It seems like the whole world has been really stressful lately. Stressful news, stress events in the world, everything seems to moving faster and faster. Modern life is permeated with stress. Families are now typically spread out all over the country. Most require two incomes just to get by and day care for children has become the standard. Salaried people are working longer hours, bringing additional work home, hoping that they’re not next in line to be laid off. We rush here and there, trying to take care of household errands and maintenance. This is certainly a recipe for chronic stress, so it’s no wonder that most of us are in a constant state of being stressed out, drinking gallons of coffee or 3 or 4 energy drinks a day just to get everything we need to do done.
So let me ask, do you eat lots of sweets to feel better during the day or drink 3 or 4 glasses of wine to relax at night? Are you experiencing tension headaches or pains in the neck, back face or stomach? Do you wake up tired and become exhausted during the day? Does it feel like the weight of the world is on your shoulders? Are you on edge? Do you regularly worry about the past or the future? If you are suffering some or all of these symptoms then you are experiencing anxiety and may be even suffering from chronic stress.
The problem with chronic stress is that it opens you up to developing a wide variety of severe health conditions. It’s an established medical fact that constantly being under chronic stress compromises your immune system and leads to heart and circulatory conditions. Psychologically it can lead to anxiety and depression. So to get your life in balance a good strategy would be to analyze the sources of your stress and learn how to deal with them. While all stressful situations cannot be eliminated, you can take steps to reduce or relieve your stress and anxiety.
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Do you react or respond to negative events and people in your life? What I mean is, when something unusual happens, like a co-worker gives you bad news about a project you are working on, do you think about what they have told you and respond with a solution or do you react to the news by becoming stressed, anxious and angry? If you are one of those many people that become angry, then learning deep breathing and meditation exercises just might help you to calm your mind so you don’t overreact when these negative events occur. I’d like to call this process non-reaction.
Non-reaction is a practice that can benefit you and the people around you. Non-reaction is the process of choosing not to react to negative events in your life but rather reflect and respond appropriately. Using deep breathing techniques, relaxation and meditation, you can learn to respond, rather than overreact, effectively to the stresses in your life.
Non-reaction stops your negative events and emotions from running your life. By choosing to practice non-reaction, you’ll be able to stay calm in the even the most stressful situations you encounter.
Learning the Art of Non-Reaction (more…)
What’s the great thing about work? You get to work with people. What’s the bad thing about work? You get to work with people. Work can generate lots of stress. From tight deadlines to irksome co-workers stress in the workplace is everywhere.
Now, a little stress is actually good. Stress can help you work harder and function at your best. Stress can help you focus, but too much stress can be bad for both your mental and physical health. In order to perform at your best, work and office stress should be managed to prevent other more severe problems from cropping up, like depression or anxiety.
Here are seven simple work and office stress relief tips that you can use to reduce your workplace stress and live a happier, healthier life.
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There is nothing so paralyzing as an acute anxiety disorder. Anxiety disorder symptoms vary, but they can include feelings of disorientation, physical discomfort, blinding panic, unreality, paranoia, as well as intense fear. Sometimes the symptoms are emotional, but very often they involve psycho-somatic symptoms as well. Acute anxiety disorder can make your stomach cramp, your head spin, your legs feel wobbly, your back tense up, and your body fill with pain. To say that it is unpleasant is a great understatement. Acute anxiety attacks can cripple you.
Fortunately, for a strong anxiety panic disorder, there is strong medicine. One is the prescription drug Xanax. Reportedly it takes you from feeling extremely anxious to blissful oblivion in a matter of moments. I’ve been told that it works great for awhile. While it treats the symptoms of anxiety and panic attacks it does not treat the cause.
Treating acute anxiety disorders can be extremely complicated. That’s because the causes are complicated and varied. Some people develop anxiety attacks disorders and their symptoms because of career, personal relationship stress, lingering emotional traumas, or chemical imbalance. With an extremely acute anxiety disorder there is nearly always a combination of factors that are responsible. It is often difficult to isolate one thing, which means that you have to treat every possible cause simultaneously.
Most mental health professionals suggest the first step is to get into an support group. Anxiety support groups can help you to understand that you aren’t alone. You can participate in group therapy sessions and you talk about what makes you anxious. This can help you get to the bottom of your problems faster as you help other folks get to the bottom of theirs. Attending anxiety support groups alone may not cure your anxiety, but they can help you to cope with it.
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What happens when you are in a stressful situation? Does your head hurt or your back ache? Does your stomach start to get upset? One of the best ways to more easily relieve your stress is to know how to define the stress you are experiencing.
Psychologists tell us there are two types of stress. One is known as distress and the other is known of eustress. They are both a result of your fight or flight response and can have the same physiological affect on your body. Even though they have the same physiological affects, they are as different as two sides of the same coin. One is actually useful to your body while the other is harmful.
Eustress is an anxious feeling that feels more like anticipation than dread. You may experience eustress before giving a presentation at work, going out on a date, before a job interview or when preparing a gourmet meal from a recipe you’ve never tried to cook before.
