STRESS Part 2 How to Deal with it

As discussed in part 1, stress can be defined as the thoughts, feelings, behavioral and physiological changes that occur when the demands placed upon us exceed our perceived ability to cope. In other words, everyone experiences stress at some time, but how you deal with it can impact your quality of life. The following coping skills and lifestyle methods can help to prevent stress from taking a negative toll on your daily and long-term physical and mental health.

Regular Exercise
Exercise is one of the most effective stress management strategies. Aerobic activities such as jogging, swimming, kickboxing, or biking can help to relieve pressure and clear your mind. This type of exercise allows the body to release healthy chemicals in the brain called endorphins. Endorphins are similar to opiates in that they give our body and mind a “feel good” sensation. Regular exercise also eliminates the release of powerful stress hormones like cortisol. 
Remember, fifteen minutes of activity per day is all it takes to get your heart rate up. If you don’t have a lot of free time, try to incorporate physical activity into your everyday routine. Walk instead of taking the subway or bus, take the stairs instead of taking the elevator, or take a walk to pick the kids up from the bus stop instead of driving. In addition to the physical benefits of living an active lifestyle, exercise can build confidence and improve your mood by helping you stay fit. 

Peer Support
Fostering healthy friendships can also aid in the process of stress relief by providing emotional support. 
Talking with and seeking advice from your friends allows you to verbalize your thoughts, thus getting them off your chest. Once your friends listen to what’s troubling you, they may be able to offer a different perspective or help you work through the issue. You might be surprised to learn that your friends have been in a similar position in the past and can offer helpful advice. 
Beyond having a shoulder to lean on, it often helps to simply have people around. Being social satisfies the universal human need to come in contact with others. Surrounding yourself with those whose company you enjoy releases natural endorphins. Creating and maintaining relationships is a crucial part of a healthy social life. 

Relaxation Techniques 
Although it might seem impossible to relax when you are feeling high levels of stress, it is important to try. Effective approaches to relaxation include yoga, meditation, and breathing exercises which allow us to influence bodily functions that are ultimately out of our control like heart rate, blood pressure and digestion. 
As a breathing exercise, try inhaling for the same amount of time you exhale. This might be hard to do at first but will become easier with practice. This exercise should be done at least three times a week as a relaxation technique. Be mindful of where your breaths are coming from to ensure optimum oxygen flow. Breathing through your abdomen allows the oxygen in your body to circulate properly which in turn improves lung health. Practice the use of your abdomen as a breathing exercise. Place one hand on your chest and one hand on your stomach area. Take a deep breath in and see whether your chest or stomach rises higher. If your chest rises higher, you are not breathing ideally. Practice this a few times a week until you develops the proper technique. Using this method along with the inhaling and exhaling exercises will decrease stress while improving lung function and health. 

Sleeping Habits
Sleep is an essential part of a low stress life style. A routine that consists of a good eight hours of sleep, balanced diet, and daily exercise will make you less susceptible to stress and will allow you to deal with things more reasonably. A good night’s sleep is crucial for a productive, low stress day. In addition to the length of your sleep cycle, it helps to go to sleep around 10:00pm and wake up around 6:00 or 7:00am. Waking up early allows our body to re-energize before activities begin and also gives you time to eat a healthy breakfast. If you are not able to fall asleep, try listening to relaxing music or a white-noise sound machine. Watching television right before bed or sleeping with the lights on can disrupt the release of melatonin and serotonin in your brain. Eating right before bed makes you more susceptible to weight gain and nightmares. If you are feeling hungry before bed, heat up a glass of milk or drink chamomile tea. It’s best to avoid sweets and grains as they will increase your blood sugar which can contribute to weight gain and restlessness. 

