The Warning Signs and Effects of Stress

Stress can affect you  physically if you  don’t learn to deal with it.  It can really cause long term affect their health problems.  You can experience headaches, complaints effecting your stomach or even diabetes and cause your immune system to be ineffective.  In order for you to remain healthy, the immune system needs to be healthy and working properly.

When you allow stress to affect your wellbeing, you set yourself up for anything to happen.  One of the more common health issues you face are ulcers.
With Stress you can also experience the following:

• Backaches
• Pain in the neck
• Pain in the muscles
• High blood pressure
• Chest pains

Warning signs of stress include changes in your appetite.  You may be experiencing stressed if you’re not eating as much and experience  lost weight.  Or you’re eating more than usual and gaining weight.

You may be feeling tired or drained even though you had enough rest.  Often you’re more concerned about problems that you can’t control or wondering how they’re going to turn out.  You’re not sleeping well, if at all.

Your muscles are aching or your have headaches that won’t stop.  You can’t concentrate on the situation at hand and allow yourself to be constantly distracted.

Here are a few practical tips on how you can help yourself eliminate your stress.
1.    Keep the lines of communication open no matter what the subject
2.    Resist the urge to overreact to negative situations
3.    Begin an exercise program
4.    Have family fun time—see a movie, go out for coffee, go shopping
5.    Talk to a counselor
6.    Be aware of physical and personality changes

Stress Management –Your Holidays Can Be More Enjoyable Without Spending One Extra Dime!

Much of our holiday stress is self induced. The perfect toy, a new set of bargain priced outdoor lights to make you the envy of the neighborhood.  The jewelers tell us, won’t really be complete unless that special woman or man receives the gift that lasts forever (and takes nearly as long to pay off).  Tear jerking commercials remind us just how important it is to buy the name brand cards if we really want to communicate our true feelings for loved ones during the holiday season.

It is no wonder holiday stress has reached epidemic proportions.  We receive message after message telling us just how important every single thing we buy and do is with respect to having a good holiday season.  We constantly look for a way to capture that elusive sense of holiday satisfaction—often with a wad of cash or a credit card.

There’s nothing wrong with spending within your means to have an enjoyable holiday.  It is, after all, a time of giving and a time of celebration and some level of cost is probably inevitable.  However, there are ways to increase your enjoyment of the holidays without spending one extra dime.

One great piece of holiday wisdom is the simple reminder to “think about ideas and people instead of things.”  Even the most free-spending Christmas shopper, when asked, will tell you that the holidays are a time to reflect on the messages of the season and to spend time with loved ones.  The spirit of the holidays can be  clearly communicated by a simple hug or a quality conversation.

Too often, we use things as our means of expression instead of using ourselves.  By retaining a focus on people and ideas instead of things, we find can begin to really communicate the message of love that underlies everyone’s understanding of the holidays.  A hug, a conversation or a walk around the block with a loved one doesn’t cost a dime and can be the best way to build holiday cheer, pleasant memories, and an appreciation of the holidays.

Volunteering your time and energy to a charitable cause can increase your appreciation of the holidays and allows you to truly embody the spirit of giving that underpins the season.  This simple act of kindness can be truly transformative not only for those who benefit from the gift but also for those who are willing to volunteer.

If you want another strand of Christmas lights and they fit into your budget, go ahead.  Feel free to pick up that great toy for your child and the expensive knick-knack for your spouse.  But remember that there are a few things you can do that won’t cost you a anything and can really increase the quality of your holiday season.  Remember to think about people and ideas—instead of things.

7 Tips To Relieve Stress

It seems like you hear it all the time from nearly every one you know – “I’m SO stressed out!”  There’s plenty of pressures to be had today causing stress and anxiety. Most people are unprepared to deal with stressors that trigger feelings that can make us sick.  Literally, sick.

Stress is far more dangerous than we thought. You’ve probably heard that it can raise your blood pressure, increasing the likelihood of a stroke in the distant future, but recently a health insurance brochure claimed that 90 percent of visits to a primary care physician were stress-related disorders.

Health Psychology magazine reports that chronic stress can interfere with the normal function of the body’s immune system. And studies have proven that stressed individuals have an increased vulnerability to catching an illness and are more susceptible to allergic, autoimmune, or cardiovascular diseases.

Doctors agree that during chronic stress, the functions of the body that are nonessential to survival, such as the digestive and immune systems, shut down. This is why people get sick.

Stress often prompts people to respond in unhealthy ways such as smoking, drinking alcohol, eating poorly, or becoming physically inactive. This damages the body in addition to the wear and tear of the stress itself.
Although there is no definitive answer to any of the stressor you may experience listed are a seven coping mechanisms that may support your ability to manage stress.

7 Tips

1. Know how to relax and log to of tension
2. Eat right and exercise often
3. Get enough sleep
4. Become more organized
5. Know the difference between what truly important and what is not and don’t worry about the unimportant things
6. Know what’s important and live according to your own values
7. Have a good sense of humor

Stress is a part of daily life.  It’s how we react to it that makes all the difference in maintaining our health and well-being.  Pressures occur throughout life and those pressures cause stress.  You need to realize that you will never completely get rid of stress in your life, but you can learn coping techniques to turn that stress into a healthier situation.

If you found this information let me know.  Leave a comment in the section below this sentence.

