Health behaviors are actions taken by people to enhance or maintain their health. Good health behaviors can be defined by listing seven behaviors: (1) sufficient sleep, (2) abstinence from smoking, (3) eating breakfast every day, (4) moderation in alcohol consumption, (5) regular exercise, (6) foregoing snacks between meals, and (7) being no more than 10 percent overweight. Although most people practice some health behaviors, most omit at least a few others. One such is time management.
Time Management
Time management is an integral part of stress management. It includes planning, setting, and prioritizing goals. One of the most useful and effective tools for time management that I have seen and used is the maintenance of an individual, daily "to do" list. If I list everything I can think of, there is no way, of course, that I can get to it all. However, if I prioritize that list, then go down it in that order, then I can be sure I will accomplish the most important tasks. This takes a substantial amount of stress off me.
What I do is to sit down the evening before and list everything I can think of that I would like to do, or should do, the next day. Then I prioritize the first five items from the most important or urgent down to the last. I find that if I get through all five items, I have usually put in a full day. If I don’t get through them all, however, I have achieved the items that are first on priority.
It is amazing what a relief from stress this can achieve. It is certainly worth a try, wouldn’t you say?
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hey, don't leave me in the dark! Leave a little comment here for me. Did you like it? Hate it? Do you have anything else in mind? Let me know, right here. It's very easy: just click on the "comments" link immediately below. I would love to hear from you. :)
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Friday, December 24, 2010
The Story Behind the Star Spangled Banner
I'm jumping way off topic on this one, I realize. But I think in this case it is forgivable. These were some of the best nine minutes and some seconds I have ever spent . . .
Sincerely,
Lora
Sincerely,
Lora
Thursday, December 23, 2010
12 Compelling Reasons to Ditch Stress from Your Life
Here is an excellent article the nutritional side of Stress I found on Mercola.com. Reproduced with permission.
In this interview, Marc David, an expert in the psychology of eating, talks about the important role stress plays in digestion.
I'm sure you received many valuable health tips from this small segment of the expert interview. To hear the full version of this and other interviews I do with world-renowned health experts is easy...
Simply sign up for the affordable Mercola Inner Circle and receive them monthly, with zero effort on your part. Take this small step -- and take control of your health – 2,250 other Mercola Inner Circle members can't be wrong!
Dr. Mercola's Comments:
This video clip of my Inner Circle expert interview with Marc David exposes the tremendous impact stress can have on your digestion, and in turn your weight and overall health.
Marc is the founder and director of the Institute for the Psychology of Eating, and has written two excellent books on this topic: The Slow Down Diet: Eating for Pleasure, Energy, and Weight Loss, and Nourishing Wisdom: A Mind-Body Approach to Nutrition and Well-Being.
The fact is, you can't separate your wellness from your emotions. Every feeling you have affects some part of your body. And stress can wreak havoc even if you’re doing everything else “right.”
What is “Stress”?
The classic definition of stress is “any real or imagined threat, and your body’s response to it.” Celebrations and tragedies alike can cause a stress response in your body. Some stress is unavoidable. Some mild forms of stress can even be helpful in some situations.
But a stressor becomes a problem when:
* Your response to it is negative.
* Your feelings and emotions are inappropriate for the circumstances.
* Your response lasts an excessively long time.
* You’re feeling continuously overwhelmed, overpowered or overworked.
It’s important to realize that all your feelings create physiological changes. Your skin, heart rate, digestion, joints, muscle energy levels, the hair on your head, and countless cells and systems you don't even know about change with every emotion.
Marc notes that Americans, in general, tend to eat under a state of stress and anxiety. While under stress, your heart rate goes up, your blood pressure rises, and blood is shunted away from your midsection, going to your arms, legs, and head for quick thinking, fighting, or fleeing.
All of these changes are referred to as the physiological stress response.
Under those circumstances, your digestion completely shuts down. So a major problem with eating while your body is under the stress response is that you could be eating the healthiest food in the world, yet you won’t be able to fully digest and assimilate that food, and your body will not be able to burn calories effectively.
