Dietary Enigmas

Reduce Stress - or Suffer

September 27, 2007

Tags: adrenal gland, adrenal insufficiency, adrenalin, allergies, allergy, Anti Viral, children, Digestion, Down Syndrome, environmental toxins, family life, fat loss, men, plant sugars, stress raisers, stress relief, weight loss, wellness, women
Posted in: Low GI, Trehalose, auto immune, cancer, diabetes, diet, food, health, heart, immune system

I didn’t sleep too well last night. I was worrying about something that keeps nagging at me - what is not important but it’s effect is. Stress, in any form, emotional, physical, infection, invariably affects the way we function. So what does stress affect:

1. our immune systems - if we live stressed lives then we will invariably pick up more infections and possibly more serious conditions.
2. our hormonal or endocrine systems - when we are stressed we don’t sleep well, we don’t burn fat off - we tend to store it. I remember a guy we were working with who was losing weight really well and then one day he came to me an asked why has the weight stopped coming off. A few quick questions looking for stress identified that his marriage was struggling - major stress - hormonal system shut down the fat burn and that was it. Over time reduce the stress if you want to lose weight.

When you are under stress your adrenal gland works overtime and you seem to have superhuman abilities. However, when you remove the stress you tend to collapse. If you get home from work and sit down and fall asleep - its a good indicator that your stress levels are too high and that you would do well to reduce them - or suffer the longer term consequences of heart disease, diabetes and many other associated diseases.
If you want helpful independent advice with no strings just go to www.healthymentors.com or e mail paul@sugars4life.com

Here we look at 10 top tips for reducing stress at work:

1: Learn to manage your time more effectively

We waste a lot of time doing unimportant tasks so prioritise your day and do the important jobs first.

The unimportant ones can wait, and often they will disappear completely leaving you time to do other things.

Also do not put off the unpleasant tasks. Every time we think about them we cause ourselves stress. Give an unpleasant task a high priority and do it first.

2: Adopt a healthy lifestyle

If we eat a healthy diet, exercise regularly and ensure we get adequate rest our body is better able to cope with stress should it occur.

3: Know your limitations and do not take on too much

We cause ourselves a great deal of stress because we like people to like us and do not want to let people down.

We then end up doing more than we should. Learn to be assertive and how to say no without upsetting or offending people.

4: Find out what causes you stress

Take time to discover what is worrying you and try to change your behaviour to reduce it.

5: Avoid unnecessary conflict

Don’t be too argumentative. Is it really worth the stress? Look for win - win situations.

Look for a solution to a dispute where both parties can achieve a positive outcome.

6: Accept the things you cannot change

Changing a difficult situation is not always possible. If this proves to be the case recognise and accept things as they are.

7: Take time out to relax and recharge your batteries

You will perform much better after a break and easily make up the time you used relaxing.

8: Find time to meet friends.

Friends: Can ease work troubles

Friends help us see things in a different way. The activities we engage in with friends usually help us relax and we will often have a good laugh. It boosts the immune system which is often depleted during stress.

If you do become stressed engage in some form of physical activity. It works off the biochemical and physical changes that occur within your body due to stress.

Relaxation helps your body return to its normal healthy state. Good relaxation techniques include breathing exercises, massage and a variety of complimentary therapies.

9: Try to see things differently

If something is bothering you try to see it differently. Talk over your problem with somebody before it gets out of proportion.

Often, talking to somebody else will help you see things from a different and less stressful perspective.

10: Avoid alcohol, nicotine and caffeine as coping mechanisms

Long term, these faulty coping mechanisms will just add to the problem.

For example, caffeine is a stimulant and our body reacts to this with the stress response.