Posts Tagged ‘Stress’

Panic and Anxiety Attack Symptoms – 7 Clues to Less Stress

Anxiety, by definition, is having a fear or phobia of the outcome and result of a situation. It is impossible for a happy and cheerful person to have anxiety. While the human mind is an amazing mechanism, it cannot consciously focus on two sources of stimulus at the exact same time. This is the same with your state of mind. You cannot be happy and have anxiety at the same time.

A panic and anxiety attack can happen at any time and any place, but there are symptoms leading up to it that let you face the problem and take steps to avoid a full blown panic and anxiety attack.

Symptoms of a panic and anxiety attack could include:

1. Having a hard time breathing or catching your breath.
2. Chest pains resulting from lung constriction.
3. Hyperventilation.
4. Sweaty palms.
5. Irrational thought patterns.
6. Tunnel vision.
7. Passing out.

These symptoms are mainly physical symptoms. There may also be emotional symptoms that could manifest themselves. Recognizing these symptoms and clues leading up to a panic and anxiety attack will let you begin to manage treatment and calm yourself before a full blown attack shows up.

Not all anxiety is bad. When the mind sees danger or senses that the body may be in trouble, you will feel anxious. This is good. It is the continual anxiety that can be problematic. If left unchecked, continual anxiety will lead to repeated panic and anxiety attacks and eventually a disorder that may need to be treated by a professional. If you have an anxiety disorder or think you have one, please consult a physician.

When you learn to recognize the symptoms leading up to a panic and anxiety attack you will put yourself in a position to go through exercises and treatments that will help you deal with the situation. You will find that the treatment depends on the individual. Effectively halting a panic and anxiety attack may involve some creative exercises.

There are currently medications on the market that a physician or psychologist may prescribe to help with treating anxiety. That treatment path can be very effective.

The best tip for avoiding a panic and anxiety attack is to avoid the situation that causes the attack. It can be tricky to pin down the actual cause of the panic, but once you do, consider what your life would be like without that. Now, if it is your mom that is causing your anxiety, you probably can not cut her out of your life. But if it is crowds or flying, you can choose to avoid those situations.

Aside from medication, another good tip for preventing a panic and anxiety attack is to shift focus. Remember, the mind can only consciously focus on one thing at a time. By finding a quiet place, closing your eyes and focusing on something that makes you happy, you can actually convince your mind that you are calm, relaxed and happy.

Here are a few other quick tips to avoid panic attacks:

1. Eat healthy. Giving your body proper nutrition will reduce the chance of stress and panic.

2. Stay hydrated. Same as eating, drinking a lot of water will help flush extra junk out of your body.

3. Meditate. Practice every day focusing your mind. When you begin to panic, you’ll already be trained at focusing and you will be more effective when you sense a panic and anxiety attack coming on.

4. Breathe. Like drinking water, proper breathing will cleanse your body of toxins and junk.

5. Simplify. Get rid of the cell phone and pager as soon as your life allows. I don’t necessarily mean to junk them completely. Just don’t let them infringe on quiet times.

6. Stretch. Just look at how long those yoga masters live. There’s got to be a reason.

Physical Symptoms of Stress and Anxiety

People often experience a general state of worry, because anxiety is a natural reaction to problem of life. It helps one face with a challenging situation in the office, study carefully for a test, and keep focused on making an important decision. But, when an anxiety interferes with daily activities and person’s relationship and job, it is considered disabling disorder.

Anxiety disorder can be classified into five major specific types.
1. Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) is excessive, unrealistic worry and tension about nonspecific life events, objectives, and situations.
2. Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is a condition characterized by persistent, unwanted thought and repetitive behaviors.
3. Panic Attacks is characterized repeated and unexpected attacks of intense fear.
4. Social Anxiety Disorder is fear of social situations. People with social phobia have anxiety of being watched and judged by others.
5. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is an anxiety disorder that can occur after exposure to a traumatic event that involved the threat of injury or death.

Symptoms
Symptoms depend on the type of anxiety disorder, but general symptoms include:

Heart palpitations, muscle tension, trouble falling or staying asleep, being easily startled, irritability, trembling, churning stomach, nausea, diarrhea, headache, backache, restlessness, trouble concentrating, cold or sweaty hands and/or feet, shortness of breath, fatigue.

Treatment
Anxiety can be treated with medication, psychotherapy, or both.

Medication will not cure anxiety disorders, but it can keep them under control while the person receives psychotherapy. Several different types of medications such as anti depressants, anti anxiety, and beta-blockers are used to treat anxiety disorder.

Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) and exposure therapy are two effective anxiety disorder treatments. Cognitive-behavioral therapy helps people change the thinking patterns that are cause of their anxiety.

Self help
In some cases that anxiety is short duration or the cause is identified and can be eliminated or avoided. There are several exercises and actions that are recommended to cope with this type of anxiety:

Exercise – Exercise is a natural stress buster and anxiety reliever.

Talk with a person who is supportive.

Relaxation techniques- relaxation can reduce anxiety and increase feelings of relaxation and emotional well-being.

Learn to replace “negative self talk” with “coping self talk.”

Learn to manage stress in your life.

Eat a healthy diet. Avoid fatty, sugary and processed foods. Include foods in your diet that are rich in omega-3 fatty acids and B vitamins.

Make sleep a priority. Do what you can to make sure you’re getting enough quality sleep.

Reiki Healing, Stop Stress And Feeling Overwhelmed Instantly

Reiki healing is one of the fastest ways you can stop stress and anxiety taking over your life. Energy healing work is an extremely powerful way help deal with stress. Every one has stress in their lives, but many physical problems are caused by too much stress. It is one of the key factors linked to many diseases, Because we lead such busy lives it can be stressful juggling work, home, family, and when life throws us a few curve balls it can be difficult to deal with and often we feel over whelmed.

