6 Quick Ways to Relieve Stress

The holiday season is officially ON!

The stores are decorated and playing holiday music. The malls have already had their tree lighting ceremonies and Santa is set up for his yearly visits.

Just the thought of this makes many people's shoulders raise, upper lips stiffen, and defensive driving techniques are cast to the wind. Many people reach for another latte, another cigarette, another cocktail, or another bag of cookies --- only to feel worse on the flip side.

When we fail to properly deal with our stress, we can become irritable, we can experience mood and appetite changes, fatigue, sleeping issues, skin disruptions and depletion of the immune function. The longer we ignore stress, the more our chances increase to create more serious health issues.

It's important, easy and natural to learn to self-treat to prevent disease.

These 6 methods of relieving stress will help you stay happy and healthy through the holidays and other challenging times:

1. Restorative Yoga - Taking time to experience the rest and calm that come from this healing practice including a series of simple stretches and proper cleansing breath is one way to reduce your stress levels, improving your overall health and well-being. Just about anyone can practice Restorative Yoga.

2. Focused/Connective Breath Technique - This can be used to assist with any anxiety-related issue. Designed to take you through the 'letting go' process, each time the steps are repeated with the right attitude, old perceptions, thought and feelings are released from the cells.

3. Soak in the Bath - Few things are more relaxing than soaking in a tub of warm water. Use dead sea salts and essential oils to turn your soak into a skin-softening, stress-relieving, home spa experience.

4. Use a Stillpoint - You can interrupt your body's stress cycle instantly with a stillpoint, which originates from osteopathy and craniosacral therapy. To find your stillpoint:

• Lay on a flat, comfortable surface on your back. Place both hands palms up under your head with your middle fingerstips touching each other. Your hands must be at the place where your head is most protruding (sticks out the furthest).

• Slowly slide your hands apart toward the outer edges of your head and stop where your head begins to 'turn the corner'.

• You will notice that the gentle pressure of your head resting on your middle fingertips at these specific points creates instant relaxation. The longer you remain here, the more your relaxation will deepen into absolute calm. You have found your stillpoint.

5. Step away from the computer - Job stress is almost inevitable, so it's more important than ever to learn to optimize your ability to think clearly and shift your panic to calm in an instant.

• Focus on an image of something that gives you the feeling of being in awe; a sunset, picture someone you love, recall a memory. Hold this image for as long as you wish.

• Close your eyes and gaze at your hands on your lap as you silently count to four. Take a little pause and then exhale, counting down from four. Repeat at least 10 times.

• Imagine the sun is shining golden light upon you, creating a golden shield that holds and comforts you. Imagine the faces of those who love you as your shield. Hold this image as long as you wish.

• Think of something funny or watch something funny on the internet. Allow yourself to laugh out loud for several minutes. It always helps to take life less seriously, even for a few minutes.

6. Enjoy a day at the Spa - Pamper yourself with some effective stress-relief by scheduling a day-- or a week --- at a spa.

Happy, stress-free Holidays!

OC

Think You Know Stress?

Everyone knows about stress, but do you know the real damage caused by stress?

According to the National Institute of Health, approximately 90% of all illness, mental and physical, is caused or aggravated by stress.

We've all heard the list of big stresses: death of a loved one, divorce, money problems, moving, etc. Yet just about anything can create stress in our bodies, such as:

- eating late at night

- staying up late

- watching too much TV

- a strained or no relationship

- eating the wrong food

- excessive exercise

- frustration

- pollution

- noise

- most diets

- even vacations!

Almost anything can induce the body's stress reaction if we don't receive that event in the right way at the right time and in the proper amount.

Dr Hans Selye won a Nobel Prize for his pioneering work on stress. He defines stress as "a psycho-physiological (mind-body) event that takes place when our system is overwhelmed by an experience: physical, mental or emotional."

Stress is our mind/body reaction to the event, not the event itself.

The diseases and health conditions most associated with chronic stress are:

- high blood pressure

- diabetes

- heart disease

- auto-immune diseases (colitis, IBS, etc.)

- ulcers

- cancer

- pain inflammation

- weight gain

- insomnia

- anxiety

- depression

- tension

- sexual dysfunction

Stress also accelerates the aging process and causes the skin to wrinkle.

Stress causes a cascade of neuro-chemical reactions known as the "fight or flight response".

First, the stress hormones Cortisol, Epinephrine and Norepinephrine are released by the adrenals. The pituitary gland releases more hormones, and the sympathetic branch of the autonomic nervous system (the part you have no direct control over) revs up.

Cortisol, when elevated, raises blood sugar for increased energy. If we don't use all this released energy "fighting or fleeing", the excess blood sugar stores as fat -- especially around the mid-section. Studies have found that women with high levels of body fat accumulating at their waist also have high levels of cortisol in their systems due to elevated stress levels. Up and down swings of blood sugar due to cortisol also promote food cravings and bad diet, which can turn simple weight problems into diabetes.

