Everyone wants to get better in some way, shape or form.  Some people want to become a better parent or spouse.  Some people want to be more productive.  Some people want to improve their health.  No matter what area you want to improve, there is something that could be holding you back.

Stress.

Stress has its benefits. In our earliest days it was there to protect during those moments when a saber tooth tiger was chasing us, or giving us that extra boost of strength needed to bring down a woolly mammoth.  It still serves its purpose today.  There are still instants when we need a fight or flight response,  For instance, you step out into traffic without looking and your ears pick up a screeching sound, your flight response causes you to jump back to the curb long before you are actually aware that the screeching sound is a car applying its breaks in an attempt to avoid hitting you.  Stress can also help you finish a term paper or deliver a product on time.  So stress is good.  Why should we worry about it holding us back?

We, unfortunately, can easily turn on our fight or flight reaction purely from a psychological stimuli.  We get worried about the next board meeting, or what someone will think about the clothes your wearing and our adrenaline kicks in.  Turning on our fight or flight reaction is easy.  Turning it off is not so easy.  When we don’t turn off the fight or flight reaction that is when chronic stress develops and it can be debilitating to down right dangerous.

Long term psychological stress can affect our immune system.  It first breaks down our cellular immunities, increasing inflammation (which can lead to chronic pain) and then moves on to broader immune functions.  And its not just our immune system that is affected.  Here are some other areas stress can have an affect:

Taken from helpguide.org

Just looking at the multitude of symptoms, its easy to see how stress can affect all areas of our life.  Irritability could lead to a parent snapping at a child or a spouse saying something cruel to a loved one.  All of the cognitive problems can sap all productivity.  Behavioral problems can lead to an unhealthy diet and use of alcohol, which further ruins your health and creates more stress.  So, if stress is easy to turn on but hard to turn off, how do avoid turning it on and turn it off when it is on?

Stanford University’s Robert Sapolsky has been studying stress for years and knows that we are most stressed when he feel we don’t have control.  Just knowing that there is a panic button there if you need it is often enough to turn off the stress.

Taking Control

1. Begin by eating healthful foods.

Stress can have a profound affect on your eating habits and eating habits can have a profound affect on stress.  Stress causes us to crave unhealthy foods.  These foods tend to be highly processed foods with lots of sugar.  Think Twinkies, Bon Bons, Doritos,  etc… These foods offer little nutrional value, lots of calories, and can increase the risks of other physical hazards, such as insulin resistance and inflammatory diseases.  Avoiding these foods is important.  Adopting a new dietary lifestyle can help you turn to healthful foods in your time of need.  I recommend a paleo or primal lifestyle. For more information on adopting this lifestyle you can also check out my Anarchy in the USDA series.  More and more research is coming out that supports diets high in fat are more natural and healthier, in addition there is new research that shows high fat diets can help us reduce stress and research on horses shows it might help us from turning it on in the first place.

2. Start exercising.

Exercise is an important way to reduce stress. Exercising is easy,  it doesn’t require gym memberships nor does it require jogging, and best of all it doesn’t require leotards or spandex.  Heck, it doesn’t even require shoes.  Just get outside (if you can) and start walking.  Take your shoes off if your bold.  Walk naturally. And enjoy the many benefits of walking.  If you can’t get outside another great way to get exercise and relax is yoga.

3. Meditate or Pray

Having faith can help you live longer there is a suggestion that regularly attending a religious service (regardless of the type of religion) can help you live up to eight years longer. And more and more, western medicine is beginning to accept meditation as a healthy practice. If you have time to relax for ten minutes at work,  I’ve included a couple of links to help. Here and here.

4. Get good sleep.

Sleep is super important too much or too little can have a profound affect on us.  Here is a great article to help you catch those z’s.

5. Make your place more relaxing.

A cluttered office or a cluttered house can be stressful.  Here are some tips for creating a relaxing environment.

6. Ease up at work.

I’ve talked before about the stresses my job placed on me.  I’ve followed a few of these tips and they have helped.

7. Get a massage.

This might be easier said than done.  In today’s economy, many of us can’t afford to pay for a massage.  This doesn’t mean you can’t receive a good one though.  Got a friend or partner that might be willing to exchange a massage for a massage?  Here’s an instructional video introducing you to a basic back massage.

8. Enjoy your family.

Do the kids have you stressed out?  What is the main reason for this.  Perhaps you have expectations for them that they aren’t meeting.  Or, you just can’t quite get why you’re kids aren’t perfect.  Maybe that’s just what kids do?

9.  Laugh More

Laughter really is the best medicine. Laughter reduces cortisol and adrenaline and increases endorphins. It has many other benefits as well, check these out.  I whole-heartedly believe number nine is essential, so I have taken the liberty of writing you a prescription, as I believe you have a fever for more cowbell.