Stress can affect you in many ways. One way stress affected me in the past was my neck would get tight. This would often lead to the second way stress often affected me which was having a headache. These two responses to stress would then lead to other maladies like severe insomnia and grumpiness.
Are you frequently affected by headaches? I’m not talking about migraine headaches that incapacitate you, but common headaches that pound in your head and ruin your day. Companies that make pain relievers would tell us that all we need is another pill and our troubles will be all gone but all they do is mask the symptoms and your underlying problem remains. So if you want to stop looking for another pill to pop you need to try to identify the source of these headaches, which, like mine, may be brought on by stress and then take some action to overcome that stress so you can reduce or eliminate your headaches.
The following are three sources of stress that can lead to chronic headaches and some things you can do to overcome the stress that causes them:
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In today’s economy many people are worrying constantly about finances, job or career. There are also many other things in life that can contribute to chronic anxiety and stress. This is the type of anxiety and stress you just can’t shake, the kind that seems to be bugging you all the time. This is the kind of stress and anxiety that can sap your spirit and energy and even make you ill.
Some people find that their children are a major source of their anxiousness. This can be especially true for those with teenagers or children who are ill. Chronic anxiety and stress can be a result of personal problems or even drama in your family. Most people are able to cope with one or two of these stressors, but when you start piling them all up, it can result in burnout that leaves you feeling shocked and out of control, making you feel like you could lose your mind at any moment. Developing a plan that can reduce your anxiety and give you the stress relief your desire can help you start feeling normal again while giving you some other great health benefits as well.
You may think that a plan for overcoming the anxiety and stress in your life is mainly good for clearing your mind of the things that bother you. While it is true that when you take actions to relieve your anxiety as well as your stress it does take some of the steam out of your worries, it can and will do much more than that.
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Being stressed out has become part of our everyday language. Fifty years ago, had you told someone you were stressed out, they wouldn’t have known what you were talking about and might even have questioned your knowledge of grammar! But that’s all changed. Rare is the individual today who doesn’t get stressed out at least once a day. Chronic stress and anxiety can lead to severe health problems, particularly with the ‘type A’ personality. Besides, stress produces unpleasant feelings in the body, headaches, as well as causing you to snap at others without reason. While your doctor might prescribe a medication to calm you down, it’s always best to avoid prescription medicines if you can.
I’d like to offer you five natural anxiety and stress relief techniques that you can put to use today. They all work, so you can pick and choose as the mood strikes you. Of course, if you’re really stressed out, use all five!
1. Exercise! Physical exercise of any kind is one of the great treatments to relieve stress and anxiety. It doesn’t matter what the weather is either. If it’s raining, get out the vacuum and give that rug a good vacuuming. Go over and over that rug until its sparkling clean. It’s one of the great natural ways to relieve stress. Or if there’s a spot in the yard that needs to be weeded, go to it, weed it within an inch of it’s life. Other physical tasks, like cleaning out the hall closet, can prove sufficiently distracting so that you’ll be automatically diverted from whatever got you all stressed out. You also get a great deal of satisfaction from how clean it is.
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When I’m stressed out I either shut down or overreact. If my daughter comes home late I may raise my voice or talk without even trying to listen. If someone I care about psychically injures me, I may avoid her or carefully word any interaction I have with her to steer clear of confronting the situation and working it out. I do both of these things because, at times, my reaction causes a definite and immediate stress response. This reaction has a definite impact on my communications.
Let me ask you, are you having problems with your relationships at home and at work? Do even the smallest annoyances cause you to respond with angry “knee jerk” reactions like yelling or swearing? The facts are that the stress caused by your response to these events can immobilize you emotionally. This stress response can wear down the communications in all of your relationships.
Chronic stress affects you both physically and emotionally. It also wears you down psychologically. Stress can cause your mind to race and your sleep to suffer. As it wears you down your nerves get set on edge. Things that you used to laugh about can infuriate you. You suddenly find yourself exploding at co-workers and loved ones and remaining angry long after the incident is over. This can lead to a vicious spiral of avoidance followed by louder and even more violent outbursts. Left unchecked, this type of chronic emotional stress can ruin you both personally and professionally.
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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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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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Why is it that some people seem to get angry at the drop of a pin? Well I don’t know about you, but when I’ve been experiencing stress for days in a row I can become easily angered and snap at my daughter. It’s also even easier for me to yell at the guy in the next lane that doesn’t know how to drive. Most people find that when they have been under acute or chronic stress for a period of time they get angry fast!
The problem with anger is that it affects our health and physical well being. Symptoms from being angry include feeling light headed, having chest pains or an upset stomach. You may experience heart palpitations or have difficulty breathing. If you experience chronic stress and remain in an “angry mode” long enough, your anger can give you high blood pressure and other health problems.
If you find that you are angry a lot then you probably need to find ways to relieve stress effectively. By relieving stress you relive your anger. Here are 5 simple steps that can help you control your stress and anger.
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Many people never imagined that they might be experiencing a stress related illness. Many have such concrete physical symptoms that that they are positive that there is something wrong with them. Most people are not aware of stress related illnesses.
The common misconception is that it is only crazy people worry themselves sick. They don’t realize that for many “normal” people, this is literally true. Some reports state that 75% of all doctors visits are a direct result of stress related diseases. Most people don’t understand that you can give yourself chronic physical symptoms from being under constant acute stress and anxiety.
It is very difficult to reduce stress related illnesses to just one factor. The problem is that stress weakens your body and mind in many different ways. Being stressed out all the time can wear down your immune system, causing you to be more susceptible to colds, flu and other diseases. The depression associated with stress also has its effects. It can cause your body to produce less endorphins, making you feel achy and sore are all the time.
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Some people talk about avoiding stress. There is no way to completely avoid stress. Stress is a normal and natural part of life. There is never going to be a time in your life when you are not dealing with some sort of stress. Even if you go on the perfect vacation you will still deal with at least a tiny bit of it.
Some people don’t realize that there is that there is both good stress and bad stress. The problem is that most of us have way too much of the bad type. This makes the affects of good type to be just as bad. If you are dealing with stress on the job, there are some simple ways to relieve stress to help yourself get through it without damaging your health or your relationships.
First let’s take a quick look at the types of stress. Good stress, also known as eustress, is the type that keeps us alive and provides us with the input to make good decisions. Eustress helps you do the best on the project you’ve been assigned, keeping you focused and preventing you from making mistakes. Eustress makes you think, and I’m sure you’ll agree that is something that everyone should do before they start any project or task, even when it is one that they do all of the time.
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Is your life full of stress and anxiety? In our world they can be tough to avoid. Soon you can be experiencing from chronic stress and anxiety which are major detriments to a healthy life.
Why are you experiencing all this stress and anxiety? It’s because if you are like most people your life just keeps getting more full of things to do and more hectic. As things keep getting piled on your plate you have difficulty keeping up with all of them and your life begins to wobble out of balance. As your responsibilities increase your time shrinks. The real question should be how is it possible not to get stressed out?
Well the quick answer is that it’s not possible to avoid getting a least a little stressed out. The good news is that it’s okay to be a little stressed and anxious about things, it’s only human. It’s when you let the stress become chronic that it can become dangerous to your health.
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