Reiki healing restores the body’s natural energy flow and helps to eliminate the emotional and physical pain cause by stress.

Everyone is made up of atoms and energy. Reiki restores the balance of the flow of energy through out our bodies.

Reiki healing will help restore the balance, if you are feeling moody, stressed, depressed, angry, short-tempered restoring the balance in your mind, body and spirit will help to free you from stress.

Anyone can learn Reiki, it transfers energy healing though out the mind-body and spirit.

There is a connection between the mind the body and the spirit, if one is out of balance the other areas will feel out of sorts.

When you are feeling stressed the physical signs are tight muscles, headaches, mood swings, depression, and it is a strong factor in causing diseases such as cancer, irritable bowl and heart attacks. The mind can feel under pressure with stress also, causing nervous breakdowns (The mind detaches from reality because it can not cope). To eliminate stress in our lives we must restore the balance. Reiki healing is one of the best ways to get rid of stress and the symptom which are stored. Clearing the blockages and allowing your energy to flow will give you more energy, make you feel lighter and more in tune.

Anyone can have access to Reiki, the positive energies are inside each of us, Reiki shows us how to connect our mind, body and spirit. It creates the possibilities for us to be aware of the Ultimate Reality.

No matter how sophisticated and advanced we become as a society, there will always be a mystery, we do not fully understand everything. Reiki is the key to unconditional love, understanding, peace and trust.

If we believe we are the masters of our destiny and we create the situations we find our selves in, then we are in a very powerful place, we can dertimine the direction our future takes.

Stress In The Megacity – Dhaka And Tokyo

Imagine the usual environment and stresses of a standard city with say 2-3 million people in – very sizeable by any stretch of the imagination! Now picture the same environment and stresses in a city of 12-13 million people and this is very large. Actually, for many of us who don’t live in these colossal giants, quite impossible to imagine.

Any city that has over 10 million people living within its metropolitan area is said to be a ‘megacity’. These include Shanghai (China), Mexico City (Mexico), Johannesburg-Pretoria (South Africa), Dhaka (Bangladesh), New York (USA) and London (UK). While these megacities have had much attention focused upon them by people and publications interested in cities, a recent television programme by broadcaster Andrew Marr titled ‘Megacities’ has covered these and bought them to a prime-time audience.

While all megacities, all five featured in the programme -London, Shanghai, Dhaka, Mexico City and Tokyo- all had different characteristics, benefits and drawbacks. However, for me, the most interesting comparison was between Dhaka, the capital city of Bangladesh, and Tokyo, capital of Japan. Both cities are megacities and suffer from overcrowding and other pressures. Dhaka is a very fast growing city -with an extra 500,000 people moving into the city from the surrounding countryside every year, being a city with economically poor people in a poor country that is also at risk of flooding. Tokyo, on the other hand tends to have by-and-large a far more affluent population which until recently lay within the world’s second richest economy behind the USA – though Japan has now been relegated to third place behind both the USA and China.

Before too much thought, and certainly my personal thought, was that the city with the most stressed inhabitants would surely be Dhaka, due to the risk of flooding, trying to scrape enough money to live and indeed, living in self built house closely compact and nearly on-top of ones neighbours – even quite literally the case. On the other hand Tokyo would be stressful, of course as it is a megacity, but not to the same degree as Dhaka and that people would have more opportunities to relax due to greater personal wealth and facilities on offer. It seemed however that actually the opposite is true.

While under no circumstances do I want to suggest a romantic view of being economically poor -because in the 21st century there should be no such thing as poverty- I actually got the impression that the poorer people with the slum in Dhaka were actually happier than the richer people in Tokyo. The reasons for this are as follows.

Firstly the people of Dhaka had a very strong sense of community. People live with immediate and extended family in very small and confided spaces, in close proximity to neighbours and relatives. People seemed to talk and help each other out where possible.

Secondly, in Dhaka, while people seemed to work very hand – and indeed many do work exceptionally hard to simply keep a roof over their heads and put food on the table; much of the work seemed to be of the hard physical labour variety that while very hard on the body, does not place mental stress on the mind that lead to psychological burnout.

People in Tokyo on the other hand, while more affluent, actually seemed far more stressed. While people live in very close proximity to one-another as in Dhaka -with people crammed into small apartment placed high above each other into the sky; unlike Dhaka, there did not seem to be the same neighbourliness and personal interaction between people – especially between neighbours and strangers. People were living very mono-centric lives, living close to one-another but having little interaction.

With the nature of much employment in Tokyo – finance and other office work – stress tends to be psychological rather than physical stress on the body as with Dhaka. Alongside this, and something that was pointed out to Andrew Marr, was the impersonal nature of the city, an almost clinicalness – something that appeared to annoy Marr after only two days in Tokyo. Very small clinical apartments are one thing, but the ‘rent a friend’ scheme for people who have no friends just shows the loneliness that can exist in such a big city. It is ironic that a city of over 12 million inhabitants can have people who are so lonely!

Finally the most striking thing about Tokyo is its clockwork organisation. On the surface this would surely lead to less stress – with very rarely a late train and infrequent technological failures. We humans though, as a species crave different environments and experiences that change from day-to-day. And while delays and route-changes making us late every day would be unwelcome, slight daily change and the unexpected are essential for us. This is why I feel that despite all the cultural advances, Andrew Marr found Dhaka -along with Mexico City which was also focused upon in the programme- to be strangely less stressful. As I have already touched upon, Marr admitted himself that two days spent in Tokyo was enough and that he actually felt unnerved by the city impersonal nature of the city.

To conclude then, with anything in life including stress, the unexpected can actually happen. At first thought, I would have said that Tokyo would have been the least stressful city, with its clockwork transport system and modern hi-tech gadgets to help us in life. But actually, surprisingly, Dhaka seemed to be the less stressful of the two for Andrew Marr, largely as a result of the social interaction and close bonds that existed in the city, more-so than in Tokyo – though it has to be said that life on the breadline in Dhaka is only slightly less stressful!