Low Stress Living 
Stress is influenced by the internal health of our body, as well as our external environment. As humans, we are highly susceptible to stress and it is important that we try to reduce it and manage it in the most productive way possible. In order to be productive, it helps to maintain a healthy level of relaxation. Stress does not only affect you as an individual, but also affects those around you including your children, spouse and co-workers. By finding your own peace of mind, you can create a more peaceful environment and perpetuate a low stress lifestyle.

STRESS Part 1 Get to know

Stress is defined as the body’s reaction to a change that requires a physical, mental or emotional adjustment or response. Any situation or thought that generates a feeling of frustration, anger, nervousness or anxiety can lead to stress. In modern society, where people are always competing against each other and trying to achieve so much in their life, almost everybody is said to be suffering from some amount of stress. But stress is not always bad. Some amount of stress in life is actually necessary as it motivates you to perform better. However, you should never allow stress to grow beyond a point where it breaks you down.

Stress is already a part of daily living. You may never know it but you are already affected by this issue. You shout at your kids or nag your partner about something. You seem to raise an issue out of a particular event even if it is not true. You also tend to be suspicious at some points. All these are due to stress.

Scientifically, stress is a state of high tension or pressure, resulting from an accident or injury or a psychological reaction of heightened emotional response. Certain occupations are particularly stressful, such as acting, advertising, controlling air traffic, politics, investing and gambling. As an effect of stressful emotions such as panic attacks, fear and anger, the blood pressure rises, the pulse beats faster, breathing is accelerated, digestion stops, and the adrenal glands become overactive.

Major Facts about Stress

The real issues behind stress can be best understood with a number of facts. Take a look at the following points:

1. It can be caused by many factors. Fear and anxiety are the greatest causes of psychological stress. In modern times people are constantly beset by the threat of calamities. They fear depression and inflation, unemployment, cancer and heart failure, missiles and bombs and famine. At home they may be confronted with marital incompatibility, quarrels, family illness, or financial troubles.
2. It can also cause something. Many illnesses are caused by mental stress, including ulcers, spastic constipation, diarrhea, high blood pressure and migraine headaches. Sometimes latent mental disorders are precipitated by stressful circumstances, as in the case of manic-depressive psychosis, schizophrenia, hysteria and neurasthenia.
3. It can worsen through time. When a person is subjected to repeated stresses, she is likely to develop what people call nervous breakdown, an unscientific but expressive term. The stress produced by the problems of everyday living has led to the widespread use of tranquilizers, a last resort when there seems to be no escape from a difficult situation.
4. It happens in daily living. Stress exists in almost every human activity and is not the same as nerve tension. Some stress is beneficial since it may stimulate action.
5. It can be lessened through healthy intimate relationships. Psychiatrists also found out that for the avoidance of excessive stress being married is better than being divorced or single.
6. There are major stressful events connected to it. Studies also showed that the death of a child is the most stressful of any life’s events. Other items include a jail sentence, major financial problems, divorce and the beginning of an extra-marital affair. Some of the environmental factors that may be related to stress are the status of health, the social class, and the size of the household.
7. There are also some stresses that cannot be controlled. Too much stress can show itself in various emotional, behavioral and physical signs, and the signs of stress differ extremely according to each individual.

Usual Physical, Emotional and Behavioral Signs of Stress

The physical indications of stress include sleep interruptions, tense muscles, annoyance, gastrointestinal problem, and exhaustion. Its emotional and behavioral indications consist of apprehension, fear, alterations in eating practices, depleted energy, and mood swings. All of the symptoms given cannot tell whether a person has an elevated stress level because these indications may be due to other medical or mental problems.

It is also a fact that persons in stress are most likely to maintain harmful activities like drug and alcohol addiction, excessive cigarette smoking, and poor eating habits. These harmful activities can extremely add to the severity of the indications connected to stress.

Remember that all people may be prone to stress – no matter what age you are in and no matter what status of life you have. The extent may vary also depending on how you take up the challenge that goes with it. If you have a support system with you, it is easy to do away with the situation. But at the worse, it may only lead you to panic attacks.


