Eliminating Stress

Guest · Guest

alive advocates that stress can have a negative impact on my physical body. How is this so and what can I do to prevent it?

Brad King · alive Expert Joined: 31 Aug 2005 Posts: 1

Your body has inherited an incredible stress response going back thousands of years to ensure your survival. This fight-or-flight response was once called into action only in times of danger (e.g., when being attacked or running from a predator). Today, we end up using this fight-or-flight response way too often. This constant "call for action" has the potential to cause mass destruction in both our physical and mental health.

Stress is so potentially harmful that in my book, "BIO-AGE: 10 Steps to a Younger You" (CDG Books, 2001),

I dedicate an entire chapter to how stress can age us beyond our years. Uncontrolled stress can cause heart problems (including heart attacks), immune dysfunction, blood sugar disorders (e.g., type II diabetes), memory loss, hormonal disruption (menstrual irregularities in women and sexual dysfunction in men), loss of muscle and gain in body fat–especially in the tummy region.

Your body responds to actual or perceived stress the same way, by releasing a variety of powerful adrenal steroid hormones called glucocorticoids. These hormones ready your body for a potential threat by calling upon all available energy reserves–even if it means breaking down muscle tissue to make extra glucose for energy.

As we lose valuable muscle tissue, we create a slowdown in metabolism, thus making it easier to gain body fat. This is exacerbated by the fact that stress also depletes our neurotransmitter serotonin, causing us to have insatiable cravings for sweet fatty foods and therefore increasing our fat cell counts even further.

Here are a few ways you can combat stress starting today:

1. Change your perception of reality. Mark Twain summed this up when he said, "I have been through some terrible things in my life–some of which actually happened."

2. Laugh. Laughter has been shown to lower stress hormones and boost immunity.

3. Exercise. You must exercise if you want to reduce stress and live a healthier life.

4. Breathe deeply. When you breathe deeply from your diaphragm (your stomach should expand when you breathe in), you not only deliver more oxygen to all your cells, but you also cause endorphins, the body's natural painkillers, to be released.

5. And, last but not least, sleep. Deep sleep restores the ability of all your 100 trillion cells to deal with stress. Sleep also replenishes adrenal reserves and tops up your serotonin tanks to control food cravings.

Jodi · Guest

I find that the deep breathing in yoga is the best stress-management tool I have. Anyone who suffers from stress -yes, YOU - should give yoga a try.

ReignOfLuck · Joined: 15 Aug 2007 Posts: 35 Location: los angeles, ca

Yoga is good but if your walking around all the time worrying about what people will say, what they're thinking about you, and/or just letting everything get to you you will always be stressed. Have an I don't care attitude and stop worrying about the small things will help. Just remember if your stressed over something there is someone else who is going through something worst than you.