Is stress wearing you down?
We can all feel frazzled at the end of the day! Whether worrying about looming deadlines, job insecurity, traffic jams, a problem with a child, existing health problems or a troubled relationship, stress takes it toll on our body, mind, and spirit. From a scientific perspective, stress can trigger anything from allergies and asthma to headaches and indigestion. Over time, it can contribute to high cholesterol, ulcers, diabetes, obesity, and heart problems.
When we are stressed we are in a heightened nervous state which can lead to adrenal burnout. This is where the body overproduces adrenaline, cortisol and other stress hormones. Eventually this causes the adrenal glands, the front line in the stress reaction, to show wear and tear and become depleted. According to Dr. Mercola, this then can frequently lead to an impairment of the thyroid glad, which can cause a further decline in energy levels and mood.
So how can we handle the many stresses in our everyday life?
You can start by learning to manage your mind.
To put it simply you can do this by analyzing your stress.
- First separate the things in your life that you find stressful into two categories: things you can do something about, and things you can’t. If you can do something about it, then do it! Taking control of situations you can will give you a feeling of relief and accomplishment.
- If there’s nothing you can do, then accept it and move on. This may seem over simplified but when put into practice is very effective. Turn off the TV news and trash the paper – these places are full of things to worry about that you can do absolutely nothing about. Forget them or better yet – avoid putting them in your head.
- Worry and fear are the two common emotions that add much stress to our life.
- If you find your mind churning over problems and how bad things are, identify what exactly is bothering you. Change the focus from how bad it is, to creating solutions. What do you want to happen? Visualize a positive outcome for the problem. Work out how you can make changes, and take action to create the best outcome. If you find yourself slipping back into worry and fear, remind yourself that you are creating a positive outcome and visualize your desired outcome.
- Monitor Your Negative Thinking
- Stress is often the result of fears that are based in your imagination. Observe this tendency, and replace your negative thoughts with positive thoughts. Just changing your attitude can alleviate a lot of stress. A positive attitude can give you a mental lift as well as more energy to deal with any of the problems we encounter.
- Use a technique for emotional release
- Crying is an excellent stress reliever, especially if you have bottled up sadness and grief. Let your unresolved emotions roll down your cheeks and out of your life.
Laughter is good medicine, too. Even if you are angry or depressed, just say ha ha hee hoo hoo. Soon, real laughter will come…and with it, joyful tension release. Simply smile too. Studies indicate that smiling when you don’t feel like it can boost your mood.
- Take a relaxation break. Either sit yoga style with your head, neck, and trunk in alignment and your legs comfortably crossed. Observe the quiet flow of your breath for several minutes. Breath slowly in and out saying “so” on the inhalation and “hum” on the exhalation. Stay with this mantra for at least 5 minutes. It will help you become one with your inner being, and soon your stress will melt away.
- Develop an attitude of gratitude. We need to look around us and see that our world is full of abundance and wonderful blessings available to each and every one of us. Utilizing this one strategy alone will almost instantly turn negative emotions to positive and thus help with stress reduction.
- When we are thankful or grateful it changes the vibrational energy to the positive instantly. As you increase your acknowledgment of things in your life to be grateful for you will automatically start to see and create more of the same – experiencing more happiness, abundance, prosperity, well-being, love, joy and everything else you have chosen to be grateful for.
We are so busy with our fast paced life style and so focused on all of life’s problems that we often forget gratitude and thankfulness as easy and effective ways to reduce our stress and bring us joy and happiness. Life is too short to waste with uncontrolled stress taking a toll on our health and well being.
Resource: http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2002/11/20/reduce-stress.aspx
Here’s another great article on tips to reduce your stress by Darren Hardy.
