Stress. The word brings to mind many different definitions doesn’t it? It is an individual thing in many ways – although the Canadian Stress Institute’s founder, Dr. Hans Selye was the first one to define the condition. He is known as the Father of Stress. Let’s say you are walking through the park. All of a sudden, out of the bush at the side of the path, a black bear appears. Fear surges through every cell of your body. Your mind and body are stressed, and together they will prepare physiologically and psychologically for the “fight or flight” stress response. The heart pumps faster and blood surges through the blood vessels, lactic acid is released into the muscles, adrenalin and other chemicals are released, breathing becomes shallow, and the bowels loosen.

Your mind is racing and desperately trying to remember what it is you do when you see a Bear. Do you make yourself bigger looking? Do you run and climb a tree (even though as a kid you were lousy at this)?. You try to yell HELP, but only a little squeak comes out. The bear looks at you and quickly lumbers off in the opposite direction. Oh sweet relief. Your body relaxes. Half an hour later you feel exhausted and you wonder why. Fear elicits the stress response. It doesn’t matter if it is a bear in the park, any life threatening situation, a rude customer, accidents, challenges at home, problems at work, financial lack – your body is programmed, when stressful stimuli are presented, to react in this manner.

You don’t have to think about it. Courtesy of Mr. Bear, you have experienced the body’s stress response. It leaves you feeling like your energy was stolen. So, imagine if you are someone who lives a stressful life and this response happens over and over and over, many times every day. You will be one exhausted human being. With fatigue – the offshoot of continual stress – comes an entire set of other problems. Depression, lack of energy, more colds/flu, weight gain or weight loss, memory loss, higher risk of heart attack/stroke, and the list goes on. But don’t despair. There is

a solution.

Psycho-neuro-immunology was the field of study that Hans Selye created in the 1960’s. It is the study of the mind, the nervous system and the immune system and how they all work together. Simplistically put, Dr. Selye proved that your mind controls how your body responds. You may remember hearing the phrase – you are what you think. Herein lies the key to stress and how to control it in your life. Dr. Wayne Dyer once said, “If you change the way you think about things, the things you think about, change.” Confused? We all know people for whom the phrase “if it wasn’t for bad luck, they’d have no luck at all” applies. The thing is, once you have experienced a whole run of non stop negativity in your life, it is very easy to slip into that space where you begin to notice all the negative things that happen every single day to most of us. You know, bumping into things, dropping things, running into grumpy or rude people, things that don’t work or break.

Then you start to almost fixate on this and all the negativity starts to grow in your life Your inner voice joins in and soon you are heard to be saying things like “Yeah, that always happens to me” or “With my luck, it probably wouldn’t work anyway”. The key is to stop focusing on the negatives in your life – because whatever you focus on becomes bigger in your mind. We all have upsetting things happen in ours lives. Some things take longer to deal with than others.

That’s just how life is. But once we’ve grieved, or recuperated, or whatever it was we had to do, we can start to turn this around by becoming aware of each and every time we respond in a negative way. Deal with it and then move on. Don’t stay stuck in negativity. Stop and think about how you could turn your situation around and start to re-train your brain to see the positive. Happiness is a choice – make it yours.

Carole Fawcett is a Stress Management expert and laughter therapist who lives in the beautiful Okanagan Valley, British Columbia. Check out her website at http://www.afunnybusiness.ca

Feeling stressed out lately? Don’t worry, there is a simple and incredibly effective solution — one that will help you lose weight in more ways than you might think!

Relieving Stress with Exercise

Research has proven that relieving stress with exercise is one of the best ways to improve your overall health. Regular exercise provides an amazing array of anti-stress benefits to the human body — including reduced muscle tension, improved cardiovascular functioning, increased blood oxygen levels, and reduced cholesterol and triglyceride levels, just to name a few.

Relieving stress with exercise also, of course, burns calories and helps to reduce body fat. Since most other anti-stress ‘remedies’ (especially pharmaceutical drugs, alcohol, and overeating) cause you to gain weight it’s obvious that exercise is the best option.

Control Cortisol, Lose Weight

But, besides burning calories, there’s another reason relieving stress with exercise helps you to reduce body fat. Exercise produces chemicals that help to lower cortisol production. Cortisol is a “stress hormone” that has gotten a lot of press lately because many new diet products claim to block it.