Both cities then are extremely stressful places to live and work by no-means should we romanticise poverty and deprivation. But it does go to show that sometimes we can have these hi-tech innovations designed to free us that actually cause us less free time and greater stress. This stress is of course multiplied in a megacity: mega-cities mega-stress!

What Are the Natural Solutions to Treat Anxiety and Stress?

Anxiety and stress is a problem for millions of people around the world. In worse cases, they can lead to panic attacks, phobias, obsessive compulsive disorders and depression. Anxiety poses a real threat to people because it could ultimately destroy their lives. When your fear becomes uncontrollable, the fear will begin to take over your decisions, your emotion, your actions and your entire life.

Stress and anxiety is not only a psychological problem, but a physical one as well. When one’s worries and anxieties become too overbearing, they could manifest as physical symptoms, such as different aches, for example muscle aches, stomachaches, head aches and others. They can also either lead you to eat more or eat less that what your body needs. And either or both can push you to seek unhealthy vices such as smoking and drinking.

Aside from affecting your life, anxiety and stress will also affect your relationships with people around you like your loved ones, your work mates, your friends and neighbors. Anxious people have varying moods, and they are very irritable, suspicious and difficult to be around.

Going to a doctor to seek help is definitely the most obvious thing to do. This is of course necessary in order to get a proper diagnosis of your condition. The downside is, a lot of doctors would probably prescribe drugs to control your problems. But these drugs have a lot of side effects that could harm your body. So before resorting to taking these chemicals inside your body, perhaps you could consider alternative methods first.

Fortunately, there is a variety of natural solution for anxiety, and self help therapy for anxiety that could assist you in controlling and eliminating your anxiety problems. There are different books out there that can help you out but do try to choose those that are natural and really offer relief from anxiety and emotion-based tensions.

You need to find a reading material that teaches people about their condition, in this case, stress and anxiety. If you’re trying get rid of a problem understanding that problem would be a big deal. After all anxiety stems from strong unwanted emotion and fear of things that people don’t understand.

Also, you need a book that offers a holistic and multifaceted approach to managing stress and anxiety and the signs and symptoms that go with them. After all, stress is not only a sickness in the mind, but in the body and spirit as well.

Seek out a book that can offer you those things as well as a book that would address simple changes, from the way you sleep, to eating a balanced diet and even exercises to keep the body healthy. These are simple things that can be done daily and will only take a few minutes of your time. There are books out there that are simple, easy to understand, and very informative. Essentially when people will read and follow books like these, they see for themselves the proof that a natural solution to anxiety and stress is possible and effective. And it can help immensely improve and change one’s life entirely.

Why Should You Be Worried About Stress?

These days, stress attacks us from every angle. Traffic jams on the way to work, an argument with a friend, a co-worker who just doesn’t “get it”. Even a long line at the grocery store is enough to stimulate stress in most of us.

As a society we’re becoming more and more irritable. And the ways of the world are not making it easy for us to maintain unaffected!

Stress may seem an overwhelming annoyance. Nerves can inspire sudden headaches, tremors, and increased heart rates. One stressful situation can put you in a bad mood for the rest of the day.

Stress can definitely be debilitating in the moment. But it’s important to realize that stress is much more than an emotion of frustration. Stress can have long term effects on the body! Perhaps debunking the mystery of stress will give it some much needed perspective in our racing minds.

To you, stress might look like two dark bags under your eyes, a couple of very flushed cheeks, or an ever increasing bald spot.

What does stress look like INSIDE the body?

When initially introduced to any stressor, our brain reacts by increasing the production of adrenaline and cortisol. These two hormones cause an elevation in heart rate and blood sugar, forcing more blood to the brain. This explains the “buzz” you may feel in your head when you encounter a nerve-wracking situation.
The long term effect of one incident of stress is minimal. The real problem begins when stress beings to build on itself – occurring many times per day. One may eventually feel stressed out just thinking about stress!

As stress becomes more frequent, the body begins to treat the release of adrenaline and cortisol as if it is normal. As a result, our bodies adapt to the hormones, which increases the sensitivity of our nerves. We become increasingly anxious, and are irritated even MORE easily than before.

Stress becomes especially dangerous when it is so regular that the body is no longer able to produce the adrenaline it has come to rely on. This is why stress often results in extreme fatigue.

As if the outer effect of stress was not enough, it turns out that stress also takes a debilitating toll on the immune system. According to a study done at Harvard University, people who used poor coping strategies to combat stress got sick 4 times more often as those who used good coping strategies.

With stress comes an increased risk of: memory loss, colds, chronic depression, chest pain, obesity, diarrhea, nausea, loss of sex drive, migraines, damage to the immune system, and seemingly unexplainable aches and pains.

It is important to give your body what it needs to combat stress, and to stay one step ahead of the stress in your life.

Life is imperfect; the world is flawed. Your body doesn’t have to be. Start preparing for the effects of stress today.

Now you know a bit about the real dangers of stress. For more information, and to learn more about Dealing With Stress please visit our website. The time to take control of your anxiety is NOW.

You Need Stress Relief for Your Body and Mind!

Stress relief is available today!

When your muscles are tight as rocks, your heart is racing, you’re holding your breath, “ah”, you need to exhale. You need stress relief now! Most of the time, there is no monster chasing you. Take a breath, all the way down into your belly. Breathe a few times, in through your nose, out of your mouth. Make the sound “ah”, on the exhale. As you do, your body and mind will relax. Look around and notice, in this moment you are safe. Then breathe again.