Therefore, the key to leading a happy life is learning to manage stress effectively. In case, you suffer from situations which are bound to be stressful such as a loss of a loved one, divorce or a loss of a job, you can enroll yourself for stress relief treatment and take control of your life.

Stress and illnesses 

Stress is the root cause of many illnesses. Every year millions of people lose their life because of heart disease, strokes and various forms of cancers caused primarily because of stress. Besides, stress is the root cause of many stomach problems such as constipation or diarrhea that can eventually lead to serious conditions such as ulcers. Headache and migraine can also be caused because of stress. Your skin may also get affected because of stress. Chronis stress is also known to weaken the immune system which makes you prone to frequent colds and upper respiratory infections. Stress can also cause depression and various types of anxiety disorders.

Stress management 

Stress management is mainly the ability to take control of your emotions and reactions when situations, people and events make excessive demands. Your attitude towards a stressful situation plays an important role in successful stress management. Usually, people who have a negative attitude will report more stress than people with a positive attitude to life.
If you keep a record of situations that caused you stress, you’ll notice that a lot of stress in life can be avoided by simply altering the way you perceive that particular situation. The other effective way to reduce stress is through better time management. For instance, by making a habit of reaching a few minutes prior to the scheduled time can help you reduce a lot of stress in life. Taking a well-balanced diet at regular intervals and regular physical exercise can also help you calm down and thereby reduce the stress in your life.

Stress relief treatment

If you are reeling under the pressure of stress and find it tough to manage it on your own, it is time you take some stress relief treatment. You may try practicing yoga and other forms of meditation to calm yourself. You can spend more time in pursuits such as music, painting, dancing, sports or anything that interests you. Most importantly, do not become a silent recluse. Find someone that supports you. Somebody in your family or your friends will be willing to help you come out of stress. If you are still unable to come out of stress, take help from a counselor who can help you take control of your life and live positively. 

Added sugar is the villain, not sugar nor fat!

Sugar exists in most foods we eat but sugar isn't nearly the bad guy. Sugar isn't a "slow poison," and doesn't cause cancer, diabetes, or heart disease, as some have claimed, nor is there evidence it causes behavior problems, such as hyperactivity. Small amounts of sugar have an important place in nutrition. For example, the only fuel the brain uses is sugar. There is some evidence showing sugar to have a calming effect on normal and hyperactive children. Too much sugar, on the other hand, like too much of anything, is detrimental to our health and eating too much sugar does contribute to tooth decay, obesity, constipation, and malnutrition. 
According to some expert, it's added sugar, not fat, that causes chronic overeating and adds extra pounds that won’t budge. Their solution: Slash sugar from the diet completely. Find out what the experts say about the truth--and the hype--when it comes to the sweet stuff.

Sugar Myth #1: You should eliminate all sugar from your diet.

First, a quick and painless science lesson: Sugars, aka carbohydrates, are made of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen. Individually, these strings of molecules are called monosaccharide, which include sugars such as fructose (found in fruit). Link two sets of molecules together and you have disaccharides, such as sucrose (table sugar) and lactose (the sugar found in milk). Combine a whole bunch of units, producing an even more complex molecule, and you've got starches and fiber.

And no matter what form you eat--from M&M to Lollypop--carbs contain 4 calories per gram, break down to simple sugars during digestion (except for fiber, which is indigestible) and are either used for immediate energy or stored for later. In other words, you need sugars in your diet to keep your body running. Most should come in the form of nutrient-rich starches like whole grains and cereals. You should also eat plenty of fruits, vegetables and low fat dairy products--which contain sugars, but also valuable vitamins, minerals and disease-fighting chemicals.

The kind of sugar that concerns health experts is added sugar--the sweeteners that are dumped into foods by manufacturers (and sometimes us, when we ladle out table sugar)--because most people eat way too much of it.  In fact, for the first time ever, experts identified added sugar as a part of our diet that we should limit. Why? Consuming lots of high-sugar foods such as cookies and soft drinks not only can lead to weight gain, but these foods often replace more nutritious fare.