While the effectiveness of these products has yet to be proven, there is little doubt that controlling cortisol levels is a very important factor in weight loss and long-term weight control — not to mention

optimal health and fitness. Relieving stress with exercise is an absolutely fool-proof way to lower cortisol in the body.

Elevated cortisol levels are fully or partially responsible for everything from sugar and carb cravings to overeating to low energy levels… and more. Experts also believe that high cortisol production increases the amount of “toxic fat” stored on your body — this is the abdominal fat that may trigger cardiovascular disease and inflammation-related health problems.

Summary

Relieving stress with exercise is, without a doubt, the best way to deal with your physical and mental tension. Not only will regular exercise reduce stress levels, it will also help you control how much cortisol your body produces. This, in turn, will help you to avoid food cravings, reduce dangerous abdominal fat, and basically feel much better. So, next time you feel stressed out, get up, get out, and start relieving stress with exercise!

About The Author

Jamie Clark is a fitness writer and editor of the popular ‘Really Useful Fitness Blog’ located at: http://www.fitfaq.com/blog.html

Please feel free to use this article in your newsletter or on your web site. Just be sure to include this resource box as well as a live link to the fitFAQ.com Fitness Guide: http://www.fitfaq.com

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Stress is normal. Stress is OK. Stress is the same for everyone. If you’re not stressed, you’re not working hard enough.

How many times have you heard these, and other such remarks in the course of your working week? Of course, as with all such platitudes, they are close to the truth, close, but no cigar!

First of all, although a certain amount of stress is to be expected from time to time, it is NOT normal to be routinely stressed out, and this will invariably impact both you and your work. Stress is a coping mechanism, and this phrase alone should make you concerned – “coping” is something you do to get by when you would otherwise crack up, keel over or otherwise suffer some fundamental systems failure – it is best avoided and leaves you drained, exhausted and dangerously close to a whole raft of slippery slopes that should best be kept at a safe distance.

Of course, one man’s stress is another man’s “buzz”. Or is it? Well, not exactly. Whilst the conditions that give one person a “buzz” may drive another to the brink of insanity, the stress itself remains the same.

Relieving stress, then, becomes a simple collection of principles that simultaneously remove the cause of the problem, give the body what it needs to cope properly with the effects and ensures a proper maintenance routine to discover what the damage is, how best to fix it and, ultimately, how successful the repair was.

Removing the cause.If you hold your hand up in the air for a prolonged period of time, something predictable will happen. Sooner or later, depending on your age, fitness, flexibility etc, your arm will get sore, probably your shoulder will ache and quite likely you will begin to lose some feeling in the extremities of your hand. At this point (or before if you are in any way sensible) you may want to do something about the situation. There are potentially many solutions, but the primary ones are to remove the cause of the problem (i.e. drop you arm to a more natural position) which will (in most cases) result in a complete resolution of the “effects” in a relatively short period of time or to in some way “treat the symptoms”.

This may mean giving the arm support, wither by someone else holding it up, adding some supportive mechanism (like a brace) to take some of the strain, taking painkillers etc to “numb” the effects or any other such measure designed to provide temporary relief (the problem will return sooner or later with any such approach).

Clearly, it is preferable and long-term, much more effective to remove the cause, allowing the effect to resolve of itself until the next time you decide to do something equally self-destructive. Relief from “treatments” is temporary, restrictive (you still, as a result have your hand in the air!) and may well have its own negative effects, e.g. constriction of blood or drug side-effects.

With regard to stress, there is always a cause (or a number of causes). Identifying and removing those causes may be time-consuming, difficult and disruptive, but it is infinitely preferable to the alternatives in exactly the same way. Einstein said that “Every action has an equal and opposite reaction”. Remove the action and, by definition, the reaction ceases to cause or reason to exist.

The law of supply and demand.We all know that we are using up energy all the time. Even whilst you are sleeping, your brain is using large amounts of energy to file away the day’s activities and recharge for the next day. Your digestive system is turning whatever local delicacy you had for dinner into the constituent components required for rebuilding. Your heart is selflessly continuing to pump all those nice nutrients to every extremity and your lungs, kidneys and liver are quietly mopping up all the gunk of the day and preparing it for removal to another home, namely anywhere your body can comfortably (and legally, in this day and age) deposit it!

