How Does Stress Affect Health

Stress seems to have become such a common phenomena in the West that most people take stress for granted.

Stress Affects Health by Compromising the Normal Healthy Functioning of the Body

Stress triggers a certain bodily response which is linked to perceived threat or danger, also known as the the fight-or-flight response.

When this happens, hormones such adrenalin and cortisol are released into the bloodstream, causing a speeding up of the heart rate.

At the same time the digestive function is slowed down to make way for an increased pumping of blood to the muscles and a diverting of the energies of the body to certain autonomic nervous functions in preparation for the survival response to fight or run away in the face of danger.

The trouble is, that these responses are triggered by other things than survival these days but the body still has the same response, such as being under pressure at work, or rushing to get to an appointment on time. Our mind knows the difference but it seems our body does not.

The Body Needs Some Relaxation Time to Recover From Stress

It needs time to recuperate and return to normal functioning, but this often doesn’t happen enough in today’s society because of the fast pace of life and the constant demands and pressures of daily living.

This is what can lead to damage to the body along with various negative health effects such as heart disease, ulcers, diabetes and more.

We almost expect stress to be part of our everyday lives. We are living at a faster pace than we have ever lived before and we work longer hours than we’ve ever worked.

We are so used to being stressed that we don’t often take the time to stop to think how it might be damaging our health. It can  creep up on you, starting with tension headaches and indigestion, to back aches and going o to more serious health issues.

Stress is Bad for Health…   Relaxation is Good!

This is one of the main keys to living a long, happy and healthy life, so the best approach for good health would be to find some relaxation techniques to reverse the effects of stress …

• Transform stress into joy with a simple and easy eight step recipe

• Learn to meditate. for deep and instantly healing and uplifting relaxation
  

• Control stress-related eating with this natural aid and support your body from the inside out
  

• Energy therapy EFT gives you an easy technique you can apply any time you feel stressed to instantly dissolve tension and pain
  

• Laugh your way to health with laughter yoga. Get a FREE list of 47 Laughter Yoga exercises! Just click the link.
  

• Secrets of the Law of attraction : Master your responses to whatever life throws at you and attract abundance instead of stress

Many women have joined the workforce and the ‘stay-at-home’ mom has become a rare phenomenon. Not only that but in a recent survey just under half of the working population describe their work situation as stressful.

The most common response to this stress is to ignore it and carry on regardless.

But this can have serious consquences for health

Build relaxing moments into your day. Try watching this short video whilst breathing deeply and see what a difference it can make!

When you consider that heart disease is a number one killer in the West and that its cause is most often down to stress along with a large number of other preventable illnesses, maybe we need to wake up to the fact that stress is definitely a condition we should be doing something about.

And now sooner than later …

The first step would be to start by making a list of the most common stressors in your life and researching what options you have for coping with stress and anxiety and how you can come to lead a life of happiness, peace and vibrant well being.

Here are some natural ways of dealing with stress that you can use and start to implement now before it begins to affect your health in more serious ways

More Natural Self Help Stress Relief Techniques

Make a stressor list

• Do you have children or have you or someone in your family recently suffered from an illness.
• Have you moved home, taken an exam or are you in debt?
• Do you live in a noisy environment, near to heavy traffic or a construction site?
• How often do you watch the news on TV or stay up late at night?
• Do you smoke or drink? Are you having trouble sleeping?
• Does your partner snore?

All of these things add to our stress levels. Even diet can contribute to stress in your body if it is trying to cope with too much sugar, salt, caffeine or alcohol for example. Once you have drawn up a list it is time to find out a way to strike these stessors off one by one by either changing your habits, your attitude, your diet and exercise regime or changing the environment in some way.

Work through the list

• Reduce sugar intake

When it comes to diet you can choose to reduce your sugar, chocolate or coffee intake.

It may be that you have become addicted to sugar (it truly is an addictive poison in the body) and so may need to support your decision with some kind of remedial action.

• Use the eft tapping process

For example using an energy therapy called EFT can rid you of your addictions and cravings almost immediately. This technique has a good track record for chocolate, sugar and smoking addictions amongst other things like physical and emotional pain.

Click here for FREE Video which shows you how to do the EFT process

It is a technique that is easy to learn and apply and has the added benefit of relaxing the body and thus reducing stress.

• Drink Calming tea

You could also try drinking teas that have a relaxing effect on the body, such as camomile tea or allow yourself to have a nice long hot soak in the bath or a massage using aromatherapy oils now and again, or even just a walk in the park.

• Control your attitude

Other stress inducing factors may be unavoidable and cannot be changed, such as living on a busy road. But your attitude towards it can change. It may simply be a change from regular complaining about the noise and pollution to an attitude of gratitude that you live so near to regular transport into town or that you live in an area that isn’t disturbed by war.

It is nothing short of amazing what a change of attitude can do for your health. You can even change your attitude by changing the way you move your body. It has been discovered that the simple act of a smile or laugh, whether genuine or fake, sends a signal to the body that triggers a release of the ‘good feeling’ hormone, endorphin, which makes you feel better almost immediately.

Go on, why don’t you give it a try… Try smiling and see if you can continue feeling miserable at the same time! It is almost impossible to do. So next time you see those bills being posted through the letterbox just point at them and laugh … you’ll be amazed at what a difference it can make. The bills don’t go away but your bad attitude about them does as your body relaxes in response to the laughter.

The added bonus is that when you are in this higher state your thinking becomes clearer and you are more likely to come up with a solution for your current challenges.

Meditation

Meditation is now recognised to be a good antidote to stress.

If practised regularly it can help to reduce the risk of an early death from stress related illnesses such as strokes, diabetes and cancer.

It also has the opposite effect to stress on your memory function and concentration levels, giving them a boost instead of impairing them.

Meditation can bring immediate stress relief literally within minutes,. Just half an hour of deep meditation is equivalent to about 2 hours sleep.

There are various techniques available to choose from to suit your own particular style and taste, some based on breathing and others on mindful focusing of an image or part of the body or using a mantra.

A simple description of meditation would be to say it’s a technique we can use to focus our attention away from the random thoughts that fill our daily lives and onto the truly meaningful parts of our lives.

Technorati Tags: affect, causes, deal with, disease, does, health, heart, how, laughter, management, meditation, overall, relief, relieve, stress, techniques, therapy, your