When a scary event happens, in traffic, in life, in relationships, several systems kick into a state of being on guard, alert, ready to run or fight. One is a part of your brain called the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) system, which releases a cascade of chemicals-such as adrenaline, steroid hormones, and cortisol-that speed up your heart rate, helps your brain make a quick decision to avoid pain, and increases glucose in the bloodstream to give you a burst of energy to react. You don’t even have to tell it what to do. This is your body’s natural reaction to stress.

That is great when danger is lurking. But what is not natural is continuously facing stressful situations and challenges day after day. This is known as chronic stress and can be detrimental to your health. Forty-three percent of adults say they suffer adverse health effects from stress, and three-quarters of all doctor’s visits are the result of stress-related ailments and complaints. Stress is also linked to several serious diseases and unhealthy situations, such as heart disease, cancer, lung disease, accidents, cirrhosis of the liver, and suicide.

It’s important to understand how stress can impact your day-to-day life, as well as your long-term health. Even more importantly, we need to learn how to relieve stress.

Ongoing mind stress can hamper your clear thinking. You may find making simple decisions like what to have for dinner or remembering directions to a restaurant are more difficult than in a non-stressed state. Getting your chores and responsibilities completed may turn into procrastination.

Chronic emotional stress causes people to be easily frustrated and quicker to lose their temper. They may cry more often and spend considerably more time worrying about things, and even feeling depressed.

Stress affects your teeth and gums too. Strange as it may seem, stress may cause you to clench or grind your teeth, often unconsciously or during sleep.

Your hair may fall victim to your stress. When a person is under a great deal of stress, his or her hair may enter the falling-out stage of the hair life cycle. It can occur up to three months after the stressful event, though hair frequently grows back within a year if the stressful situation is diminished.

Stress can increase pressure on your healthy heart function. Stress hormones speed up your heart rate, constrict blood vessels, and set up a pattern that makes the heart and blood vessels more likely to overreact when you encounter future stressful events. Stress is also linked to high blood pressure, blood clots, and in some cases, even stroke.

Your immune system, responsible for fighting disease, is diminished under stress. The thymus gland, one of the key players, gets small, restricted, and tight under stress, and so doesn’t function as well. If it seems you always get sick when you can least afford it, it may be because your stress is suppressing your immune system, making you more susceptible to infection.

Stress inhibits proper breathing, so people with asthma and chronic lung problems often have worsening symptoms during times of chronic stress.

In your stomach, stress takes its toll on digestion, so you may have increased incidence of nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea, acid reflux, colitis, or ulcer flare ups when you are under chronic stress.

Stress can make skin problems, rashes, eczema, rosacea and acne worse. It is also known to bring on cold sores and fever blisters.

Stress-related tension in your back, neck, and shoulder muscles can lead to pain and inflammation throughout your body.

So what can you do about stress relief?

First, identify the source. Sometimes finding your stressors is easier said than done. In most cases, it will be fairly obvious: a difficult relationship, tight money, needing friends, body pain, a poor work environment, or health concerns, for example.

In other cases, finding the root causes of your anxiety and stress may be more challenging. When you are tired, it’s slowing you down and making you feel down in the dumps, and you need more rest. When there is a lack of positive, healthy communication between you and a friend or you are experiencing conflict in a relationship, it is being able to talk through what each person is needing that will dissolve the stress. When we have financial burdens that are haunting our spending habits now, and when you are stressed over every bill and purchase, that worry, that conflict, that down feeling is stress in action. In that case, seeking acceptance of what is, and finding a balance between being frugal and enjoying small things in life, while your finances recover from previous errors will eventually reduce the sense of stress around your situation.

One thing to keep in mind is: often underneath not feeling well physically, there is unresolved anxiety, anger, tension or frustration that we have not been addressing in a healthy way.

It is useful to gently ask ourselves, is there something I am anxious about? What healthy action can I take to create some amount of resolution?

Is there something I am afraid of in my life right now? What action can I take to feel safer?

Is there something I am angry about in my life? What action can I take on my own behalf today, or this week?

Is there something I am frustrated about in my life? What action steps can I begin today to change that frustrating situation now, or over time?

What can I do to relieve stress in my life?