How the Stress Response Affects Your Digestion and Health
The stress response causes a number of detrimental events in your body, including:
* Decreased nutrient absorption
* Decreased oxygenation to your gut
* As much as four times less blood flow to your digestive system, which leads to decreased
metabolism
* Decreased enzymatic output in your gut – as much as 20,000-fold!
Many nutrients are also excreted during stress, particularly:
* Water-soluble vitamins
* Macrominerals
* Microminerals
* Calcium (calcium excretion can increase as much as 60 to 75 mg within an hour of a stressful event)
As if that’s not enough, your cholesterol and triglycerides also go up, while gut flora populations decrease. You’re also more likely to experience increased sensitivity to food and gastroesophageal reflux, or heartburn.
But perhaps most importantly, when your body is under the stress response, your cortisol and insulin levels rise.
These two hormones tend to track each other, and when your cortisol is consistently elevated under a chronic low-level stress response, you’ll likely notice that you have difficulty losing weight or building muscle.
Additionally, if your cortisol is chronically elevated, you’ll tend to gain weight around your midsection. We’ve known for some time that body fat, and especially visceral fat (the fat that gathers around your internal organs, around your midsection) is a major contributing factor to developing diabetes and metabolic syndrome.
The bottom line?
When you eat under stress, your body is in the opposite state of where you need to be in order to digest, assimilate nutrients, and burn calories.
Everyday Stress Relief
There’s no doubt that finding ways to relieve your everyday stress is an important, if not essential, aspect of optimizing your health. All the organics in the world can’t help you if your body can’t assimilate the nutrients you put into it.
Stress is a serious factor in the illness of nearly all of the patients seen at my clinic. Because in addition to everything mentioned above, stress also plays a major role in your immune system, and can impact your:
* Blood pressure
* Cholesterol
* Brain chemistry
* Blood sugar levels
* Hormonal balance
You cannot eliminate stress entirely, but you can work to provide your body with tools to compensate for the bioelectrical shortcircuiting that can cause serious disruption in many of your body's important systems. By using techniques such as meridian tapping, you can reprogram your body’s reactions to the unavoidable stressors of everyday life.
But there are many other strategies you can employ to help you deal with stress and unwind each day, including:
* Exercise. Studies have shown that during exercise, tranquilizing chemicals (endorphins) are released in your brain. Exercise is a natural way to bring your body pleasurable relaxation and rejuvenation.
* Proper sleep
* Meditation (with or without the additional aid of brain wave synchronization technology)
I also highly recommend you read the book Feelings Buried Alive Never Die. If you’re experiencing any type of physical or emotional challenge in any aspect of your life, this book does a great job of explaining feelings: what they are, how you experience them, how they are integral to your physical health, and, most importantly, how to work with and overcome those that are pulling you down.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hey, don't leave me in the dark! Leave a little comment here for me. Did you like it? Hate it? Do you have anything else in mind? Let me know, right here. It's very easy: just click on the "comments" link immediately below. I would love to hear from you. :)
In this interview, Marc David, an expert in the psychology of eating, talks about the important role stress plays in digestion.
I'm sure you received many valuable health tips from this small segment of the expert interview. To hear the full version of this and other interviews I do with world-renowned health experts is easy...
Simply sign up for the affordable Mercola Inner Circle and receive them monthly, with zero effort on your part. Take this small step -- and take control of your health – 2,250 other Mercola Inner Circle members can't be wrong!
Dr. Mercola's Comments:
This video clip of my Inner Circle expert interview with Marc David exposes the tremendous impact stress can have on your digestion, and in turn your weight and overall health.
Marc is the founder and director of the Institute for the Psychology of Eating, and has written two excellent books on this topic: The Slow Down Diet: Eating for Pleasure, Energy, and Weight Loss, and Nourishing Wisdom: A Mind-Body Approach to Nutrition and Well-Being.
