Stress Guide 101

Friday, April 17, 2009

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 To find out more about how you could benefit from online personal training, please visit To find out more about holistic fitness and stress management please visit or contact Tanja on tanja@optimumlife.co.nz.

by: John Townsend

One of the pioneers of stress research, Dr. Hans Selye wrote that " ... stress is essentially reflected by the rate of all the wear and tear caused by life."

His research convinced him that the body has only a finite reserve of adaptation energy to apply to the stressors of life. Selye likened this reserve to a bank account upon which we can make withdrawals from time to time but into which we cannot make deposits. It is a non-renewable reserve of energy which we draw on throughout life until eventually it is consumed and death results. Some people squander their reserves and experience premature ageing as a result; others exercise more discretion and so they maintain a supply over a longer period of time.

Over a long period of time the stress response begins to take a toll on the body. One of the prime targets affected is the thymus gland (a mysterious pale grey gland that sits behind the breastbone, above the heart) which plays a key role in the body's immune system. The thymus gland pumps out millions of lymphocytes each day to patrol throughout the body and to kill off bacterial invaders. Killer cells called macrophages literally eat invading bacteria. They operate in all parts of the body and we depend on them for our survival. Macrophages are weakened by a steroid called cortisol which is released by the adrenal gland when we experience stress. A weakened immune system makes us vulnerable to infection and this is why people under stress often experience regular attacks of colds and flu.

Psychological stress does have physical ramifications. We can do ourselves a great deal of harm by stressful thinking. We can flood our body with stress hormones and this can create a vicious cycle making us more and more stressful.

About the author:
John Townsend is a professional consultant working in the fields of Stress Management, Executive Management Training, Sales Training and Customer Service. His clients include some of Australia's largest companies and many State and Commonwealth Government Departments. He regularly works with Company Executives through an Australia-wide organisation called The Executive Connection. His programs are used by the Institute of Administration at the University of NSW. He regularly presents Seminars in the UK and USA. His "Get Tough With Stress" program is used by banks in England, Scotland, Ireland and Northern Ireland.

His website is

Tips for Reducing Stress

by: Trevor Dumbleton

With the hectic life that most people lead in today's world, reducing stress has become a vital skill. With work stress, school stress, family stress, teen stress, parent stress, and a whole host of other kinds of stress continually knocking on the door, it has become vital to manage stress in order to keep up with everything needs to be done. Though reducing stress is difficult, it can be done with a little effort and a little dedication to improving yourself.

The first thing to do when reducing stress is to get enough sleep at night. Yes, there is always something that needs to be done and there are projects that need to be taken care of and there is always something that should get done before you go to bed and there is still one more television show to watch, but that is exactly the problem. By spending too much of the evening worrying about everything that needs doing and trying too hard to get it all done right now, you are not helping yourself. Rather, you are increasing your stress to an alarming level. If you need to get things done, then do yourself a favor and just get them out of the way before you sit down in front of the television. When they are done, then you can relax and not worry about everything that needs to get done after the show is over.

The next things you need to do are to eat right and exercise. No, it doesn't seem like taking care of physical needs with help with a mental issue such as reducing stress, but there is a connection. After all, the brain is part of the body and when the body is working right, the brain will be more effective. By putting the right nutrients into your body, you will be feeding the brain as well as the muscles and you will be able to think clearly and concentrate more effectively. As well, when you are getting all your fruits and vegetables and whole grains, you will have more energy and be less susceptible to fatigue. After all, fatigue clouds the mind and a cloudy mind is a mind that tends to wander. And, when you mind wanders, you will not be getting things done. Thus, projects and tasks will pile up, giving you even more to be stressed about.

Additionally, exercising routinely will help you keep stress at bay. When you exercise routinely, you are more aware when you are awake and you sleep better at night, both of which are very good for reducing stress. This is because exercise helps you release hormones into your body that make you feel better, both mentally and physically. And this effect is not limited to the time when you are exercising. In fact, these hormones stay in your body even after you are done exercising, so that you will feel better all day. If you can, try to work out in the morning to get that hormonal burst before you begin your day. Or, if you cannot work out in the morning, at least exercise in the early evening so that you will at least have a body that will be ready for a good night's sleep and ready for the following day.

Another great technique for reducing stress is through proper time management. Let's face it, most people spend most of their day spinning their wheels as they move from one project or task to another, making them incapable of focusing on what they are doing. However, with a time management system in place, your day can be mapped out in the morning so that you are able to complete tasks one at a time. Then, with each little success, you will be able to feel the relief of knowing that there is one less thing to worry about.

