Stress Relief tips

Stress is the reaction to physical or emotional threats that are made against an individual. It is an internal warning system that the body gives off when faced with serious or perceived serious threats. Adrenaline is produced which in turn increases the heart rate, dilates blood vessels and air ways. All this allows the body to have more energy. Thus the body is preparing itself to "fight or flight."

Before you can do anything about your stress you have to find out what are the causes of stress in your life. Is it your work or your personal life or maybe both? A detailed evaluation is the first step in finding peace and tranquility in your life.

Exercising in general is beneficial for the body as well as the spirit. Continuous aerobic exercises like walking, running, swimming and riding a bike are terrific ways to make the heart stronger and to release stress. Neurotransmitters called endorphins are produced when exercising. These endorphins give you a natural high, almost an instant relaxation

Believe it or not, carbohydrates help in the fight against stress, especially complex carbohydrates which produce serotonin, a chemical that helps the brain with stress. Vegetables will also produce serotonin.
Foods high in fiber are also recommended because it helps your digestive system, which is usually in turmoil when stress occurs.
On the flip side, it is best to stay away from anything with caffeine in it because it releases adrenaline which makes the heart pound faster. Sugar intake should also be reduced for the much same reason, it momentarily increases energy

And always remember to eat your food slowly, indigestion can also make stress worse.

The Relaxation & Stress Reduction Workbook
(New Harbinger Self-Help Workbook)

Cognitive therapy tries to change the way we feel about stress, eliminating 'negative thinking' or negative self talk. Often when stressors occur we imagine the worst and this exacerbates the effects of stress. By changing the way we think about situations we can reduce or eliminate stress.

A stressor is a physical or emotional situation where you don't feel in control. Stressors can be positive or negative situations.

Guided Imagery Meditation is a wonderful way to find inner peace and release the stress that invades our bodies. For more information go to the following link
Guided Imagery Meditation

Social anxiety is the fear or phobia of interacting with people in social situations. That sounds simple enough but it goes deeper than that. The real fear or anxiety is how other people think about us or react to us. You will be hesitant to engage in any social activity if you feel inferior or worry about what others think about you. If you take a step back and look at this rationally there shouldn't be anything to worry about because it doesn't really matter what people think about you. In fact most of the time the anxiety and worry is for nothing because folks aren't as harsh in their judgment as you would think. Unfortunately social anxiety is still a major problem. It can hold those who suffer from it back from doing the things that they want to in life and it can lead to more serious problems such as depression.

How to manage social anxiety.

One of the ways to deal with social anxiety is through Cognitive Behavioral Therapy which helps identify the situations that you are fearful of and tries with therapy to adjust your emotions so you can deal with those particular situations. This type of treatment is done with a therapist or a counselor.

Is anxiety a big part of your life? Do you worry about the smallest things, Make Mountains out of molehills, fret over everything? People who constantly worry about things that the rest of us would think are trivial, may have what is known as Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD). Their everyday life involves worrying about everything that may or may not happen, anxiety so consumes their lives that it makes them emotional as well as physical wrecks.

Does the dead of winter and its barrenness make you feel a little blue? Does the leaf less trees and the gray skies make your overall feelings down? You are not alone, in fact during the winter season there are people who find themselves in a depth of depression due to the season change. Unfortunately this gloom that overtakes them is serious enough to seek treatment.

The term Seasonal Affective Disorder or SAD was conceived by Dr. Norman E. Rosenthal a psychiatrist and scientist. According to Wikipedia "Dr. Rosenthal interest in studying the effects of changing seasons on mood emerged when he emigrated from the mild climate of Johannesburg, South Africa, to the northeastern US. He began to notice that he was more energetic and productive during the long summer days than during the winter."

Not surprisingly the places that have the most occurrences of Sad Syndrome are where the winters are the worst like Nordic countries and the least number are found in much milder locations.

Another reason why SAD may be occurring more often today is that more and more folks are working indoors than ever before which means less exposure to light.

Treatment for SAD Syndrome
Dr. Rosenthal has also help develop a treatment using light therapy, which provides light to SAD sufferers which in turn helps elevate their moods.

It can in 2 ways:
Telogen effluvium - The hair stops growing and falls out in 2 or 3 months but eventually grows back.

Alopecia areata - The hair falls out in patches all over the scalp and even from the body. Hair may or may not grow back.

You might have had a bad day at work and you could feel the stress boiling inside you. You held it in as long as you could but it finally busted out into an angry explosion. Whether it happens at work or home anger can get you into a lot of trouble. That's why your anger management should begin with controlling your stress.

Give yourself a Neck Massage!

You may think that by being stoic during your most troubling times is a sign of strength. Those who cry or let go of their emotions are somehow weak, but in reality the worse thing that you can do is withhold or bottle up your emotions. Let you feelings out because if you don't the stress and anxiety will eventually catch up to you in a very bad way.

Stress has a way of curtailing or eliminating the desire for intimacy. As you have probably guessed sex is a great way to relieve stress

There has always been a stigma about going to counselors or psychologist or psychiatrists, but if the stress is too difficult to handle on your own you need to see someone for help. Unlike a psychologist who only uses talk therapy, a psychiatrist can also write prescriptions to help with the stress.

Around the holiday should be a wonderful time to get together with friends and relatives talking about old times and things that are happening now. So why do so many people dread the holidays? Because there is quite a bit of preparation that goes into the holidays, which is usually a hectic time especially around Christmas. The stress begins to build up when you feel the pressure on being busy and only having so much time to get everything done. Another factor may be that you aren't comfortable around some relatives but you know that you have to because it is the holidays after all.