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In today’s busy society, stress is a part of life. Juggling home, work and family; dealing with financial burdens; caring for young children; even planning for holidays and vacations are just some of the things that can lead to stress and overwhelm.

Here are 20 simple tips to keep stress from invading your life and affecting your health. Practice one or two at a time, then add more. You will feel better in no time!

1. Eat a balanced diet. Three small meals and two snacks a day will keep your blood sugar level and help you manage stress.

2. Limit sugar, caffeine and alcohol.

3. Get to sleep before midnight.

4. Exercise regularly – even a 20-minute walk will help relieve feelings of stress.

5. Don’t worry about what other people think of you.

6. Avoid comparing yourself or your work to others.

7. Focus on your positive characteristics.

8. Change your negative thoughts to positive ones: For example,

9. Make sure your goals are realistic, then break them down into small tasks. Baby steps!

10. Watch out for perfectionism. Remember that nobody is perfect.

11. Use humor: making a joke when you feel stressed will lighten the atmosphere and reduce tension.

12. Laugh. Watch a comedian on TV, a funny movie , or a humorous video on the internet. Read the comics. Keep a joke book handy. Laughter is a great stress-reliever (and it burns calories, too!)

13. Smile, even if you don’t feel like it. Just the act of using your smile muscles will make you feel happier and less tense.

14. Practice meditation and yoga.

15. Call a friend or family member. Focusing on others helps us get our minds off of ourselves, and puts things into perspective.

16. Treat yourself to a massage

17. Take a hot shower or bath

18. Take time out for yourself each day to rest, read and reflect.

19. Keep a gratitude journal: Each morning or night, list 5 things you are thankful for. If you have trouble thinking of things, focus on the simple things: clean water to drink, a bed to sleep in, the sunshine, birds singing.

20. Listen to fun music with uplifting lyrics – and dance if you can!

Technorati Tags: relieve stress, stress, stress tips

The response to pressure from out side world causes strain to us physically, mentally and emotionally. This strain is termed as stress. When stressed out, our bodies react by releasing chemicals into blood which could induce more energy and strength. The most common reaction to stress is losing temper, getting irritated, tension, lack of concentration, headaches, increased hear beats, etc. Stresses are not always bad to have; we would like have stresses because it adds excitement and spice to a dull life. But over stressing can be harmful physically and emotionally. Many relations are hampered due to stresses, and not knowing how to exercise control over such situations. Stress is a way your body responds to any kind of demand, due to good or bad experiences. Let’s take a look at few overload situations people come across almost everyday of their lives.

• Husband and wife working full time, while their parents are dependent on their help for shopping due to health conditions.
• You are running hand to mouth over expenses and you are denied a hike in pay. You hardly seem to make ends meet and barely save some money.
• Divorced parents sharing the custody of child arguing with each other on matters concerning the children. These arguments tend to arise out of nowhere and more frequently.
• Ever increasing competition at work makes you feel pressure and for survival you work day in and day out. You may take up more work than you can handle. Working very early, staying up too late to complete your job. Taking time to recheck work to correct the mistakes, etc.

Types of stresses

1. Survival stress

It is a common response to fight dangers or run away from it, depending on the situation. When you feel that someone is trying to hit you, you’d react by hitting him before he hits you, or you’ll get clear and avoid getting hit. There is a sudden burst of energy in you enabling you to survive this physical danger.

2. Internal stress

You must have come across a crossroad in your life where you would have felt that you are not capable of handling certain situations, or you start worrying for no reason at all. This kind of stress is very difficult to understand and manage. This happens when we put ourselves in stressful situations and start worrying about things irrelevant to the issue.

3. Environmental stress

Responding to the situations which surround you is natural. For example, when passing by a noisy area, we tend to close our ears. We react differently to noise, crowds pressure from family, friends and work. Identifying environmental stress and getting a control over them will help reduce stress level to a great deal.

4. Stress due to fatigue and overwork

Working hard throughout the day takes a heavy toll on the body. One of the common reasons for such stress is the inability to manage time properly. Find ways to relax when you are uncomfortable, and stressed out.

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Everyone experiences stress like getting lost while driving, forgetting the car keys on the office desk, etc. These are short lived and often leave us worried and anxious .These are healthy, as they teach us something and we become cautious. But at times events like breaking up with you girl friend/boy friend, divorce, life-threatening accidents and diseases can cause you a long term stress and these could affect your health adversely. This can cause depression. Depression and nervous breakdown are likely when someone is working in and extremely stressful condition.

When you experience stress, there is a dramatic change in your mind and body. Stress affects us physically, mentally and emotionally, and 90% of all health problems arise out of stresses.