Finally, you can help lower your stress levels by taking regular vacations. The best advice is to take one week off every year so that you can recharge your batteries and face the world again. By getting away and traveling, you can feel the relief of simply leaving it all behind. Getting out of the house, the city, or even the country is an excellent way of reducing stress and, when you get back, you will come back refreshed, rejuvenated, and ready to get back to the tasks of daily life.

By reducing stress, you can feel better, work better, be more sociable, and improve your health. Stress is very hard on the body and the mind, so managing it should be a priority. Thus, with a little effort, a little time, and the dedication to do the right things for yourself, you can keep your mind clear and keep yourself moving forward. Then, once you have mastered the art of reducing stress, you will also have the pleasure of not having to worry about stress.

About the author:
LowerYourStress.com: for everything to do with stress. Get a free ebook to help with your stress levels:

by: Trevor Dumbleton

Many people in this world need to take a stress test. These tests can take many forms and are designed to search for different things, but they all have one key goal: they want to see how you are doing. Merely taking a stress test can be a kind of stress all its own, but it does not have to be. And by understanding stress tests, you can understand more fully what they are designed to do.

The first kind of stress test is simply a pen and paper test. These tests will often ask you about certain things you do, where you are in your life, what you are concerned about, and what is going on around you. These stress tests are very easy to take, though the results can often be more than a little surprising. These tests are designed to root out stress in its many forms and are the most common form of stress test.

There are many stress tests out on the Internet, though many of them will not be particularly useful. Some are designed to be scientific but are not backed up by research, or some may simply be jokes. However, there are a few out there that can be very useful. Unfortunately, many are also very subjective and the answers you give may not be all that useful.

If you would like to take a stress test, your doctor can point you in the right direction. There are many valid and very useful stress tests out in the world and they can give you and your doctor the answers that you need to help you determine how you are stressed and how to manage it. Thus, your doctor is the best place to start and the best place to find answers to all that is troubling you.

Another type of stress test is the exercise stress test, also known as a cardiac stress test. These tests involve putting a person on a treadmill at a slow walking pace, then slowly increasing the speed until the person is at a jogging or running pace. In these tests, people are usually hooked up to electroencephalographs and usually breathe through a tube in order to study heart rate and breathing. These tests are effective for studying how well a person's heart and lungs are working in order to see if there are any coronary problems.

Exercise stress tests are usually akin to exercising hard, but not strenuously. The person on the treadmill is closely monitored and a doctor is on hand in case there are any problems. As well, the person can stop the test anytime if they do not feel right. However, it is best to let the test run until it is finished, as it gives the best idea of how well the body is working.

A final kind of stress test is the thallium test. These tests are usually administered in people who seem to have blockages in their circulatory system and the blockages need to be located. Thallium tests are usually run in conjunction with an exercise stress test and, after the person is done on the treadmill, the person is injected with a slightly radioactive thallium solution. Once the thallium get into the bloodstream, a special camera examines the person's body in order to look for places where the thallium, and thus the blood, is not flowing properly. Thallium tests are not given very often, as they are mostly used when doctors know there is a blockage, but are not sure where to look for it. Obviously, some people cannot be asked to run on a treadmill and they are usually given a drug as a substitute in order to locate the blockage.

There are a variety of stress tests available and your doctor is the best person to talk to if you are interested in taking one. These tests are very valuable to check your overall health level and they provide a great deal of information that can be used to diagnose any problems or prevent them before they start. So if you are feeling the effects of stress and you wonder if it is causing health problems, there are ways to find out what you or your doctor want to know.

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:

Stress Elimination

by: Trevor Dumbleton

Learning methods of stress elimination is a vital skill in the modern world. After all, there is no way to get away from stress these days, thanks to work, life, family, the economy, the state of the world, global warming, and an overabundance of people who are reminding you constantly about all of these. Not to mention the fact that you are stressed about everything and you know that stress can cause major health problems, so you are stressed about your own stress! Thus, you need some stress elimination strategies before you worry yourself silly.

The first stress elimination method is simply that of getting away. If you are feeling the heat from stress, you find yourself anxious, and you cannot concentrate, it is time for a break. That means that, if you are at work, get up from your desk and take a walk around. If you are at home, take a walk around the block. If homework is getting you stressed, go make a sandwich. Just walk away and take a break and come back in about five minutes.

As a matter of fact, when you are concentrating on something, you should breaks anyway in order to let your mind rest. After all, when you exercise your body, you take breaks to let it recover. Why should your mind be any different. By simply stretching in your seat every 15 minutes or so, then getting up and walking around for a couple of minutes every hour, you can ensure that your brain will stay sharp and stay focused. However, if you do not take these breaks, your mind will start wandering and you will find that you are stressed out because you cannot concentrate. Of course, you cannot concentrate because you are trying to force yourself to concentrate rather than giving yourself a quick break that would help you do that very thing.