The fact is, you can't separate your wellness from your emotions. Every feeling you have affects some part of your body. And stress can wreak havoc even if you’re doing everything else “right.”
What is “Stress”?
The classic definition of stress is “any real or imagined threat, and your body’s response to it.” Celebrations and tragedies alike can cause a stress response in your body. Some stress is unavoidable. Some mild forms of stress can even be helpful in some situations.
But a stressor becomes a problem when:
* Your response to it is negative.
* Your feelings and emotions are inappropriate for the circumstances.
* Your response lasts an excessively long time.
* You’re feeling continuously overwhelmed, overpowered or overworked.
It’s important to realize that all your feelings create physiological changes. Your skin, heart rate, digestion, joints, muscle energy levels, the hair on your head, and countless cells and systems you don't even know about change with every emotion.
Marc notes that Americans, in general, tend to eat under a state of stress and anxiety. While under stress, your heart rate goes up, your blood pressure rises, and blood is shunted away from your midsection, going to your arms, legs, and head for quick thinking, fighting, or fleeing.
All of these changes are referred to as the physiological stress response.
Under those circumstances, your digestion completely shuts down. So a major problem with eating while your body is under the stress response is that you could be eating the healthiest food in the world, yet you won’t be able to fully digest and assimilate that food, and your body will not be able to burn calories effectively.
How the Stress Response Affects Your Digestion and Health
The stress response causes a number of detrimental events in your body, including:
* Decreased nutrient absorption
* Decreased oxygenation to your gut
* As much as four times less blood flow to your digestive system, which leads to decreased
metabolism
* Decreased enzymatic output in your gut – as much as 20,000-fold!
Many nutrients are also excreted during stress, particularly:
* Water-soluble vitamins
* Macrominerals
* Microminerals
* Calcium (calcium excretion can increase as much as 60 to 75 mg within an hour of a stressful event)
As if that’s not enough, your cholesterol and triglycerides also go up, while gut flora populations decrease. You’re also more likely to experience increased sensitivity to food and gastroesophageal reflux, or heartburn.
But perhaps most importantly, when your body is under the stress response, your cortisol and insulin levels rise.
These two hormones tend to track each other, and when your cortisol is consistently elevated under a chronic low-level stress response, you’ll likely notice that you have difficulty losing weight or building muscle.
Additionally, if your cortisol is chronically elevated, you’ll tend to gain weight around your midsection. We’ve known for some time that body fat, and especially visceral fat (the fat that gathers around your internal organs, around your midsection) is a major contributing factor to developing diabetes and metabolic syndrome.
The bottom line?
When you eat under stress, your body is in the opposite state of where you need to be in order to digest, assimilate nutrients, and burn calories.
Everyday Stress Relief
There’s no doubt that finding ways to relieve your everyday stress is an important, if not essential, aspect of optimizing your health. All the organics in the world can’t help you if your body can’t assimilate the nutrients you put into it.
Stress is a serious factor in the illness of nearly all of the patients seen at my clinic. Because in addition to everything mentioned above, stress also plays a major role in your immune system, and can impact your:
* Blood pressure
* Cholesterol
* Brain chemistry
* Blood sugar levels
* Hormonal balance
You cannot eliminate stress entirely, but you can work to provide your body with tools to compensate for the bioelectrical shortcircuiting that can cause serious disruption in many of your body's important systems. By using techniques such as meridian tapping, you can reprogram your body’s reactions to the unavoidable stressors of everyday life.
But there are many other strategies you can employ to help you deal with stress and unwind each day, including:
* Exercise. Studies have shown that during exercise, tranquilizing chemicals (endorphins) are released in your brain. Exercise is a natural way to bring your body pleasurable relaxation and rejuvenation.