The answer is, each day focus a bit of time and attention on de-stressing your life. Taking small steps that make you smile, or make you feel a bit more relaxed, or help you get rid of burdens and clutter, all these contribute to your health and well-being.
Choosing what you take into your body, mind and life makes a difference: picking healthy food, water, people, commitments, activities all help support your health, calmness and happiness.
Set priorities each day and each week for your tasks. Delegate what you can. Many of us feel always behind, but we can be realistic about how quickly time flies in a day. We can just be glad we got a few tasks accomplished. Feeling glad for what we did do instead of critical for what we did not do, that is enough.
Enjoying and focusing your attention on small moments of loving our children, listening to birds, seeing flowers in bloom, feeling the shade of a tree, and thinking I am grateful for this moment, will bring more and more of those pleasing, relaxing experiences for you to enjoy.
Take a minute in your day to close your eyes, breathe deep into your belly, and think I am enough. Notice how you feel when you do that.
Ask for help. Talk to your spouse, children, parents, friends, and coworkers. Let them know you’re working to reduce the amount of stress you deal with. Be willing to ask for help when you need it. Be open to receiving help. It’s possible those around you have faced similar situations and have information than can be of benefit to you. Don’t be afraid to share your feelings. Sometimes talking through a problem or a conflict helps you better understand how you can avoid it in the future.
Set limits on your commitments. Even though being involved in activities such as volunteering and socializing can be rewarding and fulfilling, these constant demands in addition to your other responsibilities of family may be more than you can handle without feeling stressed.
Take a break. Mounting stress and pressure may begin to weigh down on your shoulders like a load of bricks. Before you let it get the best of you, take a break. Bend your knees just a little, curl forward toward your toes, letting your arms and head hang. Exhale with the sound, “ah”.
Feeling drained? Instead of reaching for caffeine for low energy, try taking a walk, going outside, and getting some fresh air. Take a few deep breaths, focusing your attention into your back, and exhale with the sound “ah”.
Create your support system among friends, family, and co-workers. This may be your best asset in the fight against overwhelming stress. They can help you identify stressful situations before they’ve become more than you can handle. They can also help you organize your schedule or let you vent frustrations about stressful situations.
Make a List. Think you can multi-task? Think again. When the ideas in our head are overflowing, research suggests we’re not as capable of doing so many things at once as we wish. But where do you start? First, make a list. This helps you see what’s on your plate so you can better recognize what can wait and what needs your attention now. Then prioritize the items and complete them one at a time. That is really enough. You don’t have to be super-mom all the time!
Don’t neglect your health. When pressures are looming, and you’re struggling to stay above water, it’s too easy to let your health fall by the wayside. Get regular sleep, and eat plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables. Drink plenty of pure water. Choose more often to skip caffeine, alcohol, drugs and tobacco in favor of outdoor stress relievers, like a visit to a mountain, park, pond, garden, creek, or right in your backyard.
Moving your body is great for stress relief. Physical activity of every kind boosts your feel-good endorphins. Moving counteracts the damage stress is doing to your body, and gets your mind off what is stressing you. If you can’t squeeze in 30 minutes each day, Three short ten-minute sessions are great too. Go for a walk, ride your bike, jog, jump rope, bounce on the kids’ trampoline, play tag with your children, put on music and dance, let’s hear your ideas!
Have a flexible plan for the future. It’s easy to get lost in the “what if’s” of the future, but if you have a back up plan for upcoming stressful events, you will be faced with fewer surprises. Thinking through these scenarios allows you to return to the present moment. Ancient words of wisdom suggest: avert the danger that has not yet come, that is think ahead a bit, but most of all live in the present moment.
Practicing Relaxation techniques such as deep breathing, meditation, yoga, stretching, visualization, and massage. These are all great ways to work out the physical and mental effects of chronic stress.
Allow a little time to Focus on what you do like and do want in your life. When you are worried about what you don’t like, your stress level increases, and more of that seems to appear in your life. Whenever you can, inundate yourself with positive thoughts and experiences. Listen to music, watch a funny video online, or call a friend who makes you laugh. Over time you’ll learn to meet negativity with a positive reaction. A positive attitude will keep you from slipping back so easily into feeling overwhelmed. Over time this is one of the best stress relief techniques for your mind and body.

10 Ways to Eliminate Stress

Sometimes it can seem as if there’s nothing you can do about your stress level. When you are operating from your logical brain, the brain says things like… “The bills aren’t going to stop coming, there will never be more hours in the day for all of the errands I need to run, and my career and family responsibilities must be done or calamity will strike”.

Most of us become so acclimated to stress in our daily lives, that it becomes our second nature and we do not know what it is that causes stress. The answer is, what causes stress are the thoughts that we are thinking. When we experience stress it is because our thoughts are aligned with a potential consequence (in other words the absence of what we want to have happen) instead of the outcome which we desire. We are operating out of fear. It is easier to understand this difference when thinking about the example of two athletes. One athlete enjoys their sport and is confident in their own self worth. Therefore when this athlete steps up to the starting line, their thoughts are aligned with winning and the fun of the race. The emotions flooding this athlete’s system are ones of anticipation and excitement and enjoyment of their sport. The other athlete may be struggling with self worth and lacking confidence and so when they step up to the starting line, their thoughts are not aligned with “winning”, instead their thoughts are aligned with “not losing”. The possibility of loosing and the consequences of such an outcome cause the emotions flooding this athlete’s system to be those of stress and anxiety and because of this they do not enjoy their sport like they normally would without the presence of stress.

The stress response floods your body with chemicals that prepare you for “fight or flight.” In other words, it prepares you for consequences. The problem is we live in a physical reality where we all create our own reality based on the thoughts that we are chronically thinking. And the emotions we feel (such as stress) are the indication of what types of experiences we are creating for ourselves in our lives. If you are mentally aligned with undesired results (trying to avoid them through effort and action) you will feel stress and if the stress becomes chronic, you will inevitably end up creating the very undesired results you are aligned with (pushing against). This is an attraction based universe. Meaning whatever you say “no” to, you are attracting into your experience and whatever you say “yes” to, you are attracting into your experience. You can not say “no” to a thing and not be holding that very thing you are saying “no” to as your primary focus. And whatever you focus on will come to be in the physical dimension.

But the truth of the matter is that you have a lot more control than you might think. In fact, the simple realization that you’re in control of your life and that you control your life with your thoughts is the foundation of stress management.

Managing stress is all about taking charge. And making the way you feel the priority of your life. Reducing stress is about taking charge of your thoughts (and subsequently your emotions), your schedule, your environment, and the way you deal with problems. You don’t need to fear stress. You can instead learn how to recognize it within yourself, label it for what it is and see it as a beneficial red flag which has been raised in order to tell you that you are not living your life the way you want to live your life or deserve to live your life. Here are 10 ways to help you eliminate stress in your life.

1. Identify your true sources of stress as well as the unhealthy coping strategies you may be using to avoid stress. Look closely at your habits, attitude, and excuses.

