How to Reduce and Manage Stress

Introduction
Do you often feel tired and stressed out? You’re not alone. One of the most common problems I hear from patients is that they felt fatigued, anxious or depressed. And they often have trouble sleeping – even though they are exhausted.

Stress is something you must drastically minimize in order to not just stay sane, but to stay healthy.

Damaging stress is created when forces or circumstances outside the body overwhelm the mind, the physiology, and the senses in the body causing them to go through a negative change.

Unlike the obviously harmful events such as a fresh cut that bleeds, the damaging, and even deadly, effects of stress can often be a silent killer.

There is a direct link between stress and the dysfunction of various parts and systems within the body. Stress reactions alter the digestive system, over-stimulate certain glands while under stimulating others, affect heart function and change breathing. As a result, stress has an actual, measurable negative impact on:

• Blood pressure
• Cholesterol
• Electrolytes
• Brain chemistry
• Blood sugar levels
• Joint function
• Hormonal balance

All of the physiological problems associated with stress will speed up the aging process and cause or contribute to literally every type of symptom or disease known to man. Stress even makes you gain weight.

People all face much of the same outside factors that cause stress. Work, relationships, school, personal and family health problems, money issues, and even positive events like weddings and parties can all be stress-producing circumstances. However, none of these things are necessarily bad.

Both happy events and tragedies alike cause a stress response in the body. Some stress is unavoidable. The only way to have zero stress is to not get up in the morning!

On the other hand, stress only becomes negative when your response to it is negative. The condition we call stress is entirely self-induced. It is how each individual responds to stress, and not the stress itself, that causes a negative reaction in the body.

How Does Stress Affect Health?
The human body is designed to experience stress and react to it. Stress can be positive, keeping us alert and ready to avoid danger. Stress becomes negative when a person faces continuous challenges without relief or relaxation between challenges. As a result, the person becomes overworked, and stress-related tension builds.

Stress that continues without relief can lead to a condition called distress -- a negative stress reaction. Distress can disturb the body's internal balance or equilibrium -- leading to physical symptoms including headaches, upset stomach, elevated blood pressure, chest pain, and problems sleeping. Research suggests that stress also can bring on or worsen certain symptoms or diseases.

Stress also becomes harmful when people use alcohol, tobacco, or drugs to try to relieve their stress. Unfortunately, instead of relieving the stress and returning the body to a relaxed state, these substances tend to keep the body in a stressed state and cause more problems. Consider the following facts:

• Forty-three percent of all adults suffer adverse health effects from stress.
• Seventy-five to 90% of all doctor's office visits are for stress-related ailments and complaints.
• Stress is linked to six of the leading causes of death: heart disease, cancer, lung ailments, accidents, cirrhosis of the liver, and suicide.
• The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) declared stress a hazard of the workplace. In terms of lost hours due to absenteeism, reduced productivity and workers' compensation benefits, stress costs American industry more than $300 billion annually.
• The lifetime prevalence of an emotional disorder is more than 50%, often due to chronic, untreated stress reactions.

Warning Signs!
So, how do you know if you, a loved one, or someone who reports to you, is suffering from out of control stress and burnout? Here are 13 early warning signs:

1. Chronic fatigue - exhaustion, tiredness, a sense of being physically run down
2. Anger at those making demands
3. Self-criticism for putting up with the demands
4. Cynicism, negativity, and irritability
5. A sense of being besieged
6. Exploding easily at seemingly inconsequential things
7. Frequent headaches and gastrointestinal disturbances
8. Weight loss or gain
9. Sleeplessness and depression
10. Shortness of breath
11. Suspiciousness
12. Feelings of helplessness
13. Increased degree of risk taking

How to Reduce and Manage Stress?

Fortunately, you can help reverse this problem by making a few simply lifestyle changes.

• Keep a positive attitude – one’s mental attitude has a huge influence on one’s health. Research has shown that optimists tend to develop better coping skills, which may shelter them from stress and depression.
• Accept that there are events that you cannot control. Everyday troubles such as world events, news, your sports team performance, friends problems and pending personal crisis are events that you cannot control. Yet we allow them to create chaos, worry, stress, anxiety and a lot of lost time. Someone said, “Worrying works. 99% of the things I worry about never happen.” The Bible says, “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.” Matthew 6:24
• Exercise Regularly – your body can fight stress better when it is strong and fit.
• Eat Healthy – eat well-balanced meals. Skipping meals is one of the worst things you can do for your body. When you are hungry, your blood sugar drops and triggers your sympathetic nervous system. Also increase your vegetable intake.
• Get enough rest and sleep – your body needs time to recover from stressful events. During sleep, your adrenal glands are restored and repaired. Unfortunately, most of us place little value on sleep and end up getting less than we need. Result: Your adrenal glands stay depleted. The average person needs six to eight hours of sleep each night. If you feel as if you are dragging, you need the full eight hours.
• Don’t rely on alcohol or drugs to reduce stress.
• Learn to manage your time more effectively – apply more discipline to your life. Improve your preparation, improve your scheduling. Your actions and reactions are usually things that you can truly, totally control and influence.

How Can Sportron Help?

Sportron has designed a number of products that will nutritionally support you living in a very stressful world.
We recommend:

• UltraGard Forte
• Neurotron
• PM

These FoodMatrix products will help with stress, anxiety, depression, insomnia, headaches and frustration.

Conclusion

Stress can be very damaging and harmful to your overall health and well-being. It can also be the cause for problems in relationships. As it is impossible to escape the stress of this world, it is important that you know that stress is manageable.

Site by Alteraseld E-Solutions

If you have questions about this site, please contact webmaster