* Proper sleep
* Meditation (with or without the additional aid of brain wave synchronization technology)
I also highly recommend you read the book Feelings Buried Alive Never Die. If you’re experiencing any type of physical or emotional challenge in any aspect of your life, this book does a great job of explaining feelings: what they are, how you experience them, how they are integral to your physical health, and, most importantly, how to work with and overcome those that are pulling you down.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hey, don't leave me in the dark! Leave a little comment here for me. Did you like it? Hate it? Do you have anything else in mind? Let me know, right here. It's very easy: just click on the "comments" link immediately below. I would love to hear from you. :)
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Emotions: Are We Responsible for Them?
The most basic feelings we experience include not only emotions, but motives such as hunger and sexual drive. The two phenomena (emotions and motives) are closely related. Emotions can activate and direct behavior much the same as do basic motives. Emotions may also accompany motivated behavior: Sex, for example, is not only a powerful motive, but also a potential source of joy.
Similar as they are, they need to be distinguished. The most common basis for distinguishng between them assumes that emotions are triggered from the outside, and motives from within. That is not to say that emotions are activated from without, but that emotions are usually aroused by external events and then are directed back toward those events. Motives, conversely, are often aroused by internal events, then directed toward objects in the environment. Another distinction between the two is that emotions invariably activate the autonomic nervous system, whereas motives typically do not. These distinctions, however, are not absolute. The sight of food, for instance, can trigger the motive of hunger, whereas severe hunger can arouse emotions. Nonetheless, for the reasons that they are so different and so similar, to discuss either intelligently, emotions and motives must be separated as issues.
Traditional arguments surrounding emotions should be irrelevant to any analysis of emotions; an emotion is neither a sensation nor a physiological occurrence. Nor is it an occurrence of any other kind; it does not simply “happen.” Emotions are rational and purposive. Emotions are actions. The individual chooses to emote, whether on a conscious or subconscious level, much as the individual chooses a course of action. It always makes sense to praise or blame a person for either contributing to a situation that incites an emotion or for having the emotion itself. A person can be blamed for unjustified anger, for instance, or praised for courage.
Human beings share a strong emotional commitment to the feeling of free will, and to feeling that they are free to act any way they choose. Choice or control, illusory or not, is crucial to human motivational systems and feelings of well-being.
(Taken from "Emotions by Choice" (2001) by Lora Morrow)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hey, don't leave me in the dark! Leave a little comment here for me. Did you like it? Hate it? Do you have anything else in mind? Let me know, right here. It's very easy: just click on the "comments" link immediately below. I would love to hear from you. :)
Similar as they are, they need to be distinguished. The most common basis for distinguishng between them assumes that emotions are triggered from the outside, and motives from within. That is not to say that emotions are activated from without, but that emotions are usually aroused by external events and then are directed back toward those events. Motives, conversely, are often aroused by internal events, then directed toward objects in the environment. Another distinction between the two is that emotions invariably activate the autonomic nervous system, whereas motives typically do not. These distinctions, however, are not absolute. The sight of food, for instance, can trigger the motive of hunger, whereas severe hunger can arouse emotions. Nonetheless, for the reasons that they are so different and so similar, to discuss either intelligently, emotions and motives must be separated as issues.
Traditional arguments surrounding emotions should be irrelevant to any analysis of emotions; an emotion is neither a sensation nor a physiological occurrence. Nor is it an occurrence of any other kind; it does not simply “happen.” Emotions are rational and purposive. Emotions are actions. The individual chooses to emote, whether on a conscious or subconscious level, much as the individual chooses a course of action. It always makes sense to praise or blame a person for either contributing to a situation that incites an emotion or for having the emotion itself. A person can be blamed for unjustified anger, for instance, or praised for courage.
Human beings share a strong emotional commitment to the feeling of free will, and to feeling that they are free to act any way they choose. Choice or control, illusory or not, is crucial to human motivational systems and feelings of well-being.
(Taken from "Emotions by Choice" (2001) by Lora Morrow)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hey, don't leave me in the dark! Leave a little comment here for me. Did you like it? Hate it? Do you have anything else in mind? Let me know, right here. It's very easy: just click on the "comments" link immediately below. I would love to hear from you. :)
Monday, November 22, 2010
Take Care of Yourself . . .