Do you define stress as an integral part of your work or home life by identifying with beliefs like “Things are always crazy around here” or as a part of your personality by aligning with beliefs like “I am just a naturally anxious person”, or “I am just a worrier… that’s all”. Do you have the habit of explaining away stress as temporary when it is not? Do you say things like “I just have a million things going on right now” despite the fact that you can’t remember the last time you took a breather? Do you blame your stress on other people or outside events instead of recognizing the damaging beliefs or thought patterns which attract people and events which increase your stress levels into your life? Do you view your stress as entirely normal and therefore unexceptional? Until you accept responsibility for the role you play in creating or maintaining stress, your stress level will remain outside your control. Do you practice coping strategies which temporarily reduce stress but cause more damage in the long run such as:

• Smoking
• Drinking
• Overeating or under eating
• Trying to avoid stressors by spending hours in front of the TV or computer
• Withdrawing from friends, family, and activities
• Using pills or drugs to relax
• Escaping by sleeping too much
• Procrastinating
• Filling up every minute of the day with things to do so as to avoid facing problems

Or

• Taking out your stress on others (lashing out, angry outbursts, physical violence)

It is very important when you are plotting your course to where you want to be in life, to first be honest with yourself about where you are currently. Realize that where you are is just where you are. There is nothing keeping you there but you. And recognize that you not only want your life to feel better but you also are committed to finding a way to feel better.

2. Change the way you are thinking.

How you think has a profound effect on your emotional and physical well-being. Each time you think a negative thought about yourself or your life, your body reacts as if it were in the throes of a tension-filled situation. If you think positive thoughts about yourself and your life, your body will react by releasing chemicals which make you feel good. Work to eliminate words such as “always,” “never,” “should,” and “must.” from your vocabulary. These definitive statements are very conducive to thoughts which are self-defeating and create stress.

Don’t try to control the uncontrollable. Many things in life are beyond our control (things like the behavior of other people for example). Rather than stressing out about the things you can’t control, focus on the things that you can control. The only things we have real control over in our lives are our own thoughts. The more control we learn to have over our own thoughts, the more power we will have in our lives. Our thoughts are the one thing no one else can choose for us. The more power we feel that we have in life, the less stress we will feel. You can not feel free and relaxed when you continue to focus on things which make you feel powerless and which you can not control. So, learn to let go of them.

Reframe problems. Learn to think positively by practicing thinking thoughts about yourself and your life that feel better to you when you think them. Try to view stressful situations from a more positive perspective. For example, rather than panicking about a traffic jam, look at it as an opportunity to pause and regroup, listen to your favorite radio station, or enjoy some alone time. When stress is getting you down, take a moment to reflect on all the things you appreciate in your life, including your own positive qualities and gifts. This simple strategy can help you keep things in perspective.

Look at the big picture. Learn to view your stressful situation from a different perspective. Ask yourself how important it will be in the long run. Will it matter in a month? Will it matter in a year? Is it really worth getting upset over? If the answer is no, focus your time and energy elsewhere. Perfectionism is a major source of avoidable stress. Stop setting yourself up for failure by demanding perfection. Perfection is a completely subjective concept. Perfection is in the eye of the beholder. Set reasonable standards for yourself and others. And learn to love yourself the way you are instead of basing your worthiness on what you present or produce in life. Many of us are goal oriented. We see happiness as an end result. A destination we get to and then the journey stops. The truth is it never stops. You will never “get it all done”. The process of living is one of continual evolution, when we achieve something we desire, we do not stop desiring. Instead, we desire something else. This is the way life was intended to be. So, the point of life is enjoying the process (every aspect of the process). Sometimes if you just accept that you will never get it all done and there will always be more you are reaching for, you can let yourself off the hook of trying to get everything finished right here and now as soon as you possibly can.

3. Figure out what makes you happy.

By the time many of us are dealing with stress, we are standing in adulthood surrounded by a life which has not been deliberately created. Instead, it has been created by default. This means that we have based our goals and desires not off of what makes us happy. But instead off of what satisfies the priorities of others (especially authority figures in our early life and society as a whole). Many of us have lost touch with what makes us happy. The risk of placing value on what makes you happy and who you really are often feels like the risk of not being loved for what is real about yourself. It can also feel like the risk of being seen as a failure by others (which is a threat to most people’s sense of self worth) so it is easy to see how placing value on what makes you truly happy can be a very frightening proposition. But until you reveal your true desires and what truly makes you happy, it is not possible to be truly happy. If you have lost touch with what makes you happy, one of the best ways to get back in touch with it, is to think back to your natural inclinations as a child. Make a long list of things you knew you loved when you were a child. Make a list of your natural talents as a child and try to remember what you wanted to be when you grew up. Now, after you make that list, make sure to ask yourself why. Why did you love those things? Why did you possess those natural talents? Why did you want to grow up to be those things? Then ask yourself “do I still enjoy and practice these things?” If not…why? Can I remember what caused me to stop? Was it because of someone else? Do I remember how it felt to stop doing those things? And then, take step forward by trying some of these things you once loved to do… again.

From here, fast forward. Ask yourself what your favorite part of your entire life was so far and why that particular point was your favorite part of your life. Get as detailed as you can in order to discover the true reason you enjoyed it so much. And after that, ask yourself what you enjoy about the life you are living in now? What am I passionate about in my life currently? Have I devoted those things to the back burner, or are they the primary focus of my life? This process will help you to understand what it is that you truly enjoy separate of your conditioned and logical brain which (being mechanical in nature) has often been taught to minimize feeling states such as joy and passion.

Finding your own personal idea of happiness (which is very individual) is an incredibly important component to stress reduction, because vibrationally speaking, happiness is a state which is totally absent of stress.

4. Seek to gain tools which work for YOU to reduce stress.

There are many sources and products which exist worldwide whose sole purpose is to help you to reduce stress. So, seek them out! Begin by making a list of things which you can already identify that help you to reduce stress. When stress comes up, get in the habit of going to the list and picking something off of the list to do. Set out to learn and practice relaxation techniques. The relaxation response brings your system back into balance. It deepens your breathing, reducing stress hormones, slows down your heart rate and blood pressure, and relaxes your muscles. In addition to its calming physical effects, research shows that the relaxation response also increases energy and focus, combats illness, relieves aches and pains, heightens problem-solving abilities, and boosts motivation and productivity. Relaxation techniques may include things such as Emotional Freedom Technique, deep breathing, visualization, progressive muscle relaxation, meditation, yoga, tai chi, massage, stretching or aromatherapy.

