by Marisue Alsobrook

Introduction: Daily Life links us all to stress.  Stress is  all around us, impossible to escape.  We can  handle what life tosses at us if we are informed and realistic.  Do we expect too much?  Are we taking ourselves and those around us too seriously?  Can we improve our lives with nutrition, exercise, and an attitude adjustment?  I’ve found all of that to be true.  When life is overwhelming me, which is daily, following these tips help me get back some control.  I think they’ll help you, too.

Reducing Stress in your Life

How many times have you heard yourself say ‘”I am so stressed out!” If you are anything like the friends and family that I know, then you are either thinking or saying those words pretty frequently. 

A certain amount of stress is unavoidable.  Appointments, financial demands, raising kids, and our relationships keep us in the whirlwind of stressful moments. 

However, on most days if you are feeling as though you will explode due to the weight on your shoulders, it’s time to stop, think, and act.

Understanding basic, common, and important life giving links will help us know where to start ourselves when we’re stretched to the limit.  If we don’t take the time to “re-link” and make the necessary changes in our lives to get stress to a managable level, it can wreak havoc on our health, relationships, and daily life.  It’s easy to get stuck in stress, accepting higher and higher levels of it everyday until we suddenly break down, or become immobile. 

Stress and Your Health

Unmanaged stress is known to raise blood pressure, even increase our cholesterol.  Stress affects us in almost every part of our health and mental abilities.  Many times stressful people will make the comment “I’m so stressed I can’t even think.”  More serious ailments include increased potential of heart disease, cancer and depression. It’s amazing what having too much on your plate can do! For many of us, altering our schedules or canceling appointments are not options. However, that is no excuse to let your stress levels go uncontrolled. If you are finding yourself unnecessarily irritable or more tired than usual, that is your body’s way of sending you a signal to alter your activities.

Stress Management Tips: 

It’s ok and normal to not know where to begin.  Start in the middle, just begin.  The following tips will help you better manage your stress and increase your daily productivity:

1.  Get Sleep - This is the first thiing that “goes” when you’re under stress.  

Try for at least 7 hours of sleep each night. Recent research indicates that you can catch up on sleep over a period of time, but most often, sleeping the weekends to make up for sleep lost during the work week does not give you the actual restful sleep you need.  Increasing your exercise through simple walks will probably help you sleep more soundly.  Realize that telling yourself to sleep is most likely not going to put you in dreamland, but plan for rest by listening to soft music, smelling lavender or other calming scents, reading for limited times, darkening the room, turning off the radio and tv, and think pleasant thoughts.  When you are stressed, it takes practice to get sleep “back.” 

Research further indicates that loss of sleep leads to weight gain, memory loss, high blood pressure and increased susceptibility to type-2 diabetes. The list of health problems alone should be enough to encourage one to get their beauty sleep!

2.  Meditation - Yoga is a great source of stress reliever for some people.

 For those of you unfamiliar with mediation, it need not be intimidating or ‘out there.’  Meditation is simply the practice of relaxation. There are different forms of meditation and many guide books available that may be helpful for the new comer.  Basically, meditation allows the body to relax through mindful concentration. Allow your mind to focus on peace and calm for about 20 minutes each morning and evening. This will allow your body to relax for a concentrated period of time and the act of the body relaxing allows it to ‘de-stress.’  Have you ever tried to blank out your mind for a few minutes?  Remember the trick of picturing a black chalkboard, and keep it blank.  Any thought causes writing on the chalkboard, so keep your thoughts “empty.”  That visualization works for some.  Our brains use the nighttime to empty out, but if you’re not getting sleep, you should use meditation as  your time to “take out the mental trash.”

3. Avoid Caffeine in the P.M. -  keep your sugar intake to a minimum as well.

That shakiness and racing heartbeat is not a good thing. Once again the body is sending you a warning signal that something is amiss. Caffeine and foods high in sugar put the body in a constant state of high energy. This is part of the attraction, no? But the effects on the body are not positive.

Synthetic ‘highs’ have repercussions and one of them is leaving your body depleted of its natural energy sources. The caffeine and sugar high lead ultimately to low energy and decreased ability to handle stress.

4.  Nutrition and Stress - Guess what!  They’re kissing cousins!  Who knew?

Fruits and Vegetables are your friends.  Keeping your body fueled with the nutrients it needs to function at its best, will give you healthy rewards.  You’ll FEEL BETTER.  Fruits and vegetables are naturally filled with antioxidants, vitamins and minerals that not only fuel the body, but help it to function with stress. When we get busy, it can be difficult to take the time to make a well-balanced meal, but that is when our body needs it the most. The busier our lives become the more we need to nourish it. Go for all the color you can eat!  Begin with the green and orange.

5.  Laugh, a LOT -  Don’t take life so seriously.

Allow yourself to laugh. This is one of the simplest things that you can do to calm yourself down and relieve stress, and along with sleep, it’s one of the first things we lose when we’re stressed.  I’ve been there! 

Many times and for many years, raising all those foster kids kept me from laughing.  We paid a heavy price to help families in stress.  It seemed their troubles often became ours.  I was either planning a consequence, getting over a consequence, or inventing a new one.  A full night’s sleep never happened and we were always getting over one crisis just in time to smack into another one.  

 I found myself breathing shallow, crying easily, frowning frequently, and sometimes even losing my hope.  One day, I decided I had a choice.  I was either going to have to increase my coping skills or get out of the business of raising kids.  It’s easy to takes things too seriously when we are stressed, so take the time to analyze the situation early if you can. I decided to “step out of it” more often.  Lighten up!  I couldn’t cure the kids and their families of all their ailments.  I began to focus my energies on increasing their coping skills, and mine at the same time.  I would tell the kids ( and myself) that they could not change others, but they could make many decisions about their own life and attitudes.  We all began to “lighten up.” 

You may have to work on stress reducers everyday.  Resist the temptation to stress over your stress.  (Ok, that’s kind of a joke.)  

Just take care of you, so you can take care of others.   

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