Without constant supplies of various nutrients, these processes would falter, adjust, decay and, in extreme cases, stop. When they stop, you don’t have to worry about them any more, because you are no longer here to do so – at least not in our bodily, conscious way of thinking, at least ?. These nutrients include over 60 minerals, 20 vitamins (depending on who you ask), 22 amino-acids, and countless enzymes, fats, sugars and other such tasty morcels. Whatever nutrients are not included in the diet (and these days, that’s most of the important ones) the body has to try to make for itself (e.g. Vitamin D, which is made in the skin in response to sunlight, and cholesterol, which is made in the liver) or to scavenge it from somewhere else (e.g. from various stores, less active cells etc).

Some nutrients cannot be made in the body and MUST be in the

diet for health to prosper. These are known as essential nutrients, as their inclusion in the diet is essential to health. An example of this is the Omega-3 fatty acids, other wise known as essential fatty acids (EFAs). These little beauties are (amongst other things) the building blocks of the nervous system and are required for the multiplication, growth AND maintenance of ALL brain and nerve cells. As an example of our cultural limitations, approximately 25% of Americans are so deficient in this “brain food” that it cannot be measured in their systems!

Relating this to stress is simple. Stress causes pressure, damage and increased energy requirements (amongst other things). Consequently, in a stressed environment (i.e. person) INCREASED amounts of nutrients are required to repair the increased amount of damage that is taking place, and the specific nutrients required in any one case will be dependent on which systems are under which type of stress (stands to reason, doesn’t it?). For example, if your nervous system is under stress, e.g. Multiple Sclerosis and other neuro-degenerative diseases, you may want to consider providing more of specific nervous system nutrients, whereas if your bones are bearing the brunt of the damage, mineral requirements may be increased. Of course, in most cases, the problem will be multi-factorial and many different systems will require help.

That help can come in one of two ways (or, preferably, both). Either you increase the supply of appropriate nutrients by adding to or altering the availability of nutrients in the body or you reduce the demand for those nutrients by removing the cause(s) of the damage in the first place. Clearly, if you can perform both of these functions at once, it is probable that recovery will take place considerably faster than either one alone.Once the damage has been repaired, supply and demand balanced and stores replaced, health will return in abundance as body systems enjoy going back to what they do best!

Patch or repair?All body cells are replaced regularly. Some, i.e. blood cells only last a few weeks before a new battalion are marched out to provide reinforcements. Others, such as bone cells are the sloths of the regeneration process and are replaced roughly every seven years, but they ARE replaced – continually. As a rule, your body will know best what it needs and when, but, if you are like most of us, it is not very communicative (in general, and except in extreme circumstances when it’s often almost too late) and doesn’t provide a daily update by fax, email or even snail-mail, pay-on-delivery!

As a consequence, it is usually best to give the body everything it is likely to need on the average day, every day unless you know specifically that something is awry. In addition, a tune-up from a qualified mechanic, i.e. healthcare professional, who can recognise pending servicing requirements and even major overhauls, will help to direct specific support where it is needed.

Unlike our supposed health-care systems, which may be more-aptly called sickness systems, natural medicine (as encompassed by the various disciplines of complimentary and alternative approaches) seeks to achieve the maximum balance and wellness with the minimum of tinkering with the machinery. It is interesting to note that in many ancient societies, “medicine men” (for want of a better word) were valued and rewarded for keeping the tribe healthy. When people got sick, the medicine man would often be punished or remain unpaid until everyone was made well again. Compare that with our “one-drug-fits-all” modern medicine approach which charges exorbitant fees for keeping us permanently sick and we may begin to see the error of our ways.

Regardless of which route you choose, regular medical care is essential both to identify potential problems and to treat those that have arisen, ideally with methods that support the body to resolve the problem of itself.

If you run your car continually without fuel, lubrication or servicing, pretty soon something is going to break. If your body is under continual stress, without proper nourishment, relaxation, exercise and care it will also break. Is it just me, or does the answer seem obvious to you too? If your car doesn’t start, you check the gas, the battery, make sure the oil is OK and maybe you’d drop it into the garage, so why do we treat the body so differently? Isn’t it logical that if your machinery isn’t quite up to scratch that you should check your fuel, top up your energy levels, recharge your batteries and get a systems check to see what damage you might have done?