Stresses can bring about changes in your body which may make you feel ill. Most common problems associated with stresses are

• Difficulty to conceive (infertility amongst women)
• Sleeping difficulties
• Headaches
• Diarrhea
• Constipation
• Nervous breakdown
• Cardiovascular diseases
• Stroke
• Weakness or lack of energy
• Irritation
• Inability to concentrate
• Erratic eating habits; eating too much or eating nothing at all
• Feeling sad and deprived
• Losing temper very easily
• Asthma
• Tension
• Stomach cramps
• Anxiety
• Weight gain (Obesity)
• Weight loss
• Heart problems
• Diabetes
• High blood pressure
• Pain at joints
• Less sex drive
• Hair loss
• Hyperthyroidism
• Obsessive compulsive disorder
• Tooth aches
• Gum diseases
• Ulcers
• PMS (premenstrual syndrome)
• Migraine
• Auto-Immune diseases
  • Eczema
  • Psoriasis
  • Ulcerative Colitis
  • Oral and genital herpes
  • Crohn’s disease (also known as granulomatous colitis and regional enteritis)
• Possibility of cancer

Some facts about stress and concerns about health

Death due to emotional stress is more likely from cancer or cardiovascular diseases rather than smoking and drinking. A study has revealed that people who managed stress ineffectively had 40% higher death rate than people who were not stressed out

People who experienced heart attacks and got angry during emotional arguments doubled the risk of subsequent attacks.

When stresses are handled positively, they are beneficial to us and help us keep alert and be active, energetic. Too much stress turns into distress, and when we handle them negatively, it affects every part of life. Negative handling of stress affects you physically, mentally and emotionally. To make matters worse, we may break relations and deteriorate our status in the society. Negative handling of stress leads us to depression, and to get over this depression people get attracted to seek help of alcohol, tobacco and drugs. Initially these things make us feel that we are not stressed, and give a sense of relieving stresses. The body remains stressed, and the substance abuse make us addicted to them which help in making matters worse. A stressed out person is be given care and attention as soon as possible with emotional support as well. Stress kills silently and can become fatal over a period of time, hamper one’s happy and healthy life.

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When people are stressed out they tend to feel hungry.  Eating gives a feeling of comfort to many people, but they often don’t realize that eating can add to the stresses instead of minimizing them. Since eating gives a feeling of comfort, people also tend to overeat when under stress. The most common substance taken in during stress is caffeine, which is not only found in coffee, tea and soda. You can find caffeine in chocolates too. Caffeine adds to your stress by increasing heart beats and blood pressure. It is advised to cut back on caffeine. Limiting the intake of caffeine will reduce your stress. But do not just stop it abruptly; else you may suffer the ill effects of withdrawal. Do avoid it, reduce it gradually.

Alcohol is another substance people turn to for reducing stress. While alcohol gives a feeling of elation to your mind, the body is still under tremendous stress. Alcohol makes your body  produce adrenaline and this affects your immune system. While under increased stress, some people will use alcohol to help them fall asleep. While this may cause you to  feel  tired and sleepy initially, alcohol actually disrupts your natural sleep pattern and you wake up feeling more tired. Alcohol only adds to your worries, and increases stress.

Another common comfort food for stressed out people is sugar. There’s hardly anyone who wouldn’t enjoy some ice-cream or a candy bar after a long day at work or any other stressful activity. Sugar affects your adrenaline glands and may feel cause you to feel depressed, tired and irritated.

Fatty foods like sugar strain your cardiovascular system. You are leading your heart to more stress by eating such foods. You must also avoid salty food as this increases blood pressure. You will loose control over your emotions. If emotionally disturbed, you are likely to feel agitated later on with compound feelings.

One more disadvantage of eating all the above food is that when stressed out, these foods add to the weight on your body and start showing gradually. Many obesity cases are due to unhealthy eating during stressful situations.

Eating chocolates, fatty foods, sweets and salty foods are all harmful when I’m stressed out. So, what is it that I should eat I’m hungry and stressed?

To control your stress and avoid hunger pangs, take in fruits, vegetables and whole grain food. These will naturally assist you in fighting stress and are good for your health because they are rich with nutrients. These foods are fat free and you will not gain weight. Maximize the nutrients by eating them raw; you will loose vitamins and enzymes after cooking them.

Here are a few tips on eating habits which could reduce stress

1. Do not skip any meals. Try to have at least 3 meals a day, with healthy snacks in between.

2. Try to eat at the same time everyday.

3. While eating focus only on eating. Do not eat while you drive, walk or work. Finish your food and proceed to whatever you want to do.

4. Incorporate fruits, salads in your meals.

5. Drink plenty of water.

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