6 Steps to Relieve Stress

by: Lambert Klein

We get over-stressed now and then. It's a natural response under certain conditions. We need to be concern when our stress is getting out of hand and interfering with our lifestyle. What problems can too much stress cause?

· High Blood Pressure · Colds and the Flu · Allergies · Diabetes · Damage Relationships · General Bad Health

The list goes on….

Getting over the stress is what we want to strive for. How can we go about this? Taking the natural approach is probably the best way to start. Here are a few ideas to begin with.

Exercise: It may be difficult to begin an exercise program but once you start it will become easier. Exercise helps to blow off steam and gets rid of excess stress. So you benefit by reducing your tension and obtaining a workout as well. Of course talk to your physician before beginning an exercise program.

Relax: Yes it is hard to relax when you are stressing. Try taking in a deep breath slowly. Now as you breathe out picture all the stress leaving you. You may find that doing relaxation techniques on a regular basic when you aren't stressed out to be beneficial.

Learn relaxation techniques such as: · Meditation · Yoga · EFT · Z-Point · Bio-Feedback · Listening to some soothing music. · Prayer · Asking for Assistance · Joining a Support Network

Look into what causes your stress: You may not know what is inducing you stress. Try to understand where the source is coming from if possible. Once you understand what is causing your stress you can try to modify these problem areas. If you can't, can you substantially reduce them? Maybe you can look at these stressors in a different way.

Have a Positive Attitude: Always look on the bright side of things. Don't think about what may go wrong. Take positive steps to improve yourself, your business and your spirit. Work on your ambitions. Find methods to enhance your routine activities. At the end of the day understand that you have done all you can to maintain a healthy lookout on life. Now you can relax and enjoy the remainder of the evening either by yourself or with family and friends.

Nutrition: A healthy diet with the proper nutrition is one key to balancing you physical, mental and emotional health. Frozen TV dinners or Big Macs are not good choices. You need to consume as much unprocessed food as possible. Try to eat as much organic products as possible to eliminate pesticides from your diet. Eat plenty of fresh vegetables, raw if possible, and some fruit. Drink plenty of clean water to keep those brain neurons communicating.

Get Enough Rest: Getting enough sleep at night is crucial to keeping stress at bay. Try to relax the best you can in the evening. Exercise early so that you aren't all wound up. If you watch a movie ensure it's not too violent are exciting. It may be better to watch a comedy, read something soothing or listen to soft pleasant music.

If your stress is so severe and you can't seem to find relief regardless of what you try then you may desire to request professional help.

So there you have six ideas that will help you reduce stress and enjoy life more. Don't delay. Start on these recommendations right away. Don't stop there. Keep looking for new ways to manage your stress and genuinely enjoy life once more.

About the author:
Lambert Klein is the owner of Think Healthy supplements and products. http://www.coral-cure.com

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How To Deal With Environmental Stress

by: Trevor Dumbleton

An increasing problem in today's world is environmental stress. This is a type of stress caused by increasing pollution in air we breathe, the water we drink, and even in the sounds we hear. Though environmental stress seems to be simply a physical problem, it can actually alter the ways that our minds work. However, too much environmental stress can also cause physical problems that will ruin our health and lower life expectancy.

One of the most common, and most noticeable, types of environmental stress is air pollution. As factories churn out smoke and carcinogens, we are forced to breathe air that is filled with poisons. Whether we notice them or not, we cannot avoid them. Our lungs are constantly subjected to small particles that stick in the lung tissue and gasses that can find their way into our bloodstream. Obviously, this is not a good situation, because we cannot exactly afford to stop breathing.

As well, we are subjected to a whole variety of chemicals when we drink water. With all the chemicals that are used in farming, or sprayed on our lawns, or poured into our water supplies, the water we drink is filled with all sorts of poisons that are doing our bodies no good. Once again, we cannot afford to stop drinking water, but we do need to be aware that the water we are drinking contains a lot of things that we would not want in our bodies.

However, there is not much we can do to avoid this situation. Obviously, filtered water is superior to simple tap water, but even water filters cannot remove everything from our water. In fact, we do not want filters to remove all of the substances, as water contains many electrolytes that are essential to ensuring the proper functioning of our bodies. Even bottled water is not safe, as the water has to come from somewhere and that somewhere is usually either a stream or from the ground. Unfortunately, streams are filled with particulate matter and chemicals can soak into the ground. However, some water is simply taken from municipal water supplies and those are not safe either. Thus, this is a problem that needs to be faced in day-to-day life.