For a simple way to resolve stress permanently, see the Five Steps to Stress Relief.

Brian Adamson

Natural Health Information Centre

This article is Copyright 2005 Natural Health Information Centre, but may be freely distributed in its entirety when properly attributed to the source:

The Five Steps to Stress Relief

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My son was watching a Richard Scarry video this morning as I was doing my usual rushing around, getting ready to leave the house. He’s watched it countless times, but I’ve never managed to sit through the entire thing. This morning one song caught my attention, “If you’re happy and you know it, clap your hands”, which I sang many many times as a child in Sunday School, and always followed with “If you’re happy and you know it, then your life will surely show it …” In the version I heard this morning, the first verse was followed by “If you’re angry and you know it, stomp your feet”, which made me pause a moment. I muttered to my husband, “Since when do kids need to be taught to stomp their feet when they’re angry?”

What do we do with anger? What do we do with any of our emotions? Are they a right, a luxury, an indulgence, or just a part of being who we are? Some of us “wear our heart on our sleeves,” leaving those around with no doubts about what we’re feeling. Others (myself included) tend to keep a poker face, leaving everyone guessing. Sound familiar? Both extremes have their advantages, but as I muttered this morning, kids at least seem to start out putting their emotions out there for all to see, and aren’t one bit shy about it.

The key in all of this? What do you DO with the feelings once you’ve looked them deep in the eye and acknowledged that they are yours? Do you stamp your feet? Clap your hands? Act them out? Give them away? The very bottom line … do you react, do you release, and do you respond? The three basic R’s … three healthy stages.

Reactions are more or less involuntary and spur of the moment. There is no thought involved, but an instinctive gut reaction based on the emotion you’re feeling. Releasing emotions has two parts. First, release everyone but yourself from any responsibility for the emotion. It’s your feeling and your responsibility. Then you

can choose to release the emotion entirely and give it up to God or to the universe if you wish, or follow it up with a response. Responses are based on thoughts and reasoning rather than feelings. I believe there is a place and a time for all three, so long as the emotions are acknowledged first. At times a gut reaction may be the most healthy and helpful, usually when associated with positive emotions like joy, love, affection, and so on. Negative emotions like anger usually work better when you make it past a gut reaction to release and response.

Sometimes emotions are overwhelming and we almost can’t help but react. Making a very raw painting was my reaction to a super-strong feeling of anger a few weeks ago … rather than break something (my first impulse), I grabbed the brushes and paints and went to it. I admitted I was angry, and then checked my first reaction and let fly with a slightly controlled response instead. Potential disaster and regret averted!

One last thought on sharing your feelings … letting others know how you feel, especially in a responsive way, gives them the opportunity to respond back to you. Chances are if they can see your face or hear your tone of voice they have a good idea how you feel, but telling them has a much greater impact. The R that doesn’t belong, Repression, never helps. Feelings in the open can be addressed, and I love the fact that my son is old enough now to not only stamp his feet and clap his hands, but to tell me how he feels about things so we can talk about it. Go on then … keep the three R’s in mind when dealing with your feelings … react with abandon, release always, and respond wisely.

Bethany Rule is an experienced personal and professional life coach, championing human development, encouraging change, and helping you break your own rules. Based in NYC, she works with clients all over the world. Please visit http://www.bethanyrule.com to learn more.

“We do not stop playing because we grow old. We grow old because we stop playing.” -unknown

Spontaneous Play

The phone company has been working in our neighborhood installing new cables. Two weeks ago, during part of an early morning installation, they hit a major power line and cut power and phone service to 600 homes. The repair crew estimated that it would take two days to restore the power and phone service. I was in the middle of several large business projects. Since I office at home, my first thought when this happened was, “what can I do without access to my computer and emails?” I caught myself before I went too far down this path and shifted my focus to “what was the opportunity in this situation?”

Often what we label as problems are really opportunities. In the Chinese language the same character is used for both a crisis or problem and an opportunity. Another way of looking at this is different sides of the same coin. So when I “flipped” to the other side of the coin, I immediately saw this situation as an opportunity to play! It reminded me of the “snow days” we used to have in school; when we had an excuse not to go to school and instead we could play in the snow.