Although all these types of activities can give you the feeling of uncertainty, the outcome isn’t fatal. A good way to look at eustress is when a man’s hands shake as he shows the engagement ring to the one he loves. It also manifests itself as the bride’s pre-wedding jitters while she prepares to walk down the aisle. While stressful, I am sure you would agree that both these would be “good” stress because they represent taking a step toward a positive outcome.
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Stress affects everyone differently. How does stress affect you? Do you get stressed out about work, your relationships or your finances? Especially in today’s environment there are more than enough stress-induced problems to keep you stressed out all the time. For some, it can feel like you are in a pressure cooker where the pressure never ends! Would you like to become stress free or at least have some ways to overcome the stress you are experiencing? Of course! That’s why you’re reading this article.
The great news is that there are some natural ways to relieve stress quickly and easily. No matter how much stress you are experiencing, there are some simple natural ways to relieve stress that don’t involve taking pharmaceuticals.
Here are 10 natural stress reducers to help you start living a stress free, or at least stressed reduced life today.
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I believe that Michael Jackson was one of the most talented entertainers of our era. In the 70’s I rode around blasting “I’ll be there”, “ABC” and “Got to be there” out of my AM radio from my Burgundy 1964 Chrysler New Yorker that my dad and I painted. I loved Michael’s stuff. Now I must admit it was probably largely due to the fact that the girls loved his stuff too, but Michael, to me, was living the life. He had it made. Little did I know, right?
As he and I grew older, although Michael continued to create and perform some fantastic hits, his personal life seemed to be in a tailspin. So did his health. He contracted lupus in the 1980’s. Lupus is an autoimmune disease where the immune system turns against parts of the body, destroying the very cells and tissues it is meant to protect.
Although there is no one cause for lupus, according to the Lupus Foundation of America some of the factors that contribute to it are exhaustion, injuries, emotional stress, illness, life complications as well as anything that causes stress to the body, such as surgery or physical harm. Scientist have also found that a person can also become more susceptible to the disease when they are taking a drug to treat an illness
Now let’s take a look at what happened to Michael. In 1984 he was burned while singing for a Pepsi-Cola commercial in Los Angeles. When this happened he was the number one recording artist in the world. I would imagine that this added a great deal of acute emotional stress to Michael’s life that eventually turned in to chronic stress.
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Are you one of the millions currently being affected by anxiety? The truth is that everyone suffers from anxiety at some time or another and our current economic condition is adding to those numbers. If you are suffering from anxiety you might be worrying about a number of things going on in your life. Financial worries, in particular, can become overwhelming, especially when piled on top of home and work schedules, health concerns and whatever other stresses life throws at you. Whether you experience anxiety frequently during the month or week, or even on daily, you can take comfort in knowing that there are several practical and effective natural remedies for anxiety.
Like I already said, there are many people affected by anxiety, especially now. In fact the physical symptoms of anxiety are among the most common complaints doctors receive. I want to give you a brief overview of the condition of chronic anxiety and then describe a few natural remedies for anxiety you can use so you can get back in charge of your life!
One of the biggest problems with anxiety is that it can spin you out of control. Let unchecked, anxiety can escalate to a point where your anxiousness actually becomes a greater problem than the situations which trigger it! When your anxiety becomes a habitual response even the slightest situation can trigger an anxiety attack.
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Right now financial stress seems to be affecting everybody. If it’s not one thing, it’s another. If you somehow managed to meet your financial obligations this month, your car’s probably ready to break down but it doesn’t qualify for the clunker credit.
You know what they say, when it rains, it pours. Most of us can relate to this sentiment. We know that stress is a fact of life, but knowing this doesn’t make it any easier. What you do need to know are the tricks and techniques of relieving stress effectively. Once you get a handle on dealing with stress, you can ease the daily grind of stressful situations. The less stressed out you are, the better able you are to make good decisions and make the best use of what you’ve got to work with.
Just in case you need convincing, let’s take a moment to look at just a few of the common outcomes of stress, in terms of your physical and mental responses. When you’re under stress, your body responds with an adrenalin rush, triggered by the fight or flight syndrome. Many of us are under pressure from some outside stimulus on a more or less regular basis. Finances, health, family issues, job concerns and just plain worry can keep you on edge and stressed out. This is a toxic recipe for anxiety, insomnia and high blood pressure. Living in a constant state of stress will result in having health problems while reducing your ability to relieve stress effectively. It’s a vicious cycle.
Today I want to give you a few stress relief tips that you can take in small steps that will add up to a healthier, more relaxed perspective on life. This will allow you to make better, more considered decisions, which result in less stress!
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Does stress makes you feel like you’re all tied up in knots? The interesting thing is that, in a way, you are. When you are under stress, your muscles get tense which reduces the blood flow to your head, causing it to throb. You really want to make the stress go away, but you feel like if you move at all it will only make you feel worse.
The facts are that this is just not true! Moving around is one of the best natural ways to relieve stress. It works almost immediately and can help make you look and feel great. Any expert with tell you that exercise is an excellent, natural way to relieve the harmful effects of stress.
Some people turn to food, drugs or alcohol to deal with stress, but this is no way of overcoming stress. When it comes to food, not only is stress eating fattening, it can grow into an eating disorder. This is particularly true when your stress is compounded by a depressed mood.
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