5. Make your physical health a priority.

The body is an incredibly reflective instrument. When the mind is thinking negative, stressful thoughts, those thoughts are reflected in the body. But it is also true that when the body is kept in a state of negativity and stress, that stress and negativity is reflected in the mind. So, it is very helpful to take control of your physical health.

Exercise Regularly. Exercise does not have to be a source of more stress. In fact it can be a great stress reducer if you can find an exercise that you enjoy doing instead of simply exercising for the sake of exercise. Physical activity helps to increase the production of your brain’s feel-good neurotransmitters, called endorphins. Endorphins are natural pain killers and they make you feel “happy”. They are responsible for the well known “runner’s high”. Exercise forces tense muscles (through use), to release their state of tension. Exercise can also be like a meditation in motion. You’ll often find that you’ve forgotten the day’s irritations and concentrated purely on your body’s movements when you are exercising. And it helps you release pent up stressful energy. As you begin to regularly shed your daily tensions through movement and physical activity, you may find that this focus on a single task, and the resulting energy and optimism, can help you remain calm and clear in everything that you do. Exercise also can improve your quality of sleep.

Eat healthy, well-balanced meals. You are what you eat. A nutritious diet can counteract the impact of stress, by reinforcing the immune system and lowering blood pressure. Comfort foods (like mashed potatoes) have been shown to boost levels of serotonin, a calming brain chemical. Other foods can reduce levels of cortisol and adrenaline (stress hormones that take a toll on the body). Stressed people tend to gain weight, and make food choices which are not conducive to health. There is a lot of information available from experts on diets which specifically reduce stress as well as many herbal supplements that have been shown to diminish stress. Go looking for them and try to implement the suggestions. You will be surprised by the results! It is important that you don’t rely on sugar, caffeine, alcohol or other drugs to reduce stress. Relying on such things not only creates physical or mental dependency, it harms your body in the long run.

Get enough rest and sleep. Sleep deprivation is chronic in our culture. Sleep deprivation is one of the chief aggravators of stress. Lack of sleep increases levels of cortisol, a stress hormone. Sleep deprivation also affects the immune system (depleting certain cells needed to destroy viruses and cancerous cells), it promotes the growth of fat instead of muscle, and speeds up the aging process. Your body needs time to recover from stressful events. Adequate sleep fuels your mind, as well as your body. Feeling tired will increase your stress because it may cause you to think irrationally. When you are tired, you are less patient and easily agitated which can increase stress. And then, to make matters worse, you will not have the energy to deal with the stress. Most adults need 7-8 hours of sleep per night. Start to make sleep a priority. Start to see it as a necessity not a luxury.

6. Learn to manage your time more effectively.

In this physical dimension, we lead linear lives. No matter how skilled any of us may think we are at multi-tasking, when it comes to action, we can only be in one place at one time. What’s more, we can only really do one task well in each moment. For the average man or woman, day to day life is a whirlwind of frantic activity. Life is composed of rushing from one task to another while still not really accomplishing anything of value at the end of the day. It is therefore very useful to learn to manage our time more effectively. Using time more effectively helps to eliminate stress by making order of chaos. It is very helpful to reduce stress by getting organized. No one can think clearly when they are surrounded in a physical environment which is chaotic. So begin by cleaning and organizing your environment.

A mental environment which is cluttered is conducive to stress and ineffective time management as well. One way to combat this kind of chaos is to learn how to write lists and then prioritize. Set clear goals and break your goals down into discreet steps. To be effective, you need to decide what tasks are urgent and important and to focus on those. Devote the majority of your time to the most important tasks. Trying to remember everything in your head is a recipe for stress. When you do not have to worry about remembering everything (because it is written down) you will be more able to accomplish the things and also your stress levels will diminish. Writing lists helps you identify important objectives, helps you order your thoughts, helps you prioritize, helps you see the big picture, saves time, helps you feel in control, helps you track your progression, and makes you much less likely to forget to do things.

Identify areas of your life where you are wasting time and come up with a plan to reduce them. It may help to even enlist the help of others to help you stick to it. It may help some people to also develop a routine so they can know what to focus on when. One useful way to develop a routine and thereby eliminate wasted time is to use a time log. To do this, make up a chart for the next seven days divided into half hour intervals starting the log at the time you get up and finish it at the time you go to bed. Write down what you do during each half hour of the day for the next seven days. Choose a typical week. At the end of the week examine your time log and ask yourself the following questions: Are there any periods that I could use more productively? At what time of day do I do my most effective work? (Some people are most alert in the morning, whilst others concentrate best during the afternoon or evening). Schedule your most important tasks for these times of day. Eliminate wasted time by replacing it with activities that are conducive to a more fulfilling, enjoyable and productive lifestyle.

7. Express your emotions.

We currently live in a society that does not understand the value and role of emotions. We live in a society which also tends to promote repression instead of expression. But unexpressed emotions affect your life. Start to label your emotions. This will help you to identify them when they come up. Emotions are transient. They will dissipate as they are expressed. The only type of emotion that lingers is repressed emotion. If something or someone is bothering you, voice your concerns in an open and respectful way. If you don’t voice your feelings, not only will resentment will build but the situation will likely remain the same. You may want to use physical expression as a route to releasing emotions. Make sure you chose a physical activity that will not harm another person or yourself. Some good ways to express anger and stress include punching pillows, screaming into pillows, taking out a pen and paper and writing what you feel, painting or drawing what you feel, hitting the ground with a stick, popping balloons, taking a kickboxing class, going for a run or trying to get yourself to cry. It will feel good to get the tears flowing. It will surprise you how much better this will make you feel. The emotions will no longer be like a wall preventing you from moving forward if you express them in a healthy way.