Unfortunately, these poisons do not only put stresses on our bodies, they put stresses on our minds as well. These physical forms of environmental stress put poisons into our brains as well, and can cause them to functions less effectively. Just as alcohol or drugs can affect the ways that our minds work, these subtle poisons are also seeping into our brains and causing mental changes. In fact, receiving too many of these poisons can slow down mental processes without our noticing the change. It will simply happen so slowly that we cannot notice the difference.

In addition, one of the most common causes of environmental stress is noise pollution. Anybody who lives in a large city is bombarded with a deluge of noise that can damage the ears, numb the senses, and cause a boatload of stress for our minds. With cars, busses, trains, factories, and people all screaming to be heard above the din filling the streets of the modern city. These pressures on our brains and our eardrums are enough to shut the mind down and send it into a cocoon of insensibility.

As well, simply being in a public place can cause us to have to deal with noise pollution. This is, of course, caused by the infamous "cell yell". Anywhere we go in public, we must deal with people yelling into their mobile phones. This is not only annoying, but it is a form of environmental pollution. Listening to someone yell at a phone causes our minds stress and, through that, causes our bodies stress. They are annoying, and annoyance is a form of stress. Thus, we find ourselves stressed by something that is simply a fact of modern life.

Environmental stress occurs to us every day and we should be aware that it is happening. Obviously, we cannot be aware of it all the time because to do so would probably cause us more stress just by simple worry. However, it is a fact of life while living in the modern world and we should have the presence of mind to know that environmental stress takes a toll on a body… and a mind.


About the author:
LowerYourStress.com is a categorized resource directory for everything to do with stress. Get a free ebook to help with your stress levels: http://www.loweryourstress.com/stress-book.html

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Stress & Exercise: How do I make it Work for Me?

by: Tanja Gardner

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN EXERCISE & STRESS

Everyone knows that exercise reduces stress levels. Doesn’t it?

Actually, some of the research is a little conflicting. For a start, vigorous exercise is actually stressor itself. On a physical level, exercise causes the tiny muscle fibres to actually tear, and then grow back stronger as they heal. Not exactly relaxing for the muscles in question! Quite apart from this, one study showed anxiety levels increase in the first 5-10 minutes of exercise as adrenaline – one of the key stress hormones – kicks in. So how can it be that exercise reduces our stress and anxiety levels over time?

The quick answer is that while exercise is a short-term stressor, lack of exercise is a long-term one. As we mentioned in last week’s stress newsletter, our bodies are built for movement. When we’re sedentary day after day, all the systems that have evolved to service a body-in-motion start to break down, which causes waste-products to build up.

Our stress response originally allowed us to either fight a potential threat get as far away from it as possible. These are both fairly physical activities. All the biochemical changes – the stress hormones released – are based around this response. They allow us to get into action – and quickly! It’s no surprise, then, that unless we do what our bodies expect and get moving, those hormones have nothing to do but hang around in our bloodstream, making us feel jumpy, irritable and just plain stressed. As soon as we start moving though, the hormones have done their job. Our body as a whole can return to normal, and relaxation can ensue.

There’s more to the de-stressing effect, though, than just clearing hormones from your bloodstream. First there’s the well-documented release of endorphins– nature’s opiates – into your bloodstream. These act to both deaden pain and make you feel wonderful. On top of this, regular exercise actually strengthens your body – improving your sleep, boosting your circulatory and immune systems. Since these are the very things that the stress response attacks, regular exercise becomes a form of preventative maintenance.

Then there are psychological buffers that exercise offers against stress. As we set ourselves exercise plans and goals, and stick to them, we start believing in ourselves more. This can translate directly into the way we deal with the stressors in our life. If we feel more in control of them, the stressors become less powerful.



USING EXERCISE TO MANAGE STRESS

So what do the experts recommend when it comes to controlling stress with exercise?

First and foremost, don’t overdo it. Too much exercise, or exercise sessions without enough rest time between them, lead to overtraining, and overtraining is as dangerous a stressor as anything the work world can throw at you. The current ACSM guideline for a healthy lifestyle is 30-45 minutes, 3-5 times a week. If you haven’t exercised for some time, check with your doctor first, and then start small. Even 10 minutes three times a week is better than nothing. If you want to do more than this, feel free, but if you start waking up tired, getting injury prone, or losing ground instead of gaining it, you need to cut back, or you’ll just increase your stress.

Secondly, make sure you enjoy what you do. Exercise performed because you have to is not going to keep you motivated to do it, and the resentment you feel won’t help with your stress levels. There’s a wealth of exercise options – from walking, swimming and cycling, through to aerobics, martial arts and team sports.

In fact, you don’t actually need to ‘exercise’ to exercise. All you need to do is get active – so if walking the dog, digging in your garden, or playing with your kids appeals to you more, they’re just as valid. And if you need a little help making the commitment, consider the services of a personal trainer.

