There are many techniques and lifestyle practices that will improve your ability to deal with stress and to prevent and/or improve the physical effects that result from it. Here are several ways to strengthen your resistance to stress.
Time Management/Stress Management
These days, managing our time is perhaps the hardest part of daily life. As a rule, we expect too much from ourselves in the time that we actually have available on a daily basis. But time management remains a crucial element of stress management. The two most important components of time management are simplifying the demands on our time and organizing the time that we actually have.
As difficult as it may seem, it is essential to allocate our time to things that are rewarding and fruitful in our lives. Simplifying demands means saying no to things that are not important, necessary, or fun. Organizing time requires examining the areas of our lives in which time is wasted. This may require a detailed assessment of where your time is spent.
Keep a log of things that cause stress and disorganization in your life for a few days. Doing this won't help you avoid the hustle and bustle of daily life, but you will better understand it and learn from it. Then, you can begin to take the steps needed to get your schedule under control. Just the act of identifying the sticking points in your day and your stress response can allow you to take the first step toward trying to develop a time-management strategy.
Stress is a function of perception and attitude as much as circumstance. As difficult as it may be, changing the way a situation is perceived can profoundly influence its effect. Growth is rarely achieved without struggle. In every challenge, there is opportunity. Managing challenges and crisis effectively requires focusing on what there is to learn and overcome, and the personal growth attached to difficult circumstances.
Relaxation
Stress often manifests itself as muscle tension and tightness. This is a manifestation of the sympathetic nervous system, which dominates during times of stress. Even if stress is unavoidable, it is possible to reduce the tension built up in your muscles. You can do this by engaging the parasympathetic nervous system, which controls normal body functions such as breathing, heartbeat, blood flow, and proper bowel function.
Relaxation is the opposing force to stress. When you become relaxed, the parasympathetic nervous system, which is designed to also promote repair, maintenance, and restoration, takes charge.
Two modes of relaxation that offer wonderful exercise, as well, are yoga and tai chi. Yoga, a product of ancient India, will improve your breathing, strength, and flexibility. Tai chi, a product of ancient China, will do much the same. For those of you who want even more active exercise, I suggest you explore martial arts.
There are, however, infinite ways to begin to relax; you just have to make the effort. Relaxation exercises, meditation, and massage can also promote the parasympathetic response and assist in relieving the physical signs of stress. Gardening calms people, as does spending time with pets, reading a good book, or watching favorite old movies. Laughter is often an important aspect of relaxation. I find that my patients who create some time each day for relaxation and for things that they enjoy are the patients who regain their health sooner.
Adequate Sleep
Poor sleep habits add to stress, irritability, depression, and alterations in growth hormone. New evidence actually links sleep deprivation with diabetes, obesity, reduced growth hormone release, increased inflammatory cytokine activity, and other health conditions.
Sleep deprivation interferes with productivity, which can further aggravate stress. Inadequate sleep can also interfere with immune function and lead to the physical stress of illness. The most restful sleep is between roughly 9:00 P.M. and 9:00 A.M. This means that eight hours of sleep (give or take a few hours) between 10:00 P.M. and 6:00 A.M. are more restorative than from 3:00 A.M. to 11:00 A.M. Napping during the day can help make up for sleep deprivation, but it may interfere with falling asleep in the evening. Ultimately, you are cheating yourself if you try to beat the sleep clock. Those who fall prey to deadlines and commitments, slipping into bad sleep habits, inevitably pay the price.
Exercise
Most experts will agree that light to moderate exercise such as walking twenty to thirty minutes, three to four times a week, or gardening and swimming can diminish mental and emotional stress and have a positive impact on your metabolism without heightening risk of injury.
Moderate exercise reduces the effects of stress hormones by providing a physical outlet for stressful feelings. Aerobic exercise stimulates the release of endorphins from the pituitary and hypothalamus. Endorphins are neuropeptides, which bind with opiate receptors in the brain. They function to relieve pain and promote a sense of well-being. There is some evidence that exercise training increases circulating DHEA, even while at rest, which burns off stress hormones and reduces cortisol levels.
Exercise also has a significant impact on blood sugar. By controlling blood sugar more effectively, you are managing a key factor in the development of insulin resistance, diabetes, and obesity. In addition, proper exercise and stretching will keep you limber as you age, build bone density, and just make you feel so much better.
Regular exercise has even been reported to help people who are depressed to overcome their depression. The physiological changes associated with exercise contribute to an overall sense of control, health promotion, and ability to cope with stress. If you have been sedentary for some time, consult with your healthcare practitioner before beginning any new exercise program.
Besides the strengthening of the heart muscle and other aerobic benefits, exercising has a tremendous effect on lowering blood sugar. Many type 2 diabetics, for instance, can stop their medication simply by increasing their level of activity and watching their diet. Exercise and diet together are key to reversing insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome. Exercise has also been found to be the most important lifestyle factor in improving quality of life in old age and increasing life span. But don't underestimate the effect of the other keys on your health.
If you have any doubt as to the importance of exercise, consider these study results: In a recent study conducted at Duke University, researchers found that adults who did not exercise for eight months had an increase in visceral fat (the fat is tucked in and around our organs, in other words, abdominal or belly fat) of 8.6 percent. In contrast, the study participants who exercised the most lost 8.1 percent of their belly fat. Even the researchers were surprised at just how quickly the effects of being sedentary were seen.
Getting back into an exercise routine is not only good for your physical health, by leading to improved blood sugar control and weight loss for starters, but it also improves mental health. Exercising regularly helps to control stress hormones and to decrease feelings of depression, tension, and anger.
The key to exercise is finding a form that you like and can easily incorporate into your day. Choose an activity you enjoy and do it at least three times per week. If you have been very inactive, go slowly when you start to exercise. While almost everyone can tolerate walking, it is wise to consult you're a doctor before beginning an exercise program.
Faith, Spirituality, and Healing
There is a recent renewed interest in the effects of spirituality on health. Faith and religious practices are currently being studied and are being found to play a critical role in people's health and in their relationships. Whether that spirituality is expressed through the Christian, Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim, Native American faiths, or of any other faith, spirituality and medicine have long intertwined in health. With the resurgence in complementary and alternative medicine in recent years, spirituality and healing have once again become important in the health of our population. Holistic healing honors the integration and interplay of mind, body, spirit and emotions.
Stress that roams uncontrolled chokes the human spirit-the vital force of human energy, which ultimately affects your physical body. Although we can learn and grow from the stressful events in life, the reality remains that most stress is a waste: a waste of time, a waste of energy.
Music, ritual, and ceremony are all part of healing. A community of friends, family, and helpers often participate in the healing intervention. A healthy person has a healthy relationship with his or her community and, ultimately, with all of Nature. The goal of spiritual healing is to find wholeness, balance, harmony, beauty, and meaning, in other words, a truly "wholistic" approach.
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