Stress is a normal aspect of our daily life and can be triggered by something as small as an increased workload or unpaid bills. Whichever the cause, however; mild cases of stress can turn life-threatening when left unaddressed.
As it appears, most stress-related conditions are often ignored and shrugged off as coincidences or even myths. Apparently, you may be sitting in a ticking time bomb. According to a recent WebMD publication, 75% to 90% of all visits to the doctor are as a result of stress-related issues.
Honestly, there is no escaping from getting stressed as long as there is a boss on your head and personal goals to achieve. While the sheer demands of modern living can sometimes get overwhelming, mental stress is forever your arch nemesis that can negatively impact on your daily life.
How Stress Affects our Daily Life
Chronic stress triggers can send your life into a devastating tailspin. According to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), advanced cases of stress can initiate a chain of mental and physical reactions ultimately increasing your risk for conditions like type 2 diabetes, severe headaches, depression, anxiety, heart diseases, obesity, and lack of concentration.
In reality, unmanaged stress impacts every aspect of our daily life. An article published by the Harvard Medical School states that ongoing stress can offset our hormonal balance thus causing abnormal mood swings and lack of sleep. Besides that, increased or decreased levels of hormones in the body can also trigger cravings capable of unleashing a feasting frenzy on junk foods. Additionally, this can also send you into a laziness stupor robbing off all your willingness to attend to the daily workouts. While a blend of heavy eating and extreme laziness is a perfect recipe for weight gain, it is crystal clear stressed people can easily become overweight.
In general, chronic stress can cause overreactions, cravings and poor judgments which create multiple hitch spots in our daily lives. So is stress management important? Definitely yes!
Importance of Stress Management
Whether a corporate person or a stay at home mom, stress management is an important aspect of your life. Besides enhancing your capability to cope with your daily pressures, learning to mitigate the impact of stress is crucial for both your physical and psychological wellbeing.
1. Health Benefits of Stress Management
Medically, chronic stress is considered a significant risk factor for conditions like heart attack and cancer. When you are stressed, your body tries to cope with the situation through simple neurological adjustment. However, prolonged stress pushes your body to its very edge which can affect your overall health.
In the long run, this can result in various musculoskeletal conditions like headaches and indigestion. If not managed, chronic stress can cause acid refluxes, constipation and nausea. While this can be a real nightmare, it is important now more than ever to consider proper stress management techniques.
2. Psychological benefits of stress management
While stress can wreak myriads of mental havoc like depression phobia and anxiety and panic attacks, it is apparent that failure to manage this devastating condition can greatly affect overall productivity. In our modern workplaces, stress management is particularly crucial as it helps:
- Reduce cases of workplace conflicts
- Boosts output even in demanding conditions
- Enhances concentration
- Boosts memory and alertness
- Helps deal with sleeplessness
- Improves workplace cooperation and engagement
- Boosts hormonal balance
Stress Management Techniques
In the simplest terms possible, stress is a rush of anxiety resulting from the pressures of our everyday life. The capability to mitigate the emotional and physical impacts of this tension is called stress management.
With loads of unsorted family, workplace and relationship issues, your entire life can be clouded with mental stress. Stress is dependent on various factors and can result in devastating side effects which ultimately affects our daily life. But since it is almost impossible to deal with some of the root causes, the best option is learning how to cope with the situation.
How to Manage Stress with Proper Dieting
Undeniably food is the last thing anyone would think of having an impact on his/her stress levels. Apparently, Ali Miller-author to the Anti-Anxiety Diet and dietitian at AliMillerRD.com begs to differ. According to Miller, unhealthy foods like cookies, caffeine, alcohol, fries and refined sugars can trigger a hormonal imbalance in your body thus increasing your stress levels.
On the other hand, says Miller, healthy delicacies including nuts, avocados, and bananas are known to induce the secretion of feel-good hormones (endorphins) which helps regulate the effect of anxiety and regulate mood swings thus helping manage stress.
While it is crystal clear that diet choice can affect stress levels, you might be wondering which foods are ideal for stress management. Essentially the list of stress regulation foods is extensive. However, if you are looking forward to delicacies rich in stress management elements, here are a few to consider.
1. Tea
Across England to India, tea is an integral element of any household. Either black, green or with cream, tea is a powerful drink that goes beyond just accompanying your morning snack. Essentially, tea is a great relaxant that helps calm fatigued nerves eventually relieve your body from stress in a soothing way.
Tip
For excellent results don’t add cream or milk in the tea.
2. Oranges and nuts
Besides the pressures of our everyday life, stress can also result from nutritional deficiency. While the lack of vitamin B can trigger massive stress levels, eating foods rich in this nutritional value would be a wise move. Delicacies rich in vitamin B include Oranges and nuts.
Other Best Stress Management Foods are
- Green leafy veggies like spinach
- Bananas
- Dark chocolate
- Avocados
- Peanut butter
To crown it all, consider taking lots of water and milk. They help balance your electrolyte levels consequently helping reduce stress.
Stress Management with Proper Exercise
Intense outdoor activities can be a great adrenaline boost that gives you an opportunity to let loose and completely forget about your most stressful side of life. Imagine rapidly sliding down that local water park with a couple of close friends, sounds thrilling right! Indeed it’s a special and breathtaking moment that generates a vast amount of feel-good endorphins.
Whether doing yoga in the comfort of your living house or hiking out in the woods with a few trusted colleagues, as long as you are into it, believe it or not, at the end of the day you will go home a happier person. Besides rejuvenating and boosting moods, regular exercising is a great sleep enhancer that guarantees you an uninterrupted snooze each and every day.
Essentially regular exercise sharpens your psychological systems which help manage anxiety and mild depression ultimately relieving stress. But if are the busy type, concerned with the most serious aspects of life-making money, outside activities may be a California dream.
Although outdoor exercising is particularly recommended for long-term stress control, there are a number of in-house tactics ideal for the non-athletic type. Talking about indoor stress management, yoga appears to be a perfect proposition.
According to the Mayo Clinic, performing yoga helps to regulate blood pressure and lower heart rate. Specific yoga techniques like meditation mindfulness and controlled breathing can significantly improve mental and physical discipline which enhances relaxation thus relieving the negative impacts of stress.
Whether a routine evening walk with your faithful dog or a thorough workout at the gym, virtually any form of exercise is important to your overall wellbeing. However, if you’re not used to physical activities, intense exercising can lead to skyrocketing stress levels. As a result, a good exercise plan that will help correct your stress levels should always start with the very simple tasks like walking or jogging.
Most importantly, for your body to generate the needed amount of feel-good hormones-which are the secret to stress management with exercising, consider engaging in thrilling activities like
- Dancing to a favorite tune
- Swimming as well as water aerobics
- Group biking
- Hiking with friends
- Surfing and boat rowing
Conclusion
Although devastating, apparently stress is not a condition you can completely do away with. As you struggle to cope in your unpredictable world, moments of high stresses are imminent and to be honest with you, they may occur more often than you might anticipate.
To survive in the unforgiving world and avoid getting overwhelmed by stressful situations, it is imperative to master how to manage the devastating effects of stress. As it appears from the above article, proper exercising and making the right food choices can be a great way to effectively manage stress.