When it comes to health, most people do not realize taking care of their mental health is just as important as taking care of their physical health. Stress especially plays a huge role on people’s wellbeing and even physically affects the body! Allowing stress to constantly interfere with your life is dangerous, so it is key that you learn how to manage it. Managing stress will ward off disease, mental anguish, and improve the overall quality of life. Here are four ways to square up and take back control of your life by fighting stress:
Work Out
If you have ever worked out, you are familiar with the boost of confidence and happiness you experience after a training session. This is because exercise releases a rush of endorphins that decreases stress levels and elevate mood. Endorphins are a group of hormones that block pain signals in the body and are nicknamed the “feel-good” hormones. The most notable endorphins that are released during exercise are dopamine and serotonin, which play an important part in regulating mood and warding off anxiety. Physical activity has also been found to decrease levels of stress hormones in the body like cortisol and adrenaline.
Besides releasing endorphins, exercise also enhances the ability to sleep. Too little sleep is directly linked in increased stress levels, so it is important to get seven to eight hours of rest each night. Exercise has been found to help fight insomnia and increases the amount of time spent in deep sleep. Phases of deep sleep help control feelings of anxiety and stress.
Try Breathing Exercises
Unlike some of the other strategies to combat stress, breathing exercises can be done anywhere and at any time. Taking a few seconds to breathe deeply can slow an increased heart rate induced by the adrenaline rush that accompanies stress. Dr. Herbert Benson, author of The Relaxation Response and Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, takes a mind-body approach to fighting stress.
If you have a few minutes, his technique has been found to relax the body and calm a racing mind. To begin, find a relatively quiet and comfortable place to sit and close your eyes. Then, relax your muscles the best you can and breathe in deeply. As you exhale, say a word such as “peace” or “calm.” Continue to focus on your breathing and repeating this word for 10 to 20 minutes. This strategy has been found to lower blood pressure and heart rate and can help fight insomnia, anxiety, depression, and aging. It is recommended to do this routine daily for the best results.
Don’t “Stress Eat”
If given the option between an apple or tub of ice cream during a high-stress situation, most people would choose the tub of ice cream. However, that ice cream will end up exacerbating your stress even more while the apple will decrease it. This is because the apple is packed with vitamins and minerals, and the ice cream is nutritionally void. The body requires adequate amounts of many crucial vitamins and nutrients in order to properly deal with stress. Highly-processed foods lack the fiber, protein, vitamins, minerals, and other essential nutrients, and these deficiencies bring harm to the body and brain as well as stop it from functioning properly. Saturated fats negatively influence proteins composing the brain and raise levels of stress hormones. A shortage in vitamin B also creates stress by disrupting the functions of the nervous system. These are just two of many examples that demonstrate havoc a poor diet can wreak on the health of an individual.
A common trend between vitamin deficits and junk foods is raised stress levels. In a stressed state, one often craves nutritionally void foods which results in worsening the symptoms experienced with anxiety. Often, calorie dense, high-fat, sugar-filled “comfort” foods are what a stressed individual will reach for as the body feels the need for a quick fix of energy to deal with the situation at hand and believes it will be burning an abundance of energy in the process. However, junk food is the exact opposite of what the body requires in stressful times, and a vicious cycle can be created. This leaves the body void of required vitamins and further increases stress. The stress, comfort-food cycle only increases damage to the health of the body each time it occurs; and over time, the consequences add up.
Meditation and Yoga
Meditation and yoga are especially effective in the fight against stress because they combine physical activity with breathing exercises. Yoga is a mind-body approach to fighting stress that focusing on physical relaxation and calmness as well as being mindful of your breathing. The results of practicing yoga include decreased heart rate and blood pressure caused by stress hormones. Yoga also plays a role in affecting other factors of stress-relief including improving sleep, relaxing muscles, and releasing endorphins because it is a physical exercise. Yoga and meditation emphasizes focusing on slowed, controlled breathing, subsequently distracting the mind from stressful and worrying thoughts.
Conclusion
Allowing stress to overrun your life will lead to worsened mental and physical health. Stressors can be hard to avoid due to the busy culture we live in today, but there are multiple ways to take a step back and help calm your mind. Working out releases mood-boosting endorphins and decreases the levels of stress hormones in the body. Breathing exercises can help lower stress responses like accelerated heart rate and a racing mind. Snacking on vitamin-packed foods can prevent the vicious cycle of stress eating. Mediation and yoga combine the stress-relieving effects of exercise and breathing techniques. Practicing these strategies decreases stress and its effects as well as improves your overall quality of life.
Disclaimer
The information contained in this blog and any content within therootcausewellness.com website is intended to educate, empower, and inspire readers to make positive choices for their own overall health and wellbeing. I am not a doctor, psychiatrist or therapist and the information contained in this website is my personal opinion based on my education, real life experience and research unless otherwise stated. Therefore, It is in no way intended to substitute for professional medical advice from a doctor or licensed health professional. This information is not intended to diagnose, treat, prevent or cure and disease or medical condition. It is always recommended that you consult with a doctor or licensed medical professional before making any dietary, lifestyle, exercise, medication or supplement changes. Kathleen Freydl, Certified Health Coach and Owner of the Root Cause Wellness, accepts no responsibility or liability whatsoever for the use or misuse of the information contained in therootcausewellness.com website.