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.

The Perfect Storm

In October of 1991 a storm stronger than any in recorded history hit the coast off of Gloucester, Massachusetts. This “Perfect Storm” — so called because it was three storms combined into one — created an almost apocalyptic situation in the Atlantic ocean, where boats encountered waves of 100 feet  — the equivalent of a ten-story building. These storms are some of the strongest and most terrifying manifestations of nature’s strength.

The perfect stress storm –

Overstuff to-do list – can be a harrowing for many who feel like they’ve failed in some way if they weren’t able to accomplished everything they set out to do
Over-achiever – Some people who suffer extreme symptoms of stress wind up that way because they can’t seem to achieve all of their tasks.
Type A personality – Have you ever been called (or called yourself) a Type A personality. We laugh it off but their kind of perfectionism you strive for can cause you endless amounts of stress if you fail to meet your own  demands.

Ask yourself how you normally react if you can’t continually be working on something.  Is it virtually impossible for you to sit still and relax?  What if your cell phone is turned off or you don’t have access to a computer for email – does it send you into a panic?

People like this rely heavily on being able to take action, and when they aren’t constantly achieving more, they become more stressed.  The stress builds as your schedule grows even larger. 

Soon, you have to schedule things months in advance – with no room for rest and relaxation, which your body needs to unwind and relieve the stress of helping you achieve all of your goals.

Take that rigid schedule and start scheduling some stress-busting activities just as you would an important business meeting.  Since you are dedicated to a to-do list, ensure that a portion of those tasks are meant to help you calm down and block out the rest of the tasks on your list.

Pick something you would enjoy, but only do if you had the time.  Now, you will have the time – and it will be implemented into your schedule as a “must-do,” rather than a possibility, which never materializes.

You might want to start small and let your stress-reducing activities grow.  Schedule a 15-minute walk outdoors or a 20-minute bubble bath.  Once you learn to embrace the down time, it will be easier for you to expand it into a longer event that’s meant to improve your mental health by ridding your mind and body of the stress of your day.

You need to take the same level of commitment and dedicate some time to caring for your body and mind. Create your own perfect storm with the 3 R’s of stress relief.
Reveal – Identify stressors that affect our daily lives;
Release  – Eliminate the stressors of which we can free ourselves;
Rejuvenate – Learn to deal with stressful situations in a healthy way

Hopefully you found this information helpful.  If you did, how are you going to use this information.  I would love to know.  Please take a minute to comment in the space below this sentence. Let me know if there is anything else you’d like to know about stress relief.

Number One Stress Killer – Nature

I bet you would have never guessed 20 years ago you’d be sitting in front of computer monitors in stuffy cubicles under florescent lights for at least eight hours a day five  days a week. By the time you leave, there’s barely enough time to run into the deli to grab dinner, then collapse in front of the television – or worse yet, open your briefcase to more work yikes!   

Isn’t it strange that you get to look forward to that tranquil screen saver just to see the great outdoors.  Fresh air and nature just isn’t on your schedule.  You may not even realize that a drawer full of anti-acids and aspirin isn’t a fraction as good for your stress and tension as spending time outdoors.  

Want to live in a Drug Free Zone – go outside calm your nerves.  The only way to get the full benefit of nature is to experience it firsthand. You can’t read about it, see photos or watch it on television and get the same stress-relieving effect.

Stop saying that you don’t have time. Unless your chained to your desk you could take your brown bag lunch and eat outside. Or you could drive to a park and have lunch there. And instead of taking a coffee break, go outside and walk around the parking lot  -don’t take too many deep breaths though but least you’ll feel a lot better when you get back to your office. You’ll get more healthful energy from fifteen minutes outdoors than a triple shot in a latte. 

And while you’re outdoors, stop, look and listen. Stop your brain from running at full tilt  thinking about your task list or replaying that last irritating phone call. Look around you – really look.  

What do you see? A tree – what kind of tree? A bush with flowers? Touch and smell the flowers. Did you see a squirrel playing under the tree? Watch him – squirrels tend to be entertaining and if you bring peanuts, the squirrel will put on a show for that treat.  

Do you hear birds chirping? How many different kinds of birds do you see?  If you look at everything closely, you’ll see things in nature that you haven’t noticed since you were a curious child. Those things never left, you just stopped looking. 

Are you still sitting there? Well what are you waiting for?  It’s so easy even a child can do it!

I hope this made you think about how you can handle stress.  Let me know how you’re going to put this information into action.  Leave me a comment see the link below this sentence?

Here’s a few quick stress relief tips to decrease depression

Is there a relationship between stress and depression – you betcha there is.  Everybody’s stressed out these days. If you don’t do something about it can eventually lead to depression.  When you feel depressed, you just want to lie on the sofa while the television drones on in the background. You aren’t really watching anything that takes too much energy.

The last thing you want to do is get outside – but that’s exactly what you need to do.  The challenge of depression is working against what you feel inclined to do. Yet if you get moving, you’ll find surprising relief from the stress and depression that seems to choke you.

Exercise is an absolute necessity  to regaining a sense of self-control.  It helps you focus on something other then the situation that’s causing you to feel stressed and depressed. It also provides a better night’s sleep, which helps your immune system rally against your stress factors.

When your stressed to the point of depression don’t place too many demands on yourself. You’ll only  feel overwhelmed.  So you have to start with simple, specific steps, such as:

• Begin with basic self-care. Set your alarm clock and get out of bed without lying there thinking about it. Then go directly to take a shower and get dressed in clean clothes. No pajamas – real clothes.
• Set a place with real dishes at the table for your breakfast. Even if you only eat a bagel and drink juice, don’t do it standing up in the kitchen. Sit down and eat as if you were in a restaurant. And if you have good china, use it.
• Choose one activity outside the house to complete before lunch. That might be something as simple as walking around the block or going outside to water the flowers.
• Drive to a nearby mall or large discount store. Start at one end and walk up and down every aisle. When you get to the other side, start aisle-walking again until you’re back where you started. Then you can go back and look at anything that seemed interesting. Something is bound to catch your eye and get the focus off the situation.  The key is to get moving.
• Go to a park in the late afternoon. Find the swing set and swing. It’s amazing how this activity makes you feel like a child who is happy to be outdoors.
• If you’re going to watch television watch something funny.  For one of my clients  it was watching the old classic “I Love Lucy”.  She had  seem all the episodes many times so they don’t require concentration but will still get her  to smile

Exercise to relieve stress and depression doesn’t have to mean marathon training or aerobics. You don’t even have to go to the gym unless you’re ready to go. Even simple activities will make a big difference in your mood.

When you realize that nothing in life is permanent and that the storm you’re caught up in right now will eventually pass, you’ll take a big step towards reducing stress and depression. And combine this with tips and techniques above you’ll have an effective strategy to help the situation pass quickly.

I hope this made you think about how you handle stress and depression.  Let me know how you’re going to use this information in your life by leaving a comment.  See the link underneath this sentence.

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