If you make a difference in one individuals life, you've accomplished a lot. Why not make that one individual yourself? I use this saying with many of my clients. Most don't understand the meaning at first. I explain that it's not about being selfish, it is about sharing. How one thinks and believes about oneself is a reflection one how one treats others.
Sayings such as "To thy self be true" and "Do unto others as you have them do unto you" are just a couple examples that indicate that our lives begin and end from what we become and who we are from within.
First, we must accept the wonderful gifts that God has given us. Once we do that, we can honestly begin to be thankful. By being thankful we can put what we have been given toward good works.
Make a list of how blessed you really are, then each day after make it a point to add to the list. Soon you will experience growth, just like the list that is in front of you. Graditude will change attitude. So today and everyday, give thanks for what God has given to you, and go out and use it. Beware, if you don't use it, you will lose it.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hey, don't leave me in the dark! Leave a little comment here for me. Did you like it? Hate it? Do you have anything else in mind? Let me know, right here. It's very easy: just click on the "comments" link immediately below. I would love to hear from you. :)
Free Video Reveals #1 Secret On Absolutely Conquering Stress Today! Click Here Now!
Sayings such as "To thy self be true" and "Do unto others as you have them do unto you" are just a couple examples that indicate that our lives begin and end from what we become and who we are from within.
First, we must accept the wonderful gifts that God has given us. Once we do that, we can honestly begin to be thankful. By being thankful we can put what we have been given toward good works.
Make a list of how blessed you really are, then each day after make it a point to add to the list. Soon you will experience growth, just like the list that is in front of you. Graditude will change attitude. So today and everyday, give thanks for what God has given to you, and go out and use it. Beware, if you don't use it, you will lose it.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hey, don't leave me in the dark! Leave a little comment here for me. Did you like it? Hate it? Do you have anything else in mind? Let me know, right here. It's very easy: just click on the "comments" link immediately below. I would love to hear from you. :)
Free Video Reveals #1 Secret On Absolutely Conquering Stress Today! Click Here Now!
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Tips On Dealing Effectively With Stress
Sometimes it seems as if life is a series of losses--the loss of a spouse, the loss of a job, the loss of a brother. You may realize you need to take time to grieve all of these losses. But what you may not realize is that such losses can also lead to chronic stress--a great deal of it. To remain emotionally healthy, you must learn to deal effectively with stress induced by traumatic life events.
For instance, you might decide to delay a major decision such as the purchase of a new home until you've successfully battled the stress from your divorce. Or you may decide to wait before taking a new job until you've dealt with the stress from your wedding. This self awareness can enable you to reduce your stress level and to maintain your equilibrium as you go through life’s struggles.
One of the healthiest things you can do is to draw up a list of stress causing life events and post it in a place where your entire family can see it. That way, you'll have a constant reminder of just what you're up against. This can also serve to encourage your family at a time of great heartache. Family members will be able to see that the event is a normal part of life–one that many other families face. As a result, they'll be able to put the event in perspective.
Another important thing to do is to verbalize your feelings about a stressful event. Talk to your mate, your parents, a friend, or your pastor. If you feel as if there's simply no one to confide in, you might consider therapy.
Talking about your feelings is an important part of the healing process, and will enable you to deal with the stress much more efficiently. Another good option is to commit your feelings to writing. Keep a journal and use it to express your innermost thoughts. You might be surprised by how therapeutic this can be.
Another important strategy is simply to "take it slow." Don't hurry when making major life decisions, particularly when you are faced with a crisis. Recognize that most things in life do not require instantaneous decisions. You have the luxury of time, so use it to your full advantage. In the end, you'll be happy you've taken the time to think things through, rather than making rash decisions. If you're in a "calm mode," you'll also be better able to handle the stress of difficult situations.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hey, don't leave me in the dark! Leave a little comment here for me. Did you like it? Hate it? Do you have anything else in mind? Let me know, right here. It's very easy: just click on the "comments" link immediately below. I would love to hear from you. :)
Free Video Reveals #1 Secret On Absolutely Conquering Stress Today! Click Here Now!
