Stress affects people of all ages, all sizes and shapes, in all sorts of environments, and at all ages...even children. A study reprinted years ago showed that on average toddlers laugh 400 times a day, while adults only laugh 15 times a day. Other research at Loma Linda University shows that comedy, producing laughter, has the ability to lower your body's blood pressure and increase your immune system by lowering your body's level of stress. If we ever hope to deal more effectively with stress, all of us need to learn how to laugh more!
Ok so laughing is good, but what exactly is stress? One defines it as this, "Stress is the rate of wear and tear on the body as a result of anxiety, worry, or exhaustion from a difficult or challenging situation." You see stress can be mental or emotional. It can make you feel anxious, worried, fearful and even angry. Stress can also be chemical. In fact, many Americans try to counter the chemical effects of stress by taking more chemicals such as drugs or alcohol. According to the latest statistics, over 75 billion dollars are spent each year on LEGAL drugs. Of the 75 billion dollars, about half, or 40 billion dollars are spent each year trying to help reduce stress induced problems. Finally, stress can also be physical. Is there any doubt that stress can cause muscle tension, neck pain, back pain, low back pain, stomach ulcers, and even heart attacks? I think that we can agree that stress most definitely can be physical.
I can hear you thinking it! So what does this mean? A study was performed in Carnegie-Mellon University, in which the cold virus was sprayed into the noses of 400 volunteers, those volunteers with high stress in their lives were twice as likely to develop colds. But this makes sense though doesn't it? Think about it, when are you more likely to come down with a cold or the flu? When your feeling good, healthy, strong, and on top of the world, or when your more depressed, worried, or fearful? You see it is not good to live a stressful life, next we will go over some of the primary symptoms of stress. They are as follows, headaches, fatigue, pain and tension throughout the neck and shoulders, low back pain, irritability, sleep problems, digestive problems, allergies and sinus troubles.
If you suffer from more than one stress symptom, or are having symptoms more than once per week, your body has a stress disorder. Another way to determine if your body is suffering from stress is the presence of local areas of nerve irritation and muscle spasm, called trigger points. Trigger points are tender areas along your spine, including your neck, shoulders, mid and lower back areas that indicate irritated nerves. As stress increases in your life, so does the presence of this nerve irritation that leads to muscle reaction in the form of knots or painful areas in your muscles.
If this is starting to sound like you and you're wondering "what can I do?" this next section are the tips to help you Get a Grip on Stress. There are five steps, or "tips" to help you take more control of your life, reduce stress, and start having more fun! First off...
IDENTIFY THE STRESS
In beginning to manage stress, it is very important that you first of all, ask yourself a question. What are you dealing with? Because if you first of all ask yourself this question and then come up with the answer, you at least now have a starting point towards taking control of your life. Next develop a WIN attitude, because when you adopt a "What's important now" attitude, you stop worrying about "what was", and you start planning "what will be". Thirdly, focus on what you want instead of spending too much time thinking about what you don't want. Appreciate what you have… think more about what you want… and you create much more positive energy that attracts more good things into your life than if you worry about the “bad” stuff that could happen in your life. Most people spend more time thinking about what’s missing in life instead of focusing on what they have.
PROPER EXERCISE
The second step toward managing stress is to exercise. Start engaging in some sort of exercise program. For some, exercise is a form of relaxation. My recommendation??? Start walking! California State University found that a 10-minute walk is enough to increase your energy, alter your mood, and create a positive outlook for up to two hours. Another recent study showed that women who walked 20 minutes four days per week were much less likely to develop breast cancer. So if there is any sort of cancer in your family and especially for you ladies where breast cancer has already been found in your family, doesn’t it make good sense to just start to walk. Twenty minutes, four days a week is all it takes. Finally a seven year study by the University of Minnesota involving 12,000 men found that those who walked or did similar exercises for an average for just 20 minutes a day were 37% less likely to die from Coronary disease compared to those who exercised less. You see the nice thing about walking, is it’s cheap. You don’t have to go out and spend four, five or six hundred dollars on a stationary bicycle or some other piece of equipment. Most people stop using their exercise equipment within a couple of months and eventually end up using their stationary bike to hang laundry over in their basement. Start exercising! Walking is a wonderful way to exercise.
