It’s not stress til you react to it!

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These are some of the articles that a friend of mine and I are putting together in hopes of publishing another book on Kindle/Amazon.  This is a bit more difficult as it seems to affect many of the areas of middle aged living.

 

The more I am in touch with others around the world I am finding that everyone has been experiencing circumstances that could lead to increased stress.  However, there are manageable ways to control your body and mind in relation to the stresses. 

 

Good luck on reading and implementing some of the following methods and ideas!

 

 

Anatomy of Illness written by Norman Cousins is a book based on the true story of how this man treated his own painful illness. Cousins had a theory that there was more to the old saying; Laughter is the best medicine, than many people realize.

 

In modern times society has come to understand that stress has a negative impact on both physical and mental health. What is not as commonly understood is that laughter has many positive health benefits, which can counteract the negative effects of the stress response.

 

Laughter increases the functioning of the immune system, helping the body to fight off illness and disease. Studies have demonstrated that laughter causes the increased production of catechol amines and endorphins. These chemicals, when released by the brain into the blood stream during laughter, increase feelings of happiness and well-being.

 

Laughter also decreases the secretion of cortisol as well as the sedimentation rate, and therefore is beneficial in stimulating the body’s immune system.

 

During laughter, the flow of Oxygen in the blood increases. Arteries relax, heart rate and blood temperature are lowered, circulation increases and the skin temperature rises. All of these physical responses have a beneficial effect on both cardiovascular and respiratory health.

 

Laughter has the potential to help speed healing, and increase overall health and well-being, when its benefits are fully realized as a part of a stress management plan.

 

While the average human being laughs approximately 8 to 10 times daily, a stress management plan which includes laughter as a part of the daily program would include rigorous "laughing" as an exercise to be performed several times throughout the day.

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Full belly laughter, which is an involuntary response of the human brain, can be triggered by watching comedies, listening to comedians, telling jokes or just allowing one to participate in fun and silly activities.

 

Despite all the conveniences available to us in this technologically advanced age, stress is still part of the overall scheme of our lives. Luckily, stress management provides comfort and release from these problems that tends to affect our physical, mental and emotional health.

 

What is Stress Management?

 

Stress management is tools, procedures and methods that allow us to take control of our problems and make sure that they don’t affect our daily routine. Problems that leads to stress that are specific in nature have different stress management techniques that can be applied to keep you in balance and harmony.

 

Breathing exercises helps big time!

 

Our body tends to react during times of stress; irregular breathing, sweating, aches and pains, slow metabolism and so on. Since these are all physical in nature, we have to deal with it in a physical way. One method is through breathing exercises which can affect your body in a profound way. Simply speaking, these exercises control the flow of oxygen in your body, as well as its distribution to different parts of your anatomy.

 

One way to do this is to count your breathing. Breathe slowly and deep, relax your stomach as you do so. Try to keep a rhythm and follow it all throughout the duration of the exercise. With enough practice, you can control your breathing instantly during times of stress which can help you relax and alleviate some of the negative effects in your body.

 

Relax your mind with meditation

 

Meditation is great way to achieve stress management, which deals more on the mental than in the physical. This is where the old adage "Mind over Body" kicks in. Meditation allows your mind to relax and focus on a single thought and let others drift away to nothing.

 

The art of meditation have been used for centuries that started off as an offset of pagan religion. Nowadays, many people practice this method for different areas in their life; coping with work, focusing on your tasks, or simply to relax your mind to keep yourself in balance.

 

This can be quite hard at first but can be improved through practice. First off, try to look for a quiet place where you will have the least amount of distraction. Then you need to relax your body from your toes to your head. When you feel heavy then you are already relaxed (this will change to a light feeling when practiced often), you can now concentrate on your mind.

 

Try to focus on a single thought or imagine an inanimate object. You might notice that you will be distracted by stray thoughts that seeps into your mind during the course of the exercise. When this happen, try to imagine you’re a watching movie. Observe these thoughts as if it was nothing and let it drift away to the next one. After a while, all these stray scenes will cease then you have achieved meditation.

 

Seek professional help

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