Elevated blood sugar can also cause and inflammatory repose, often without visible manifestation until later when arthritis, cancer, Alzheimer's or heart disease appear.

In short, the chemistry of stress needs some balance....naturally.

Tomorrow we'll discuss the benefits of Holy Basil, our favorite herbal stress reducer.

OC

Natural Stress Relief

The best way to reduce stress is to prevent stress.

• Get enough sleep at the proper times.

• Eat fresh, organic fruit, vegetables, antibiotic-free meats, wild caught fish, etc.

• Prayer or meditate every day.

• Drink pure water - 1/2 your body's weight in ounces per day (100 lbs = 50 oz water)

• Bodywork, massage.

• Exercise.

• Get 20 minutes of unblocked sun per day.

• Have fun.

• Listen to music that lifts your heart.

• Take herbal/food sourced antioxidant supplements.

• Rhythmic, deep breathing.

Oxygen free radicals are highly reactive, but are necessary to drive thousands of different chemical reactions in the body. In excess, they cause a lot of damage to our health and well being. Free radicals have been linked to most degenerative chronic diseases and disorders, including Alzheimer's, cancer and accelerated aging. Smoking, pollution, grilled meats and stress are of few of the things that can create excess oxygen free radicals.

Antioxidants neutralize oxygen free radicals. Our bodies naturally create some, but our world generate so many, we can't get rid of them all without a little help from antioxidant supplements.

Some good antioxidant food sources are turmeric, green tea and ginger, as well as Vitamins A, C, E and D.

LNH

The Most Powerful Step You Can Take to Improve Your Health

Crystal Cove

Learn how to effectively manage emotional stress.  

There is no other factor that has more influence over your health.  Your body cannot defend itself against the damage that emotional stress quietly creates over time.  Your body pays a heavy physiological price for every moment that you feel anxious, tense, frustrated and angry.

There's really no need to provide a list of health conditions that are partly caused by emotional stress, because every health condition is partly caused by emotional stress. Emotional stress always equals increased output by the sympathetic nervous system, which always equals accelerated aging and breakdown of your tissues.

So what can you do to effectively manage emotional stressors in your life and prevent them from creating health problems?

1. Breathe deeply and regularly

Doing so can actually decrease the tone of your sympathetic nervous system and increase the tone of your parasympathetic nervous system, which is the portion of your nervous system that promotes relaxation and good digestion.

2. Spend some quiet time every day in prayer, meditation, or a purposeful relaxation session

All three have been scientifically proven to facilitate a relaxation response in your body that can decrease blood pressure, decrease pulse rate, and improve blood circulation. Meditation and relaxation sessions can be greatly enhanced by listening to any number of audio CDs that are designed to facilitate optimal relaxation and mental clarity. 

3. Practice visualization

Almost all great athletes practice some form of visualization. As author Wayne Dyer says, "you'll see it when you believe it." Spend some time each day visualizing yourself going about your day in a balanced and emotionally poised manner. You can include visualization in your prayer/meditation/relaxation session.

4. Make sure that you are getting the nutrients that you need for a healthy nervous system

Your nutritional status can make all the difference between being able to handle a certain amount of stress without breaking down vs. quickly suffering health problems when faced with stress.

While it's important to your overall health that you eat a well balanced and nutrient-dense diet, for emotional health specifically, it is important to ensure adequate intake of B vitamins, Vitamin D, and two long chain Omega-3 fatty acids, DHA and EPA.

5. Be honest about your feelings

There's a reason why "know thyself" is a wise proverb/saying in virtually every culture of our world. Striving to know yourself and what you are truly feeling on a daily basis is absolutely essential to preventing unpleasant but genuine emotions from becoming chronic states. Anger, frustration and anxiousness can all help to fuel personal growth and character development if you are honest with yourself and seek to discover their root causes.

One of the best methods I can recommend to increase your awareness of what you are truly feeling is journal writing. The rules are simple: no censorship, no possibility of another set of eyes being able to read your thoughts, just pure flow of thoughts from your mind and heart onto a piece of paper or your computer screen. Regular journal writing in this manner can be extremely beneficial to your emotional health.

6. Move your body

It's a well established fact that regular exercise is one of the best habits you can adopt that will help you avoid depression and stay emotionally balanced. It doesn't matter what kind of exercise you do. What's important is to be active and use your joints and muscles on a regular basis.

Don't make the mistake that many health conscious people make and fret over the percentages of carbs, protein, fat, raw food, and cooked food in your diet while neglecting the emotional stressors in your life.

Yes, eating fresh, nutrient-dense foods is good for your health.  But eating fresh, nutrient-dense foods while feeling emotionally balanced and at peace is even better.

LNH