If you eat a healthy diet and meet your nutritional needs on most days, you can still enjoy guilty pleasures like a decadently sweet dessert or an occasional sugary soda.  To give you an idea of how far your daily sugar quota goes one Hershey's milk chocolate bar has about 5 teaspoons of sugar, a Coke pack 10, and a 10-ounce Butterfinger McDonald's McFlurry contains nearly 14 teaspoons! 

Sugar Myth #2: It makes you fat.

Many diet books claim that sugar itself causes the body to store more food as body fat, and so even the natural sugars found in fruit should be avoided. But most health experts say that's misguided reasoning. Fruits and vegetables are loaded with good-for-you substances. The extra calories from added sugar in the diet are the real cause of unwanted pounds. Sugar is a significant factor when it comes to obesity, Obesity rates have raised as our intake of added sugar has climbed. If you eat a lot of empty calories, you run the risk of excessive calorie intake and weight gain.

Sugary soft drinks and fruit-flavored beverages, the biggest source of added sugar in the diet, may lead to extra pounds in an especially tricky way. Research has shown that the body doesn't compensate for calories taken in as liquid as it does for calories eaten as food (in other words, after gulping a 300-calorie supersize soda, you'll still eat the same-size dinner). Another pitfall of high-sugar diets that may lead to weight gain: People who eat larger amounts of sugar generally have worse diets.

Sugar Myth #3: White table sugar is the worst form.

Cookies sweetened with fruit juice may seem like a healthier option, but don't be fooled by this marketing trick. Whether you eat white table sugar or fruit juice, it all turns into glucose in your body. Despite certain diet-book claims that refined white sugar is "toxic," there's little difference between sweeteners (molasses does contain some calcium, but the quantity in an ordinary serving is too small to be significant). And even if a food is sweetened with fruit juice, the healthiest parts of the fruit--such as the fiber and disease-fighting phyto-chemicals--have been removed in the processing.

Sugar Myth #4: You can be addicted to sugar.

Wonder why sweet foods seem extra irresistible? Turns out we're born with an instinctive love of sweet foods--after all, in the hunting-and-gathering days, sweetness was a sign of a nourishing, high-calorie (not to mention nonpoisonous) food. If your desire for sugar seems especially uncontrollable, you may be hard-wired to desire sweet treats even more. Researchers recently located a gene that drives a preference for sweet foods. But a lust for candy and doughnuts is probably more bad habit than true addiction. You can adapt to a lower-sugar diet by cutting a candy bar into thirds, eating one piece and freezing the rest for later. It's all about portion control.

Sure, a healthy diet can still include reasonable amounts of your favorite sugary treats. But chances are, you're taking in a lot of extra sweet stuff without even realizing it. Here are some painless ways to shave calories from sneaky sugar sources;

* Pass up sweetened yogurts--which can contain as much as 7 teaspoons of added sugar--and go with no-sugar-added varieties. Or slice fresh fruit into plain varieties.

* Learn to spot sugar's aliases: If dextrose, fructose, maltose, malt syrup, sucrose or corn syrup appear first or second in the ingredient list, the food is high in added sugar.

* consider sugary sodas a treat--as you would dessert--and regularly opt for water, nonfat milk, 100 percent fruit juice, or seltzer flavored with lemon or lime instead.

* Buy breakfast cereals with no more than 8 grams of sugar per serving.

* Choose fresh fruit over canned varieties packed in syrup, which are full of added sugar.

* Split oversized restaurant desserts with several friends, or box up the rest for later in the week.

* When baking, cut the amount of sugar you use by one-fourth or one-third.

* Check labels of packaged food billed as "low fat" or "fat free": They may have as much sugar (or more!) as the full-fat version.