Stress!

What is stress?
Stress is any change in your normal routine or health. Stress occurs when bad things happen, as well happy things. Getting a raise or promotion is stress, just as getting fired from your job is stress.

Speculative changes cause just as much stress as veritable changes. Pensiveness or anguish about whether you will get that new job is stress the same as being offered a new position is stress.

In today’s society, there is a lot of pressure on women to be good mothers, have successful careers outside of the home, be perfect wives and take care of household chores. According to the Cleveland Clinic, 70 percent of married women with children work outside of the home. With the decline in the economy, it’s even more critical that many families have two sources of income to survive. Overwhelming stress can cause serious, long term health problems.

Did you know…

• 43% of all adults suffer adverse health effects from stress
• 75-90% of all doctor’s office visits are for stress-related ailments and complaints
• Stress costs American industry more than $300 billion annually

A few of the side effects of stress:

1. Mood swings
2. Intensified PMS symptoms
3. Chronic head aches
4. Decreased sex drive
5. Sleeplessness
6. Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)
7. Weight gain
8. Memory disturbances
9. High blood pressure
10. Depression
11. Difficulty getting pregnant

How can you relieve stress?

1. Exercise!
Exercise is an effective way to reduce stress. Due to the positive effect exercise has on endorphin production, getting enough makes you happier and therefore relieves stress.

2. Yoga
Yoga teaches relaxation techniques and proper breathing while strengthening your body and mind. It will teach you how to eliminate stress from your life quickly and easily.

3. Stretching
Stretching may seem like a dull and ineffective way to exercise but it has many stress relieving benefits. Stretching requires slow movements that lengthen and strengthen your body. They give you time to relax and allow the breath to flow through your entire body giving a stress relief.

4. Meditation
Meditation affects the body in exactly the opposite ways that stress does, restoring the body to a calm state, helping the body to repair itself, and preventing new damage due to the physical effects of stress.

5. Journaling
Journaling allows people to clarify their thoughts and feelings, thereby gaining valuable self-knowledge. It’s also a good problem-solving tool; oftentimes, one can hash out a problem and come up with solutions more easily on paper.

6. Laughter
Laughter reduces the level of stress hormones like cortisol, epinephrine (adrenaline), dopamine and growth hormone. It also increases the level of health-enhancing hormones like endorphins, and neurotransmitters. Laughter increases the number of antibody-producing cells and enhances the effectiveness of T cells. All this means a stronger immune system, as well as fewer physical effects of stress.

7. Sex
A study looked at women’s heart rate and cortisol levels as a measure of stress response, and found that women exhibited less of a stress response after ‘positive physical contact’ with a partner. Emotional support alone didn’t have the same effect.

8. Take a nap
Research shows that you can make yourself more alert reduce stress and improve cognitive functioning with a nap. Mid-day sleep, or a ‘power nap’, means more patience, less stress, better reaction time, increased learning, more efficiency and better health.

9. Draw
Just the act of having a hobby can make you feel more balanced in your lifestyle. Sometimes with all of life’s responsibilities, we forget that we need and deserve ‘down time’ and self care. Taking even a few minutes on a regular basis to devote to a hobby can give you more of what you need in this area. And, with drawing, you have the additional benefit of being left with something beautiful (or at least interesting) to show for it!

10. Get a dog (or cat)
Research shows that, unless you’re someone who really dislikes animals or is absolutely too busy to care for one properly, pets can provide excellent social support, stress relief and other health benefits—perhaps more than people! For those who love animals, it’s virtually impossible to stay in a bad mood when a pair of loving puppy eyes meets yours, or when a super-soft cat rubs up against your hand.