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Stress Management, The New Health Trend
By: Trenton Martkes
What is it about stress and stress management that everybody has their panties up in a bunch about now-a-days? I mean do we really think that our society today is more stressed out than back in the days when people were dying right and left, eaten by large animals, starving, being shot with arrows, etc.? I mean you’ve got to be kidding me right? Well yes and no. The fact is that people who are stressed out by today’s standards have more life limiting diseases such as cancer and heart disease and these are also the same people who aren’t living as long. This is in comparison to the average person who doesn’t face any of the stresses like those mentioned above and the present day people that do.
So what the heck is going on? Well there has been a lot of research done on the nature of stress and the mechanisms that were designed by God in our bodies to deal with it. Most people have heard of the fight-or-flight response and this turns out to be a major mechanism that affects our health negatively. So what has changed? This mechanism is certainly been helpful to our ancestors as they dealt with stress–a life preserving rather than life limiting process. Well it turns out that the kind of stress that we face today turns this system on almost as well as the other more immediate life threats but our bodies don’t absorb it in the same way and so it goes unnaturally unchecked and takes its toll. We therefore need a different type of stress management than we were naturally getting by running away from the large beast that was trying to eat us.
Exercise is one obvious type of stress management that helps to use up or absorb some of the sympathetic tone that is the “fight-or-flight” response to job and life stress. It does things like check the increased heart rate and the high amounts of insulin and other hormones in our system, and it gives us natural mood enhancing substances (endorphins) which counter the stress response as well. Another aspect is the cognitive response to stress that needs to be addressed.
Partly or emotional and mental health is addressed by exercise but it also needs to be addressed in terms of some of the behaviors that we choose to dull rather than correct our unhealthy stress response. We need to find correct ways of thinking rather than use substances like alcohol, nicotine, and illicit drugs to mask our low moods. We need to train our minds to think positively. We need to find alternative activities and vents for our feelings like art and social release. We need to eat better and be out side more to get the natural anti-depressants that are found there and are much healthier. Only then will we be approaching stress management in a healthy and life extending way.
Posted by Francoise Christine East Orange NJ
January 24, 2009 No Comments
The Top 5 Stress Management Tips That Really Work
By: Jim Johnson
In short, stress management tips are something that just about every one of us has to deal with. We need this because of the huge amount of responsibility, worry, and need that we have placed on our shoulders. Today, most than 2/3 of all Americans say that they deal with stress, in some form, every single day. Stress management tips can help you to notice the amount of stress that you are under and help you to effectively treat the stresses so that you can better your life in the long haul.
Stress Management Tips To Incorporate
Here are some easy stress management tips to place into your life for a bit more help:
1. Manage your life’s tasks on paper. If you feel that you do not have time to get everything written down, make the time. Use a date book, a calendar or any other form of paper and jot down all that you need to do each day. When you do this, you will develop a true sense of what has to be done, what does not, and you will stop forgetting about things and worrying about them.
2. Block time for nothing. You need to commit to giving yourself a block of time, a few hours at the least, per week to just do nothing. When you follow this stress management tip, you will feel relaxed and therefore you will be able to focus better in the long run. In turn, you can do more by taking a bit of a break.
3. Stress relief games and stress relief products are on the market to help. Consider a stress relief ball for example. Placing this in your hand and working it can help you to dispel all of that nervous energy that truly plagues your life style. You can commit to having a better overall experience because your body can better concentrate.
4. Ask for help. If you do have too much on your shoulders, you need to ask for help from your loved ones, by hiring someone or just learning to say no. Here’s why. When you try to do it all yourself, stress builds up to a much too high amount. Your physical condition will worsen and eventually, everything will collapse. Ask for help or just do not commit to so many things.
5. Seek out medical attention or alternative treatments. These stress relief tips can help you to find the inner peace that is incredibly important at this time in your life. Things like yoga and meditation can truly help you to relax and expel stress. You may also need to seek medication if your stress levels have gone so far as to cause physical pain to you.
Placed here by Francoise Christine East Orange NJ
January 23, 2009 No Comments