Introduction
Stress is often talked about today, you can be having a cup of coffee in the local cafe talking to friends, when asking how they are, you often get back totally stressed. When asked why the answers are various from “It’s the kids” or “It’s work”, plus a number of other reasons, so thought that this week I would have a look at how we can reduce our stress levels.
Let us be honest here, we all stress at times for a number of reasons, sometimes it does not matter too much, others it can cause serious health problems
A Few Facts
It is known that stress can cause a number of illnesses or diseases, these include:
- Heart Disease
- Obesity and
- Diabetes
These are just a few of the diseases that stress has been linked to. It also has a negative effect on your immune system, this can make you unhappy, grumpy and tired.
Unfortunately Stress is a part of our lives. We all have the problem on a regular basis of having to pay our bills, whether it be weekly, monthly or even yearly, unless we are very lucky we have to budget to find the money, often, doing without other things that we would like to spend our money on.
In addition to our money woes we have to get along with people, such as family, friends and possible those whom we work with. Into this mix we can throw the daily challenges that life has to offer. As you will be aware these can be any number of things, the car just will not start, the train is late for your daily commute and so on.
But help is at hand, how you deal with stress is entirely in your control. If you feel stressed, you have a choice:
- Just let your emotions take over and feel low, or
- You can do something about it to decrease stress by instantly relaxing.
I think that the caption above is great, if only we could do it all the time!
Some Common Signs Of Feeling Stressed
You are angry, impatient, irritable or even wound up.
There are a number of reasons for you to feel this way, in fact I can think of so many that it would take a chapter in a book.
However here are a few:
A row with your wife or partner
The children always wanting more money, which they know that you have not got.
A bad day at the office.
Staff wanting shorter hours or a pay rise.
You feel that you have too much to do or have taken too much on.
This is another of saying that you are feeling overwhelmed or even overburdened.
You feel that you are unable to enjoy yourself
You go out see your favourit team, they are winning, but you cannot just match the mood of those around you, who are ecstatic at the way the team are playing.
Your mind feels full of what to do next, but you just cannot control the thoughts.
This is you planning too much, that you end up stressing as you cannot stop your train of thought, to enable you to plan coherently.
You feel depressed
This I would suggest is a very common reason to stress, nothing seems to be going right, no matter what you do to correct the problem
Life no longer interest you
This I would suggest could be not only stressful, but very dangerous, if ever you feel like this you must seek help, if only by talking to someone. When I was seriously depressed, I recognised the symptoms and saw the Doctor. I was very close to a nervous breakdown, this was after my first wife left me.
You no longer have a sense of humour
Here I am assuming that you had one to lose, as not everyone does see the funny side of things.
You feel afraid, anxious or nervous.
Feeling like this can cause you to stress out.
Three Ideas to Relax
It would be great if we could just what the above suggests, unfortunately, because of our stress levels at the time this is not always possible. However trying out these techniques might just do the trick.
Take some deep breaths
Before you begin to start any form of exercise, the first thing that you must realise is that you are stressed. There are a number of signals that the body sounds out to you when you are stressed. However I now know that I can be stressed during the day, so I combat it very first thing in the morning when I go in the Bathroom for my shower. Removing my night attire {That is posh for pyjamas}, I do some simple exercises whilst taking deep breaths.
The way I breath is to take a deep breath deep into my stomach, which I hold whilst doing my first exercise, about ten seconds, breath in through the nose, exhale through the mouth. This works wonders for me, it wakes me up and I feel really good, I do about four short exercises each morning.
However, if you begin to feel stressed during the day, just stop what you are doing and take a few deep breaths to the count of ten. Do this a few times until you feel calmer, appreciate that it does depend on where you are when you feel stressed, it might cause a problem if you where in the middle of a shop for example, other shoppers might think that you were ill.
Be Thankful
Here I can hear you say for what, in some situations you could right, but I digress.
When things that you face in life appear to be difficult, why not try to count what you can be thankful for. A number of important research data has shown being thankful does help a person to be happier. When you are having to deal with a moment of stress, try to think of something that you can be thankful for. I am grateful for my second wife, as we near our 54th Wedding Anniversary, my children grand children, and extended family.
Learn to Self-Treat
It has been shown that anti-stress hormones have been released by the power of touch and massage. A feeling of calmness throughout your body is created by release of these hormones, also helping you to manage your stress. Not everyone can afford to use a proffesional masseau, it is possible to still have a similar level of benefit by teaching yourself some self-massage techniques.
If you massage various parts of your body, such as your feet, neck, hands. temples and head, you can feel instant relaxation. You can also use reflexology and acupressure as methods of self-touch, which also help you to not only reduce stress, but also improve your wellness.
If you can learn to identify signs of stress, then be able to self-treat, this will help reduce your reaction to stress.
Learning to self-treat will also help you to improve your health in the long term, whilst reducing your risk of stress related conditions.
Please Note
Please note that I am neither a Doctor or a qualified medical practitioner, this article is purely for advice and information, as such I cannot be held responsible if you act without seeking proper advice.
Conclusion
Do hope that you enjoyed this look at Stress and that it has proved useful. The next article which I hope to publish next Monday will be Blood Pressure and You.
Be Happy, Healthy and Wealthy
Until next time
Stuart
https://healthyyouonline.com