For instance, you might decide to delay a major decision such as the purchase of a new home until you've successfully battled the stress from your divorce. Or you may decide to wait before taking a new job until you've dealt with the stress from your wedding. This self awareness can enable you to reduce your stress level and to maintain your equilibrium as you go through life’s struggles.
One of the healthiest things you can do is to draw up a list of stress causing life events and post it in a place where your entire family can see it. That way, you'll have a constant reminder of just what you're up against. This can also serve to encourage your family at a time of great heartache. Family members will be able to see that the event is a normal part of life–one that many other families face. As a result, they'll be able to put the event in perspective.
Another important thing to do is to verbalize your feelings about a stressful event. Talk to your mate, your parents, a friend, or your pastor. If you feel as if there's simply no one to confide in, you might consider therapy.
Talking about your feelings is an important part of the healing process, and will enable you to deal with the stress much more efficiently. Another good option is to commit your feelings to writing. Keep a journal and use it to express your innermost thoughts. You might be surprised by how therapeutic this can be.
Another important strategy is simply to "take it slow." Don't hurry when making major life decisions, particularly when you are faced with a crisis. Recognize that most things in life do not require instantaneous decisions. You have the luxury of time, so use it to your full advantage. In the end, you'll be happy you've taken the time to think things through, rather than making rash decisions. If you're in a "calm mode," you'll also be better able to handle the stress of difficult situations.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hey, don't leave me in the dark! Leave a little comment here for me. Did you like it? Hate it? Do you have anything else in mind? Let me know, right here. It's very easy: just click on the "comments" link immediately below. I would love to hear from you. :)
Free Video Reveals #1 Secret On Absolutely Conquering Stress Today! Click Here Now!
Friday, November 5, 2010
What's the Big Deal With Stress?
Numerous medical and psychological studies have shown that a large percentage of visits to doctor's offices are because of acute or chronic stress.
Stress is a normal process we use to appraise and attempt to cope with emotional threats and challenges. Stressors--events and situations--may be blamed for the uncomfortable effects of stress. But the way we perceive stressors determines whether stress is experienced as a panic or a challenge. While normal stress protects the body in times of threat, prolonged stress may potentially damage the body, including the brain.
When a stressful situation occurs, the body reacts with an outpouring of hormones, such as adrenaline, cortisol, and others. These hormones increase heart rate and respiration, send more blood to skeletal muscles, dull pain, stimulate the immune system, and turn sugar and fat into energy.
The stress response is the normal mechanism for addressing stressors in the body and the mind. In most cases, this response occurs for a limited time to aid the individual in dealing with a specific situation, then the body returns to its normal, relatively non-stressed state.
Sometimes, however, the presence of sustained stressors--abuse, combat, perceived unrealistic pressures, illness, anger-producing situations--can have markedly damaging effects on the body and the brain. Studies have showen that a prolonged flood of stress hormones can actually cause shrinking in certain areas of the brain, particularly in the hippocampus.
A major role of the hippocampus is in memory. It is not unusual for persons with prolonged stress to report forgetfulness and difficulty learning. A hopeful discovery is that certain portions of the hippocampus can recover once the stress response is reversed.
Since catastrophes, life changes, conflicts, and the myriad things that produce a stress reaction are a part of most people's lives, it is how we learn to interpret and control stressors that is crucial.
Coping with Stress
Exercise strengthens the body. It can reduce the experience of stress, depression, and anxiety. Dozens of scientific studies have demonstrated the relationship between exercise and mood. Exercise promotes arousal and relaxation, and improves quality of sleep. These conditions help the body recover from the stress response.
Relaxation through meditation, biofeedback, and a variety of other activities and techniques promotes lower blood pressure, slower respiration, reduced metabolism and muscle tension. These counteract the effects of stress.
