out when you’re a hairdresser won’t wear out as quickly. By the time you’re 80, you can be a bent-over, hurting 80-year-old, or you can be a strong, strapping 80-year-old.”

• Take probiotics. “Probiotics boost the immune system,” Lewis says. “As we get older, we have to boost our immune system.”

• Drink water. Research continues to show the benefits of drinking water. Lewis says that it’s fine to enjoy a glass of wine, too, but it’s better if you’re drinking a lot of water to move it through your body.

Don’t try to make changes all at once, Lewis cautions, “Some clients become determined to do it all—change their diet, take probiotics, start exercising, meditate daily. I tell them not to try to fix everything. Take one probiotic a day. Then take a half-hour walk every day. Then start eating better food. Take it one step at a time. We all can age slower, enjoy our lives more and be healthy.”