Lastly, be aware that whatever is causing the stress, simple activity is not going to magically deal with it. If you’re not sure where your stress is coming from, you might benefit from one-to-one coaching with a stress management expert. If you know the root cause, however, getting active will put you in a far better frame of mind, body and spirit, to manage it yourself. And that, Ladies and Gentlemen, is the true miracle of exercise.

About the author:

Optimum Life's Tanja Gardner is a Stress Management Coach and Personal Trainer whose articles on holistic health, relaxation and spirituality have appeared in various media since 1999. Optimum Life is dedicated to providing fitness and stress management services to help clients all over the world achieve their optimum lives. For more information please visit check out http://optimumlife.co.nz,or contact Tanja on tanja@optimumlife.co.nz.

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How to Relieve Stress

by: Trevor Dumbleton

One question that is not asked enough by people under stress is how to relieve stress. Unfortunately, people who are under stress tend to simply take it as a matter of course and simply accept its existence as though it was some sort of natural occurrence, or even a boon! Thus, people who are feeling the effects of stress do not actually take the time to notice that they are under stress and need relief. And when people are under stress, the first part of tackling the problem of how to relieve stress is actually realizing that there is stress that needs to be relieved.

Are you having trouble concentrating? Are you struggling with a project that doesn't seem to be going anywhere? Are you dealing with people who simply will not listen to sense? Are you frustrated with the way things are going? Congratulations, you have stress. Okay, this is not really something to be congratulated on, but it is important to understand this fact. After all, the beginning of the "How to relieve stress" problem begins with recognizing the warning signs. Then, once the warning signs are seen, healing can begin.

The first thing to do when you want to know how to relieve stress is to learn how to walk away. That's right, get up, go someplace else, and just cool off. It is often vital to hit that reset button and take a few deep breaths away from the action. The work will still be there when you get back, but being there beyond your breaking point will not get it done. An overabundance of things to do will not be helped by a clouded mind, so give your mind a break. Then, once your head is clear again, you can head back and bang out the projects with the greatest of ease. Or at least more ease than when you were sitting in front of a pile of work and wondering how you would get through it all.

Okay, so you need a break, you have walked away, but you are still so stressed that you are ready to pop. Unfortunately, the previous lesson on how to relieve stress has not worked and you need something more powerful. Well, you need to pull out a better method. This means that you need to simply concentrate on nothing.

When stress is way too much for a simple period of walking away, you need to practice an exercise in meditation. This means sitting down, closing your eyes, and thinking about absolutely nothing. Unfortunately, it is very difficult to think about nothing, so you should think about your breathing. Take a deep breath in and feel the air moving through your nostrils, down your windpipe, and into your lungs. Then push that breath out and feel it moving all the way up from your diaphragm, up into your lungs through your windpipe and out of your nostrils. Feel every motion of the air and notice how it feels as it exits. Imagine your tension flowing out with the air, evaporating into the endless space of the atmosphere, diluting into a complete dilution of oxygen. Think about nothing but breathing and notice every moment of the experience. Then, after about 3 or 4 breaths -- or as many as it takes -- open your eyes. You should feel as refreshed as though you just took a quick, refreshing nap. If you don't repeat the exercise until your mind is clear and you are able to concentrate on your work again.

These activities are very effective for a short period of time, but you will also need a method for relieving stress in the long run. After all, it is taxing to notice that you are under stress and it takes a great deal of will to make that leap and push away all those feelings. Thus, you need a way to relieve stress in the long term.

In the long term, the best method to choose, when you want to know how to relieve stress, is to do what you always say you are going to do: eat right, exercise, and get enough sleep at night. Yes, we all say that we will do it, but none of us every actually follow through. But, if you eat right, you will feel better during the day, if you exercise, you will feel better during the day and sleep better at night, and if you sleep enough, you will actually clear away all that fogginess that can lead to stress. So do your body and your mind a favor by taking care of those little things that you keep telling yourself you will do tomorrow. After all, today was yesterday's tomorrow.

When you want to know how to relieve stress, you should begin with a few simple methods as you slowly build up your will power to tackle the larger work of exercising, eating right, and getting the sleep you need. By doing all of these things, your mind will be cleared up, you will feel better during the day, you will sleep better at night, and you will not have to worry about stress nearly as much. After all, once you are relieving stress routinely, you won't have to worry about how to relieve stress.