Managing Time Or Doing Time

Managing your phone time especially when your doing business online at home can be a date with disaster. No matter what type of business you’re in, you’ll find a number of reasons you need to use a telephone.  You may need to reassure a client who needs to hear a real human voice or  talk to a colleague about a situation that requires more immediate attention. The problem is, however, that phone use, can be stressful and cause you plenty of problems, especially if you let it get out of control.

For many of us, nothing seems simpler than calling someone up to chat.  While we may intend for the call to be short and professional, there is a good chance that you’ll spend a lot longer on the phone than you thought you  would, and before you know it, the day has sped by and your efficiency has gone out the window. The work you intended (your intentions are always good in the beginning aren’t they?) to get done is put off until later.  Have you ever experienced this?  Most of us don’t think about the phone as a source of stress.  But if it’s effecting your business and the bottom line then the phone use may be out of control and a cause of stress.

How much time are you spending on the phone?   When you’re on the phone, you’re breaking your concentration. Once you finish the call and head back to the task at hand, it takes about a half an hour to refocus on what you were doing prior to the call.  If you put together all the time you devote to calls during the course of the day, from getting the number, to talking on the phone, to getting back to work how long does it take?  The time that you actually spend “on the phone” just might surprise you.

If you have to be on the phone to do business i.e. call prospects frequently just the opposite is true.  You can evaluate your productivity by how much time is spent avoiding the phone. Even if you live with your phone in what seems like attached to your ear. In order to combat the time wasting telephone and start making your phone calls and make your other tasks more productive for your business, try putting this practice into place:

• Determine how often do you take calls
• Are the number of call detracting you from your work or contributing to your bottom line
• Does the phone ringing distract you and you feel the need to find out who’s calling

Here are some tips control phone use:

• Turn the ringer off if the phone ringing is distracting
• Set up the times when you will make your calls
• Set up a rough call time limit based on your average call time
• Make sure you know  what topics need to be discussed before you call

The phone is a tool to make your business more productive.  If that’s not happening, it’s time to develop a better use of this invaluable tool.   Remember, your time is precious and your business is important, so don’t let the telephone distract you anymore than it has to.

Train Your Mind and Body to Release Stress

Have you ever felt your heart racing and pounding so hard you thought you were going to have a heart attack.  What a frightening feeling!

Fortunately, it’s wasn’t your heart, but a warning sign of stress overload. Your doctor tells you to try relaxation to reduce your stress. Relax? You don’t have time to relax, you don’t know how to relax!  But you don’t have time for a heart attack either – so you begrudgingly agree to give relaxation training a shot.

Just the thought of learning a relaxation technique seems like more work and more work causes more stress.  So you ask yourself a question, is  relaxation isn’t a do-it-yourself project. After all, you were the one who got yourself into this stress mess, so do you really think you know how to change it?   The good news is that once you learn relaxation techniques, you can practice them anywhere on your own. It’s a truly portable therapy.  Have relaxation will travel.

Wellness and Stress Management Professionals can teach you visualization, stress resistant, and other techniques that help you manage your stress.

Hypnosis – Hypnotists can teach you relaxation techniques using self-hypnosis. Contrary to false beliefs, you won’t suddenly quack like a duck or howl at the moon.. In a few sessions you can learn all you need to know to do this on your own.

Yoga – Take a series of classes to learn the basic Yoga movements. This ancient technique involves the mind and body so completely that you relax, stretch and develop flexibility all at the same time.

Art or Photography – You don’t have to be a trained photographer or artist to enjoy them.  Forget perfectionism and just put some paint on a canvas or take a few pictures. Go outdoors to a tranquil park, garden or solarium to practice your craft.  You aren’t trying to become proficient – just enjoy what you create. The time spent studying your subjects and looking at the results is what counts. Be creative, particularly if this is completely different than your usual work, can be highly relaxing.

Do something that is carefree and just plain fun.  Once your stress level is down, keep up the relaxation training or you’ll be back in the same overload situation again.  It may sound silly, but relaxing is something some people have to learn because it doesn’t come easy to them.  So many have forgotten how to relax and have fun.

Now is the time to remember.

Many Ways To Manage Stress

If you don’t manage stress, it will find a way to manage you. Stress can be very invasive in your life. You might be blaming the boss, the car mechanic or your spouse for your stress. You can’t control what other people do or say, but you can manage the smaller irritations in your world  and choose to reduce your stress.

Here are a three common stress triggers that can easily be tamed:

Clutter – The more “stuff” you have, the more time and attention it requires to maintain. One way to reduce that demand is to eliminate some of the “stuff” that you don’t really need.  Start by going room by room.  Pledge to give away or throw away at least two unneeded items from every room. And don’t just do this once, do it once a month.

Buy Less – You brought that clutter into the house, so don’t bring in more. Before you buy a new wok or 26-piece baking set, think about how often you would actually use those items. Do you have any other kitchen equipment that can double for the same purposes?

Do you have a Clothes Horse that  Needs Taming?  – Buying clothes is a kind of closet clutter addiction that can get out of control. Clothing isn’t just something on a hanger. You have to wash, mend, press or take it to the dry cleaners.  Remember if you have an over-stuffed closet, it’s actually harder to get dressed in the morning. Too many choices become stressful – as does not being able to find the other shoe, so you waste time.

These are just a few ways to manage stress by dealing with the things in your home. You can  and should apply the same strategy to the “stuff” in your office.

So what are you going to do with your “stuff”?

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