8. Keep your life simple and learn how to say no.

Keeping life simple isn’t always easy. Simplicity is especially hard to attain in this fast paced century which we are currently living in. We often lose track of why we are doing what we are doing. We go so fast and create such busy, complicated lives that we forget that we have control of our lives. Instead it feels like our lives are running us.

The human ego loves complexity because it measures worth in quantity instead of quality. It also bases it’s self off of comparison with others. Our ego relies on fear to protect itself and complexity is a great place to hide. Simplicity therefore, requires dedication. Begin the quest towards simplicity by asking yourself honestly what areas of your life you feel need to be simplified. Identify what is holding you back from simplifying them. Eliminate the clutter and unnecessary aspects of your life. Get rid of stuff you don’t use. Stop trying to please everyone. Instead, simply do what you intuitively feel that you know is right. Finish one project before you start another. Dedicate more time with what is really important in your life. Don’t buy stuff you don’t need. While it is perfectly fine to desire a life of wealth, as well as work on creating it in your life, there is almost nothing worse for adding to stress levels than living beyond your means. This will set up a dynamic of focusing on the amount of money you don’t have. Aim at living below your means. This does not mean you should live in an attitude of denying yourself what you desire. It simply means making decisions that ensure that you will end up with excess and therefore be focusing on the feeling of abundance instead of lack. Consolidate everything you can find to consolidate. Permit yourself to enjoy the present moments of your life (the now). It is important also to know your limits and to stick to them. In both your personal or professional life, refuse to accept added responsibilities, especially when you’re close to reaching goals. Taking on more than you can handle instantly gives rise to stress.

Many of us fear saying no. We think that to say no is selfish. And we often feel as if saying yes is the only way to earn the love of others. But, love which must be earned is not real love. And it is not selfish to ensure our own happiness because when we are happy and feeling stress free, we have the energy and resources to devote to others. When we are unhappy and feeling stressed, we often become ill and have no energy to devote to others anyway. When you say no to a new commitment which would add stress to your life, you’re honoring your existing obligations and ensuring that you’ll be able to devote quality time to them. Burying yourself in commitments ensures that you will begin to feel just that…buried. Saying no may not be the easiest thing to do. But sometimes it is the necessary ingredient for practicing self care as well as eliminating stress from your life.

9. Make time for fun and relaxation by finding healthy ways to relax and recharge and giving yourself permission to do so.

The sad fact about stress is that most people who experience stress have their priorities backwards. For example, they may think that perfection is the most important thing in life or that responsibility is the most important thing in life. What they fail to recognize is the very reason for which they seek out perfection or responsibility. And the reason is this… they think they will feel better when they produce something which is perfect or when they are responsible than they would in the absence of perfection or responsibility. It is therefore important for those suffering from stress to realize that the sole reason for doing those things they “have to do” comes from the motivation of feeling better… in other words… happiness. This means that all people most especially those who suffer from stress would do very well to cut to the chase and make the priority of their lives (their true motivation) how they feel. It is important for the highest priority in a person’s life to be none other than… happiness. The things which each specific person finds enjoyable and relaxing varies but some ideas for healthy ways to relax and recharge include:

• Call a good friend
• Spend time outside
• Take a bath
• Sweat out tension with a good workout
• Write in a journal
• Savor a warm cup of tea
• Make yourself one of your comfort foods
• Spend time with a pet (pets have been shown to dramatically reduce stress)
• Get a massage.
• Play a game
• Read a book
• Drive to a place with an amazing view
• Listen to music
• Watch a comedy movie
• Connect with others. Spending time with positive people who enhance your life. A strong support system will buffer you from the negative effects of stress

One of the greatest ways to reduce stress in your life is to make sure that you do something you enjoy and which recharges your engine every day. It does not have to be done alone. In fact, these kinds of activities can be used to re charge the entire family.

10. Never underestimate the power of laughing. Seek out and create opportunities which will make you laugh.

It turns out that laughter may just be the best medicine of all. You have probably noticed that laughter is infectious. Laughter binds people together and increases happiness and intimacy. Humor lightens your burdens and inspires your hopes. Humor helps you to shift perspective and paints things in a less threatening light. It enhances resiliency and it also triggers healthy physical responses in the body. Laughter has been shown to strengthen the immune system. Laughter decreases stress hormones and increases immune cells and infection-fighting antibodies, thereby improving your resistance to disease. Like exercise, laughter triggers the release of endorphins, the body’s natural feel-good chemicals. Endorphins promote an overall sense of well-being and can even relieve pain. Laughter has been shown to improve the function of blood vessels and increase blood flow which leads to improved heart health.

In studies, it has also been shown that a good, hearty laugh leaves your muscles relaxed for up to 45 minutes. Laughter protects you from the plethora of damaging effects which stress can cause to the body and the mind. It is fun and it also does not cost anything. So, when you are trying to eliminate stress from your life, try to indulge your laughter as much as you possibly can. Allow and seek out avenues for it to surface. You can even begin with a smile. Smiling is the beginning of laughter. It too is contagious. It too released endorphins. Seek out ways to develop your own sense of humor. Seek out that which is funny to you, whether it is renting a funny movie, calling up the friend who always makes you laugh or developing an arsenal of jokes to tell. As laughter becomes an integrated part of your life you will be taken to a mental space where you can view the world from a more relaxed, positive, and balanced perspective.

Many of us have the self defeating belief that everything that is worth having is hard won. But this belief ensures that we are going about life in the wrong way. We should approach things with much more ease. Doing things the hard way causes stress, and stress in actuality, keeps the desired results from you. If you are brave enough to make feeling good the primary priority of your life and then take the steps necessary to enable your own joy as well as reduce stress levels, you can find yourselves living the life that you want to live. A Life that feels good to be living. A life full of health and freedom and joy.