About the author:
LowerYourStress.com: for everything to do with stress. Get a free ebook to help with your stress levels: http://www.loweryourstress.com/stress-book.html

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Discover the Common Causes of Anxiety Attacks

By Gerry Restrivera

Millions of people are suffering from anxiety disorder, this condition is very disabling that it affects even their daily activities. It is an extreme fear over something without a rational reason that can result to symptoms like trembling, sweating, feeling of unreality, feeling of losing your mind, chest pains, dizziness and fainting. Imagine experiencing these symptoms in the middle of a crowded place or while driving. This condition could be really disabling and it is important to know the causes of anxiety attacks to prevent it from happening.
Here are some of the common causes of anxiety attacks:
Genetics. If this disorder runs in the family, you have high tendency to develop the same disorder but this does not automatically mean that everyone in the family will have the disorder. People who have no family history of anxiety disorder can also have this disorder.
Stress. Emotional stress and distressing experiences can affect ones physical and mental health. It is one of the most common causes of anxiety attacks. If there are things and happenings that keep bothering you, it is best to learn how to deal with it. If you cannot deal with it on your own, it is important to talk to somebody or seek professional help.
Lack of rest. If you are physically and mentally exhausted, you will easily get anxious and it will aggravate your anxiety disorder. Get enough rest and sleep to make your mind and body healthy and strong. A healthy mind and body is capable of preventing anxiety or panic attacks.
Unhealthy diet. If you have poor diet and lack the necessary vitamins to keep you healthy, an imbalance in your mind and body could occur and it may lead to anxiety attacks. Poor diet and vitamin deficiency are other common causes of anxiety attacks.

Knowing the causes of anxiety attacks will help you prevent and lessen your attacks. Anxiety disorder is a treatable condition and if you want to totally eliminate anxiety or panic disorder using natural remedies visit Cure Anxiety and Panic Disorder
To know more about natural remedies visit Great Discovery-Health and Beauty
Gerry Restrivera writes informative articles on various subjects including Discover the Common Causes of Anxiety Attacks. You are allowed to publish this article in its entirety provided that author's name, bio and website links must remain intact and included with every reproduction.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Gerry_Restrivera

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A Real Look at Anxiety Treatment

By Diana Ketchen
The proper anxiety treatment is just one of those things that are necessary for an individual suffering from anxiety. Anxiety disorders are the most common amongst all mental disorders in the United States. Approximately 40 billion people in the United States suffer from an anxiety attack at any given time.
Treatment for anxiety costs the United States more than $42 billion dollars per year. Suffering from this type of disorder can wreak havoc on every aspect of a person's existence. People quit their jobs, lose their friends, and some even lose their spouses because of this life altering disorder.
Symptoms of anxiety include chest pain, shortness of breath, dizziness, a feeling that one is losing control, racing thoughts, and a racing heartbeat. There are many things that can trigger anxiety disorder. If an individual is having financial problems or family issues, they are much more likely to become a victim of anxiety than someone who is not.
Experiencing a death of a close friend or relative may also heighten your chances. Getting a divorce or losing your job also make you a likely candidate. Anxiety disorder seems inevitable, and unfortunately, we all experience the symptoms from time to time. The right type of anxiety treatment can help to alleviate the symptoms and help the individual be able to cope with the illness much better than before.
Prescription medicine is only one of the ways to treat anxiety. There are plenty of people who cannot tolerate this type of anxiety treatment because it does more harm than good. For each anxiety symptom they have, they'll end up with a side effect from the medication. That is definitely not what people want to obtain from anxiety treatment.
Proper treatment for anxiety will work to treat the symptoms without added side effects. One treatment available for anxiety that does not have side effects is Passion Flower. Originally used as a sedative, Passion Flower is known for it's ability to soothe and calm the individual's body and mind. It helps to soothe a nervous stomach� and lower high blood pressure.
Another natural anxiety treatment is Humulus lupulus, which is known for its bitter flavor and aroma as well as its calming effects on the central nervous system. Valeriana officinalis is also a natural remedy used to calm and soothe the mind and body. It has sedative-like properties and can also help ease panic attacks, which are often associated with anxiety disorder.
All of the treatments listed above have no known side effects. There is nothing worse than knowing the medicine you are about to take could possibly kill you. It seems harsh, because it is. The side effects of prescription medications can sometimes turn deadly. Many of the most well-known anxiety medications have a very bad reputation for causing people to overdose. But you have a choice.
If you have been diagnosed with anxiety disorder or suffer from similar symptoms, you must know that there is always a way to get your life back. If you choose to take the prescription medication route, then always keep in mind what the possible consequence are that may occur. Other than that, there is an endless world full of just the right anxiety treatment for you. Put in the time and effort to research the various options available to you. After all, it is your health!

