What is the most effective technique for Stress Management?
The majority of adults today feel like they are constantly running a marathon. They jump out of bed as soon as the alarm goes off, and barely have enough time to shower, dress, and eat before running out the door to take the kids to school and get to work. Their entire day at work is filled with one hectic task after another, all with stressful deadlines that have to be met. They come home and have to deal with the kids, cook quick TV dinner in the microwave, go to any extracurricular activities the kids may be involved in, do laundry, and hopefully sink into bed at a decent hour. With our lives being this busy and this hectic, it is no wonder so many of us feel the negative effects of stress. The busier and more hectic your life becomes, the more stress you will have to deal with, so it may be time to take a look at your life and see what you can do to cut some stress out, and learn how to better handle the stress you can’t eliminate completely. See Our Lunch & Learn Seminars section for major corporations worldwide.
If you think that your busy lifestyle is contributing to your stress, then you first take a step back and look at what you are involved in. Don’t take on any new responsibilities or tasks, and learn how to say no and mean no. You shouldn’t feel guilty because you can’t do everything for every person who asks you for something, that is just the way life is. If you don’t take time for yourself, not only will you be unhappy, but sooner or later your health may start to spiral downward as well, and then you won’t be able to help anyone, maybe not even yourself.
Learn to prioritize your life, and cut out things that aren’t absolutely necessary. For example, if your children are involved in so many activities outside of school that you can’t keep up with who has to be where, then you may have to limit them to one extra activity each. Odds are, they may be feeling stressed by it all too, so you are doing them a favor as well. Make the necessary changes so that you have the time you need for yourself, and still accomplish what absolutely has to be done everyday as well.
Many people suffer from stress caused by their finances. One way to eliminate that stress is to look at where your money goes each week, and learn how to create a better budget and stick to it. Cut out expenses that aren’t essential, pay off those credit cards as soon as possible, and watch your stress levels start to go down!
Take the time to organize your home and your work space. Don’t lose precious time hunting down shoes, clothes, keys, or papers that you may need. Develop a policy of everything has a place and it needs to be in it, and enforce it.
Remember to take care of your own health. This includes taking daily vitamin supplements, getting plenty of rest, exercising, eating healthy foods, and seeing your doctor on a regular basis.
Learn to do relaxation exercises, such as deep breathing, yoga and put it to use often.
Couple the above remedies with a better positive mental attitude and a more positive outlook, and you should be on your way to a happier, less stressful life.Please see the wellness IQ Questionnaire in this website to manage your daily stress.
Why Chronic Stress Could be Making You Unhealthy, Unhappy and Just Plain Tired
If youre feeling a bit overwhelmed these days, youre not the only one.
In todays always-connected world, its practically impossible to hop off the hamster wheel and give yourself some much-needed downtime.
So you continue to burn the candle at both ends. And youre stressed all the time.
As a result, your health suffers. And so does your mood.
Because the reality is that your body simply isnt designed to handle the chronic stress that comes with modern life.
You see, when you become stressed, your body automatically reacts with a fight-or-flight response.
And your body quite literally cant tell the difference between encountering a man-eating saber tooth tiger and being stuck in a traffic jam.
So when you start to feel anxious (no matter what the cause) your body immediately begins pumping out cortisol and other stress hormones.
In the short-term, these stress hormones help give you extra strength and stamina. by raising your blood pressure and heart rate. And by directing blood away from your digestive system to your heart and large muscles.
That gives you enough extra strength to outrun that saber tooth tiger. Or to lift a car to save a trapped toddler.
And thats helpful when youre only experiencing short-term stress like running from that tiger.
But heres the problem
Why Chronic Stress Could be Destroying Your Health
When youre stressed out all the time at work, at home, even on vacation your adrenal glands continue to pump out additional stress hormones like cortisol.
As a result, your cortisol levels skyrocket. Even if your only threat is being late to an important meeting having an argument with your spouse or dealing with children who dont listen.
And that puts continuous strain on your body. Which makes you feel upset, sad and simply worn out.
It can also quickly eat away at your health:
making you more likely
to catch colds
keeping your body from healing properly
increasing your chances of gaining weight
interfering with your sleep
impacting your ability to
think clearly
causing you to age faster
making you feel sad and unmotivated
giving you gastrointestinal problems
causing your blood sugar level to become out of whack
and even damaging
your heart
What to do When Standard Stress Relief Strategies Just Dont Work
Now you probably already know that stress is bad for you.
And you may have tried many different things to try to lower your stress. Like meditating. Getting a massage. Or doing deep breathing exercises.
But if youre like many of the patients I see, it simply isnt enough.
The good news is that there is a NATURAL way to reduce the effects this stress has on your body and your mood.
The powerful herb Im about to tell you about actually REDUCES the amount of cortisol in your system. And this releases your tension, letting you remain calm and cope better.
So you can keep your cool even when dealing with the daily pressures of your everyday life.
A recent study published in Cell Metabolism in April 2019 revealed that during times of stress, it may be more important than ever to watch what you eat. The researchers discovered a key pathway in the brain that stimulates increased caloric intake and energy storage during stressful times.
Using an animal model, the team found that mice exposed to chronic stress along with a high-fat diet gained significantly more weight than mice eating the same high-fat, diet in a stress-free atmosphere. The authors speculate that this stress-induced weight gain is due to a molecule in the brain called neuropeptide Y (NPY), which controls the “stress-eating” phenomenon.
Upon analyzing the neurons in the amygdala of the mice, the scientists discovered that the NYP neurons have receptors for insulin and that this NPY pathway is upregulated during times of stress. They found that stress along with a high-fat diet increases insulin in neurons, which over time causes them to become insulin resistant. Once the neurons become resistant to insulin, NYP levels further increase in the neurons leading to increased energy intake and storage. Conversely, when the researchers switched off production of NYP in the amygdala of the mice, they found that weight gain was significantly reduced.
It turns out that what you eat and how much you eat during stressful times is more important than ever. The study highlighted that chronic stress combined with a high-fat diet can cause neurons to become resistant to insulin, produce more NYP and ultimately stimulate increased weight gain. The authors concluded that “it is the diminished insulin signaling capacity on central amygdala NYP neurons under combined stress and high-fat diet conditions that leads to exaggerated development of obesity”.
Foods
One of the most amazing features of the human body is its ability to keep its internal state
relatively constant. The pH—or balance between acid and alkaline—of our blood, saliva,
and urine is carefully regulated within a narrow range.The ideal pH of blood should be 7.36
to 7.44; if it drops below 7, it has become dangerously acidic and we can die.Even a slightly
acidic decline in pH allows infections, disease, and even cancer to develop inside us.It’s vital
that we choose foods that help to maintain our blood pH close to the ideal of 7.4.
To keep your body more alkaline, your diet should primarily consist of foods from the plant
kingdom, especially vegetables from the land and the sea. The more color, the better: dark
green, leafy vegetables and dark—even black—ocean veggies, properly prepared so that you
achieve alkaline pH
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