I really needed a break from the projects and with this spontaneous gift; I decided to fully enjoy myself. Instead of worrying about all the things I “should” be doing, I decided to listen to my heart. I took a long walk and then sat outside and finished a novel. I met a friend for a leisurely lunch

and browsed stores that I had been wanting to explore. I purchased spontaneous gifts to surprise loved ones. By early evening the power was restored but not before I had experienced a wonderful, energizing day!

I learned two things from this day. The first was to quickly shift to see the opportunity in an apparent problem. The second was the benefit of spontaneous play. After the much needed break, I returned more creative and revitalized for my projects.

Where do you need a break in your life right now? Are there some opportunities disguised as problems? Look at something you are labeling as a problem right now. If you ‘flipped the coin’, what is the opportunity in the situation? Watch for the signs that your need a break: frustration, short-tempered, low energy, no motivation. What would happen to your outlook, creativity and energy if you had a day or hour to follow your heart? Think of something fun you would love to do if you had an unexpected break and then create one!

Vicki Miller Copyright July 2005

As a Life Transition Coach I work with clients to identify what’s most important to them and prioritize around these values. I help my clients identify and remove obstacles in the way and bring clarity and focus to their dreams. What is your dream? Are you undergoing a major transition and not clear where to turn? Call (972-306-4489) or email me, (coach.v.miller@verizon.net), to set up a complimentary, no obligation 30 minute coaching session. Download my FREE e-Book, 12 Fun Ways to Change Your Life, or sign up for my FREE monthly newsletter at http://www.thrivingthroughchange.com

If you’ve recently experienced loss or are going through a time of high-stress or uncertainty, it’s important that you make a special effort to look after yourself. Here are a few things you can do to care for yourself physically and emotionally:

- Take time out. If you can get away from your usual environment then do so. Go away for the weekend or even a day – do something different or something you enjoy and do it just for you.

- Spend time with people you care about. Your friends and family know you best and will be supportive and there for you. It’s wonderful how you find true friends when the chips are down.

- Treat yourself. Get pampered or whatever allows you to indulge yourself. Book a relaxing massage, get retail therapy, savour a glass of your favourite wine or spend a whole day reading a book.

- Look after your body. At times of stress our eating habits change. We’re more likely to reach for packaged or convenience foods. Buy fresh fruit and vegetables and provide your body with the vitamins and minerals it needs to be able to deal with the stress. Your immune system takes a bashing under stress so look after it as your more susceptible to illness.

- Exercise. It’s a great way to get those endorphins going which can help lift your mood and as I mentioned last month – solvitas perambulum – solve it while you walk. The rhythm of exercise and breathing gives your mind time to think. As it’s summer go outdoors and take in some sunshine while you’re at it.

- Don’t overdo the caffeine or alcohol. It might give you a temporary buzz but it will affect your sleep and you need to ensure you’re getting plenty of that too.

- Write it down. Sometimes it can help to write down our thoughts and feelings on paper. It gets them out there and

out of our head and when put into black and white it can take some of the emotion out or put them into perspective.

- Do something positive. Don’t indulge yourself for too long but give yourself something to look forward to. Arrange to go to a concert, film, theatre, a weekend away. Keep yourself moving forward. Set yourself little tasks everyday.

- Volunteer. There’s nothing more uplifting that doing something for someone else. Take yourself out of your head for a few hours and feel the benefit of helping others.

- PMA. Positive Mental Attitude. What can you learn from this experience? Instead of focusing on the negative, what’s a positive outcome for your situation?

- Relaxation – learn to relax. Whether it’s doing something like yoga, meditation or just simple breathing techniques – take a few minutes each day to quiet your mind. (Drop me an email if you’d like some ideas on relaxation techniques.)

- Take Action. Yes, that ‘A’ word again. What one thing can you do to change where you’re at? Go and do it!

What’s your coping mechanism? How do you deal with stress? Learn to recognise and deal with stress before it builds up by looking after yourself on a regular basis not just when things get too much.

If you’d like to learn more or need support recognising and dealing with stress then contact me directly.

Clare Evans – Personal and Business Coach

Website: http://www.clareevans.co.uk