Diana is a Natural Health Consultant and is currently taking classes to earn a certificate in herbalism. Her website, Natural Health and Herbal Remedies, offers the knowledge, insights and experiences she has gained from her journey into the world of natural health and her quest to share it with others. Learn more about anxiety at her website.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Diana_Ketchen

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Stress & Supplementation: How is a Supplement Supposed to Help with Stress?

by: Tanja Gardner

THE STRESS PRODUCT INDUSTRY – MORE THAN JUST A MONEYSPINNER?

It’s not news that stress products are a big-money industry, and stress supplements are at the forefront. Go into any pharmacy or health-food shop, browse the vitamin shelves, and you’ll be guaranteed to find at least one product per range dedicated to the relief of stress. The herbal section will also often offer ‘stress capsules’, ‘stress tinctures’ and ‘stress teas’. But how useful (and how safe) are these products? How are they supposed to help us manage stress? Do they work, or are they just a way of parting people from their hard-earned cash?

GENERAL THOUGHTS ON SUPPLEMENTING

There are two schools of thought when it comes to supplements. One is that if we eat a healthy diet – one rich in raw fruits, vegetables and whole foods, and low in processed additive-laden fare – we’d have no need for supplements. Our bodies, this theory suggests, have evolved to eat food. Not pills, not extracts, not single-nutrients-in-a-bottle, but actual real foods that used to be alive. Therefore, supplements are at best a placebo to waste our money, and at worst, a quick way to unbalance our bodies (too much of some nutrients will block the absorption of others; while too much of others can actually be toxic to our systems)

The second school of thought holds that this view is naive. Firstly, our bodies have to cope with environmental demands today well in excess of what they’ve evolved to do, which means foods that used to give us sufficient nutrients simply aren’t enough any more. Secondly, the food quality today is far lower than it used to be. Nutrient quality has dropped due to use of chemical fertilizers & pesticides, short-term farming practices, and the transport & storage induced time-lags between harvesting, and point-of-sale in stores. Because of the gap between what our bodies now need to cope, and what our food can now provide us with, the only way we can meet our nutritional needs is to supplement an already-healthy diet (note that very few experts will recommend supplementation instead of eating well, and most of those that do are trying to sell a particular product!)

STRESS AND NUTRIENT LEVELS

I’m not a nutritionist, so can’t offer any definitive answer as to which school above is right. If you’re interested in making your own decision, there are a number of resources on line – try typing ‘nutrition & supplements’ into a search engine and see what you come up with. Both schools agree, however, that to keep functioning optimally (even when we’re not under stress), our bodies need a minimum level of a vast number of nutrients. And when we start to experience stress responses, our need for many of those nutrients skyrockets.

Entire papers have been written on the biochemical effects of stress on our bodies. The release of stress hormones causes a number of physiological changes which directly chew through some of the nutrients in our bodies, and leach others from our system. Further nutrients are used up after the stress response passes, healing the damage it caused. The stronger (or more frequent) the stress response, the greater the toll it takes on our systems.

Most stress supplement products will therefore be based around one of two perspectives (or a combination of both). Either they contain some combination of nutrients the stress response has depleted from our bodies (giving them more resources to minimize or repair any damage caused); or they contain herbs or extracts that relax the body, thus fooling it into believing it’s not actually as stressed as it thinks it is. Neither approach is necessarily better than the other (often, combining both works better than either individually); and it depends on the person in question as to which is more appropriate in a given situation.

Before we start discussing specific herbal and nutritional supplements, however, I’d be remiss if I didn’t offer an important reminder. However good a supplement might be, it’s no substitute for actively managing the stress in your life. Just as any vitamins should be taken in addition to a healthy diet, a stress supplement (if you choose to take one), should be a small part of an overall stress management strategy, rather than an alternative to one.

The remaining articles in this series explore in more detail the topics we’ve briefly introduced in this one; with Part 2 addressing specific nutritional stress supplements, Part 3 addressing herbs that are known to help with stress relief, and Part 4 tying it all together and offering suggestions about where to go from here. I hope you’ve found this introduction to the vast field of stress and supplementation informative – if you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me. Otherwise, may every day bring you closer to your Optimum Life.

About the author:
Optimum Life's Tanja Gardner is a Personal Trainer and Stress Management Coach whose articles on holistic health and relaxation have appeared in various media since 1999. To read more articles like this one, please subscribe to Optimum Stress News at http://optimumlife.co.nz/Newsletter%20Signup.htm. To find out more about how you could benefit from online personal training, please visit http://www.trainerforce.com/optimumlife/ To find out more about holistic fitness and stress management please visit http://optimumlife.co.nz,or contact Tanja on tanja@optimumlife.co.nz.

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