However, sometimes it takes more than just a few minutes of walking to get rid of stress. After all, life is stressful in itself and you need to get away from it every once in a while. Thus, part of your stress elimination strategy should include some vacations. By getting away for a week or so every year, you can alleviate stress and prevent it from appearing very often. The simple act of being someplace else where you don't have to worry about anything other than relaxing will help you immeasurably and it will allow you to keep stress away. Just leave it all behind for a while and you will be able to deal with it better when you get back.

Another good method for stress elimination is through exercise. It has been shown that people who are fit tend to deal with stress much more effectively than people who are not, so it is necessary to get out to the gym every so often. Or, if you don't feel like going to the gym, you can do a few things from your home, such as running, walking or biking. Also, one very effective way to stay fit is to go out to your local swimming pool and get a few laps in. Swimming is not only a very good way to exercise your entire body, it is also a very low-impact method of exercise that does not strain the joints as much as something like running. Just remember to do something that will keep you in shape.

Also, yoga is a very popular way for people to stay fit when they do not enjoy exercising in such standard ways. In itself, yoga is a very effective method for relaxation and teachers often put a great deal of emphasis on relaxing while going through the various poses of yoga. Thus, you can learn methods of relaxation, stay fit, stay limber, and even have fun doing it. Likewise, studying martial arts such as karate, ju jitsu, judo, or even the relaxing forms of tai chi can provide substantial health benefits that will help you on the road toward stress elimination.

Finally, another good method for stress elimination is through meditation. Not only can you learn to eliminate stress generally, there are some methods of meditation that can be performed at a moment's notice. Just by sitting down, closing your eyes, and concentrating on taking deep breaths, you can push all that stress out of your body and ease your mind of all its concerns. In fact, simply meditating in this manner for about a minute can ease your stress levels almost instantly by clearing your mind of all its concerns and allowing it to start out fresh. In fact, with a little practice, you can meditate for a short period of time and feel as refreshed as though you just took a nap.

Stress elimination is a vital skill for people who want to stay healthy, stay productive, and keep their minds sharp. Though some of the methods take some practice and take some time to master, a little effort and a little dedication can go a long way. So learn a few methods, figure out what is right for you, and stress elimination will be possible for you now and in the future.

About the author:
LowerYourStress.com: for everything to do with stress. Get a free ebook to help with your stress levels:

by: Trevor Dumbleton

Those who are under stress, yet refuse to get help for it, need to understand the relationship between stress & concentration in order to understand why they need to relax. This is because, at first, it seems though stress is an aid to concentration. However, this is not the case in the long term.

Long-term stress & concentration do not go hand-in-hand. In fact, the more that one is stressed, the less able they are to concentrate. However, people often keep themselves under stress in order to help their concentration, despite the fact that it is doing them absolutely no good. Usually, this is because they believe that stress is helping their concentration.

In fact, stress does help concentration for a short period of time. This is because the body is dumping chemicals into the brain to help it focus and throwing adrenaline into the bloodstream in order to heighten the senses. This helps the body hone in on its tasks and helps it to focus. This is, in the beginning, a good thing. Short-term stress really does help your concentration at first, which is very useful when you need to hammer out last-minute paper for school, a report for your boss, or you need to quickly fix some computer problems that are keeping others from getting their work done. Unfortunately, the short-term effects do not last.

As you spend more and more time under stress, your ability to concentrate lessens. The brain will have fired off so many neurons that it cannot replenish its supply of chemicals that helps the neurons fire. As well, that boost of adrenaline that helps people focus will start to heighten the senses to the point where the brain notices every little thing around, causing you to be easily distracted. Thus, the relationship between stress & concentration becomes an inverse relationship.

The problem, of course, is that the more stress you are undergoing, the more you need to concentrate in order to relieve the causes of the stress. This means that your brain is fighting against itself when you need to get work done. This is what we like to refer to as a bad thing and it can seriously injure your ability to get work done. Needless to say, the biggest cause of stress around is the fact that work needs to get done, so stress becomes a self-defeating cycle.

What can you do to escape this damaging relationship between stress & concentration? Well, there are a few things you can do. The best is, of course, to walk away.