Social contacts, friends, and family relationships can help in creating emotional trust, support, and relaxation. Even caring for a pet can provide significant emotional comfort that helps reduce stress.
Attitudes of confidence, positive ability to solve problems, and balance allow the cycle of stress response to resolve now and then instead of being sustained.
Healthy lifestyle–for example, abstinence from smoking, moderate use of alcohol, balanced nutrition and weight control, and slowing down and taking time to smell the roses–can promote a sense of peace and control over one's life. Stress is often related to the anxiety caused by a feeling of being out of control.
If one finds oneself in an ongoing state of stress, it may take qualified, outside help to put these measures into effective action. In this case, I heartily recommend it. It would surely beat the dangerous alternative.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hey, don't leave me in the dark! Leave a little comment here for me. Did you like it? Hate it? Do you have anything else in mind? Let me know, right here. It's very easy: just click on the "comments" link immediately below. I would love to hear from you. :)
Free Video Reveals #1 Secret On Absolutely Conquering Stress Today! http://www.ConquerStressToday.info
Stress is a normal process we use to appraise and attempt to cope with emotional threats and challenges. Stressors--events and situations--may be blamed for the uncomfortable effects of stress. But the way we perceive stressors determines whether stress is experienced as a panic or a challenge. While normal stress protects the body in times of threat, prolonged stress may potentially damage the body, including the brain.
When a stressful situation occurs, the body reacts with an outpouring of hormones, such as adrenaline, cortisol, and others. These hormones increase heart rate and respiration, send more blood to skeletal muscles, dull pain, stimulate the immune system, and turn sugar and fat into energy.
The stress response is the normal mechanism for addressing stressors in the body and the mind. In most cases, this response occurs for a limited time to aid the individual in dealing with a specific situation, then the body returns to its normal, relatively non-stressed state.
Sometimes, however, the presence of sustained stressors--abuse, combat, perceived unrealistic pressures, illness, anger-producing situations--can have markedly damaging effects on the body and the brain. Studies have showen that a prolonged flood of stress hormones can actually cause shrinking in certain areas of the brain, particularly in the hippocampus.
A major role of the hippocampus is in memory. It is not unusual for persons with prolonged stress to report forgetfulness and difficulty learning. A hopeful discovery is that certain portions of the hippocampus can recover once the stress response is reversed.
Since catastrophes, life changes, conflicts, and the myriad things that produce a stress reaction are a part of most people's lives, it is how we learn to interpret and control stressors that is crucial.
Coping with Stress
Exercise strengthens the body. It can reduce the experience of stress, depression, and anxiety. Dozens of scientific studies have demonstrated the relationship between exercise and mood. Exercise promotes arousal and relaxation, and improves quality of sleep. These conditions help the body recover from the stress response.
Relaxation through meditation, biofeedback, and a variety of other activities and techniques promotes lower blood pressure, slower respiration, reduced metabolism and muscle tension. These counteract the effects of stress.
Social contacts, friends, and family relationships can help in creating emotional trust, support, and relaxation. Even caring for a pet can provide significant emotional comfort that helps reduce stress.
Attitudes of confidence, positive ability to solve problems, and balance allow the cycle of stress response to resolve now and then instead of being sustained.
Healthy lifestyle–for example, abstinence from smoking, moderate use of alcohol, balanced nutrition and weight control, and slowing down and taking time to smell the roses–can promote a sense of peace and control over one's life. Stress is often related to the anxiety caused by a feeling of being out of control.
If one finds oneself in an ongoing state of stress, it may take qualified, outside help to put these measures into effective action. In this case, I heartily recommend it. It would surely beat the dangerous alternative.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hey, don't leave me in the dark! Leave a little comment here for me. Did you like it? Hate it? Do you have anything else in mind? Let me know, right here. It's very easy: just click on the "comments" link immediately below. I would love to hear from you. :)
Free Video Reveals #1 Secret On Absolutely Conquering Stress Today! http://www.ConquerStressToday.info
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