PROPER REST
The third step toward managing stress is to get plenty of rest. Now, “plenty of rest” means something different for every person. Some people can get by on six hours of sleep and some need ten. * But it’s not only important to allow your body to receive adequate rest, you should also pay attention to how and * where you rest. Make sure you are sleeping on a good firm mattress. Every three months, make sure you flip and/or rotate the mattress for the best possible support and use a good pillow. There are special pillows designed to give your neck extra support where it needs it. Sleep on your back, or sleep on your side. NOT on your stomach! If you want to sleep on your back, make sure you put a pillow underneath your knees to allow your knees to bend slightly. This will take pressure off your back and hip joints. If you sleep on your side, do the same thing. Put a pillow between your knees to take pressure off your hips. Doctors recommend this for their pregnant patients all the time. This makes the hip and back joints much more comfortable. Here is a news flash … you don’t have to be pregnant in order to put a pillow between your knees and let it be good for your lower back and hips! Putting a pillow between your knees when you are sleeping is another good habit to get into.
PROPER NUTRITION
Proper nutrition is the fourth step toward managing stress more effectively. The first thing I would like to tell you about proper nutrition, is drink more water. Over 90 % of your body’s tissues are composed of water. If you want to keep your tissues soft, moist, and healthy, then drink more water. The formula that I recommend you use is that for every two pounds of weight, you are, you drink one ounce of water. So if you weigh 150 pounds you need to drink 75 ounces of water per day. If each glass of water was like a 12 ounce can of pop, you would have to drink somewhere around 6 glasses of water per day. I know that sounds like a lot, but again one of the best ways to take care of your body and keep it healthy is to drink more water. We all know that we need to eat healthier so introduce vegetables, lean protein, and some fruit into your diet. In addition, nutritional supplements are an excellent idea to help with your nutrition needs.
PROPER FUNCTIONING NERVOUS SYSTEM
Finally the fifth step toward managing stress effectively is developing a proper functioning nervous system. Has anyone ever had a pebble in his or her shoe? You know how that can irritate your foot? Well see, the pebble is actually irritating a nerve and nerves are extremely sensitive tissue. Even a minor irritation to a spinal nerve cannot only cause tension, pain, and numbness, but also all of the other symptoms associated with stress. Keep in mind that stress usually attacks your body in areas of greatest weakness. For example, a person with a weak stomach under stress, develops stomach symptoms. A person with a damaged neck under stress develops headaches, and a person with a weak or damaged lower back, under stress develops lower back pain. One of the things that can cause stress and/or irritation on the nervous system is a misaligned spine. When the vertebrae shift out of position they irritate the nerve, this is called a subluxation. Literally the nerves then start to shrink, shrivel up and die. Now let me ask you a question, which nerve would you rather have in your body carrying electrical impulses to your body parts…a big thick, juicy, healthy functioning nerve or an impinged, skinny, shriveled, sickly looking thing? Besides stress, subluxations can cause many different kinds of health problems. One of them is back problems. So how do you correct this "subluxation" or nerve irritation? An excellent option is chiropractic, you see most people think of chiropractors as bone doctors, but in reality...they are nerve doctors. They remove the irritation on or around the nerve! Having your nervous system working as good as it can by removing spinal misalignments won’t just help people perform better athletically, it will help you perform better in life! And when you can reduce the harmful effects of stress by first of all identifying the problem, and then eating right, exercising, and resting properly, you can have much more fun doing whatever it is you enjoy doing most in life longer. And that’s what it’s all about.
Hopefully with this information you can get a grip on stress!
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