Alternative Cures

Health: Stressed About Stress?

Posted on January 26, 2008
Category: Uncategorized | 1 Comment

Stress is a killer and that’s no idle comment, its a fact. Stress ages our bodies, causes cells to die in the millions, creates unhappiness and tiredness, affects our health, as well as creating many illnesses that would not otherwise have appeared in a normal healthy body. Following on from the last post Alternative Cures by Belief, alternative cures exist to deal with stress, but there are also some very average, very mundane and normal everyday things you can do to reduce the amount of stress in your life and improve your health at the same time.

Start by simply changing some of our habits.

Make an effort to slow down, like eating, walking and even talking more slowly and watch stress levels go down. Allow yourself extra time to do things. Avoid tensing your body unnecessarily and if you notice that your jaw is tight, then relax it and massage gently just below your ears to release tension and stress.

Altering your diet can make a big difference to your stress levels. Try avoiding some of the foods and drink that make you edgy or hyperactive, such as coffee, excess sugar, chocolate, yeast products and alcohol, although the occasional glass of wine (preferably red) is beneficial.

I know I’ve harked on about this before as a not so alternative cure for many ills, but drink two litres of plain water a day – this is because dehydration raises the heart rate which will make you feel even more anxious and stressed.

Try eating more of the cooling foods, such as melon, yoghurt, parsley, squash, spinach and fish. Herbal teas are also very good for helping you to relax and de-stress, especially camomile or lemon balm (melissa).

Often stress accumulates as tension in our neck and shoulders, so its a good idea to get someone to gently massage these areas. Indian tradition tells us that gaining control is all about letting go of stressful feelings. Yogic deep breathing exercises are easy to do. Try this simple exercise:

Breathe deeply in for three to four seconds, then breathe slowly out for the count of six, then hold your breath for a count of six and repeat the cycle for two minutes.

This deep breathing exercise can be used as a pre-meditation aid to help you to disperse all of the day’s stresses and troubles by taking some time out just for yourself – meditation is a wonderful way of re-balancing the body through deep relaxation.

No one needs to suffer from stress when there are so many simple measures that anyone can take to reduce stress from their lives. When stress levels are low, happiness levels soon rise, which can only ever be a good thing!

Terry Didcott
Freelance Writer
Alternative Cures

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About the Author

• Terry Didcott is a qualified hypno- therapist, writer and web designer. What inspired him to create this website was his life changing experience that happened around 1994. Click here to read more:

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