That’s right, just stop what you’re doing. Give yourself a break. Put work on hiatus and do something else. Take a walk, get some exercise, make a sandwich, watch an hour of television. Just as long as you are doing something other than work. This will distract your mind from whatever was causing it stress, which is exactly what you need to do. After all, your mind tends to get used to being stressed after a while, making it less able to let go of its concerns. This means that you need to make a conscious effort to clear your mind, and the best way to do that is to clear all the problems out of your head before you drown in them.

If you are not able to walk away for some reason -- let’s say that you are at work and the boss doesn’t like to see people leave their desks -- you can still relieve stress and help your concentration by performing a quick relaxation exercise. Simply close your eyes (this helps, but it can be done with your eyes open) and take deep breaths. Concentrate on each breath as it fills your lungs, then concentrate on the breath leaving as you exhale. Focus your attention on your breathing until you are paying attention to nothing else. Then, once you are done, you should feel much more relaxed and able to concentrate. If you do not feel better, repeat the exercise until your mind is clear and uncluttered.

The big problem with stress & concentration is the simple fact that stress helps concentration in the short run, but hurts it in the long-run. Unfortunately, most people do not notice this transition from helping to hindering and they simply stay under stress and unable to focus. So when you notice that your mind is racing too fast to allow your brain to focus on anything, walk away or take a few deep breaths in order to calm your mind. Then, you will be able to escape the negative relationship between stress & concentration.

About the author:
LowerYourStress.com: for everything to do with stress. Get a free ebook to help with your stress levels:

How To Cut Down On College Stress

by: Trevor Dumbleton

Probably the least appreciated form of stress is college stress. This is mostly due to the fact that adults simply see a lot of college students sitting on their rear ends playing video games and drinking, instead of seeing students who are under pressure to succeed all the time. In addition to classes, homework, research, reading, paper writing and problem solving, there are now the problems of how the heck to pay for college and whether there will be any jobs waiting after graduation. Thus, with all these forms of college stress weighing students down, it is no wonder that things tend to get ugly when they “blow off steam”.

Of course, there are better ways to deal with stress than to drink an entire case of beer in one day. In fact, abusing your body with any number of chemicals does not really help that much, aside from the fact that people generally relax when they do such things. However, they are usually relaxed before partaking of the latest work of ancient and modern chemistry, so the substances themselves really do not make much of a difference.

Unfortunately, college stress is often the first encounter that some students have with persistent stress, and it is hard for them to deal with it. However, it is also the first time that many of them have had experience with almost complete freedom, so college has a double threat. Complete freedom means the ability to simply ignore the cause of stress, which is usually the classes they need to stay in college. Thus, the problem of freshmen retention in many universities.

Unfortunately, most students don’t even attempt to find help for their stress problems. In fact, the most common effort to help students through their stress is to tell them to either just get their work done or to get used to it. Of course, this advice usually comes from their friends and, though there is a certain set that could use this advice, many other students are struggling to keep up simply because they are unable to cope with their stress. Thus, by relieving their own minds of their concerns, they could help their grades and help keep themselves in school.

The best place to start looking for relief from college stress is by talking to an advisor. They are more than happy to help students because they want to help them and, for the most part, nobody ever visits them. Thus, they are very eager to help, but very lonely, so they will be more than happy to give a hand to anyone who needs it. If you are a student under stress, they can help you deal with the classroom concerns and direct you to people who can help alleviate your stress concerns. It doesn’t matter how personal the problems might be, advisors are very private, very discreet, and they are more than happy to provide you with assistance.

For those who need more regular relief from college stress, there are other options to the usual cure of barley and hops. In fact, colleges are a wealth of opportunities to learn new stress-reduction methods. For instance, there are yoga clubs, meditation classes, and even courses in tai chi that can help you learn how to cope with stress and ease its effects on you. As well, many colleges will provide stress-relief seminars every so often, simply to help their students keep their stress at bay. By all means, look for these seminars and make use of them.

Another way to keep college stress at bay is to simply budget your time properly. Yes, that means that you should actually perform that time-honored and often-overlooked stress reduction method known as “getting work done early”. This not only means getting your homework polished off and done before the day it is due, you should also attempt to start long-term projects more than one day before they are due. By spreading out projects, you can actually relieve a lot of stress. This is because you will actually be giving yourself less work to do later and you will not have to freak out at the last minute because the work is not done. Yes, I know you’ve heard this all before, but if you want to avoid college stress, you need to actually do it for a change.

College stress is a major problem for university students, but it is mostly ignored by the students who are actually under stress. In fact, they usually just try to press through their stress without considering that it does not need to keep them under its thumb. However, that does not need to be the case. Students can help themselves by simply recognizing their own college stress and making a few efforts to alleviate it.

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: