In this day and age of fast living it’s not uncommon to fell under stress. According to survey conducted by Associated Press and mtvU, about 77 percent of people regularly feel symptoms of stress, and one in three feel overstressed every week. Sources for stress are many. Work is naturally one of them as people are expected to work longer and harder than ever, always chasing deadlines and disregarding their family and friends in the process. On the other hand, even younger people are falling under stress with unreal exam schedules and other necessities of modern educational system. Regardless of the roots of the problem, situation is definitely bad.
Stress can be very harmful to physical and mental health. It is believed that up to 90 percent of doctor visits today are result of stress-related conditions. Constant exposure to stress is considered to be the cause of heart attack and stroke, depression, bipolar disorder and anxiety. But is it even possible to keep stress under some sort of control? Obviously we would have to change our lives drastically before we can be done with stress entirely. Which is more often impossible. But still, we can make few adjustments that could result in better stress management. Following are few easy and methods that have helped me in dealing with day-to-day stress.
Eating Healthier
One of the first things that people do when under stress is turning to unhealthy food. Overeating with hamburgers, French fries and ice cream won’t really solve anything. But there are actually many ways to counter stress by just eating healthier. Try including asparagus to your daily menu, seasoned, broiled or just added to your salad, asparagus will provides folic acid (B vitamin) to your body, which is known for having positive benefits on your mental flexibility and speed of thought.
Also eating more fresh fruits has proven beneficial in dealing with stress, especially fruits like Bananas which are known to be great source of B6 vitamin and magnesium which are helpful in soothing your nervous system. Food rich with Omega-3 fatty acids, such is salmon, have an essential role in keeping your calm in stressful situations and work as a natural anti-depressant. Let’s not forget about Vitamin C here, which is widely known for boosting immune functions of our organism while reducing our body’s production of stress hormones.
Eating chocolate in the state of stress is one of the most common things. But instead of that, one should actually turn to dark chocolate instead. Reason for this is flavanol which is beneficial for improving brain blood flow and maintaining brain functions on healthy levels.
Practice Daily Exercise
Many people know that exercise is a good method for dealing with stress. It allows us to defend against anger and frustration that we have accumulated during the day. Whether you’re hitting the bag or running, exercise can easily blow off steam and clean your thoughts. If it’s regularly done, it can remove some of the worst effects of stress and improve your physical health as well. Reason for this is when we are physically active our brain releases chemicals known as endorphins, which are actually our body’s answer for pain reduction. These chemicals are reason why we feel good and euphoric after a good running session, they reduce depression, anxiety and stress, while helping us in maintaining good sleeping schedule.
But just to be clear, you don’t have to over-exercise yourself, a short running session in nature, bicycle ride or just a good walk could help you in reducing stress as well. Just be sure to practice these regularly and you’ll notice improvements in your mental and physical health shortly.
Massage Therapy
Massage is an ancient healing method practiced for centuries. With a wide variety of styles and schools of practice, massage experts have been helping people with plethora of problems and conditions. Massage therapy today is offered along side with standard health treatments and it’s playing an important role in maintaining our physical and emotional health, regardless of age and gender. Whether it is therapeutic or just relaxing, massage as complementary therapy in combination with a healthy diet and regular exercise, promotes increased body energy and vitality, while reducing muscle tension as well as improving health in general.
Keep The Right Attitude
One way to beat stress is a change of attitude. Positive thinking can actually benefit you greatly when found in stressful situations. This is of course is not an easy task, but rather a method that needs to be developed and trained over prolonged period of time. When we are directly confronted with stressful situation, our brains are switched to “panic mode” and we usually don’t think rationally. So in a way we are obstructing ourselves in dealing with such situations. But steadily training our brain to stay rational and sharp in stressful situations could be beneficial in the long run. Obviously, you can’t scare away the stress with positive thoughts. But you can change your feelings and calm yourself. You could be impressed with the results.
Living in the modern day and age is comparable with living in the fast lane, and all that comes with a price. Stress is really hard to avoid entirely, but it is of high importance to learn how to manage its levels and keep yourself in good mental and physical shape.
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