Stress Relief Techniques … If you don’t do them will you get fat? When doing a little research on the subject I have come to believe there is a solid link between the 2.

You see, our body contains a system called the neuroendocrine system which activates a series of hormones whenever we feel threatened or stressed.  Many years ago this system was useful to assist us in fleeing when there was danger near. 

The Hormones released include adrenalin (for the burst of energy), corticotrophin releasing hormone (CRH) and Cortisol (helps us to replenish our bodies after the stress has passed).  The downside is Cortisol can hang around in our system for a while after the stress and cause your appetite to increase.

This system is great when you’re under physical danger but isn’t so good on the everyday stress that we all face like paying the bills, work pressure and family pressures.  In other words your neuro-endocrine system can’t tell the difference between non-physical stresses and still responds with the need to replenish your system – or eat.

By listening to the messages from the neuro-endocrine system can not only lead to weight gain, but also leads to visceral fat which is fat that lies around the stomach area of the body and increases the rate of heart disease and diabetes.

What does that all mean?  Put simply, if you experience stress you are more likely to gain weight.  This is interesting when you consider more people are under stress today than 30 years ago and we currently have a record obesity rate.  Interesting.

It all comes back to Stress Relief Techniques and playing a part in learning how to

a) Release built up Stress

b) Developing new methods for handling Stress

There are many forms of Natural Stress Relief available to show you how to handle stress more effectively and release built up stress.  There options available include: Stress Relief CD’s, Relaxation Programs, Stress Management Activities and Relaxation Breathing Techniques.  Whether you like it or not stress is in everyone’s life. It’s more a question of how you handle it.

You are what you eat, and if you’re feel like you need some sort of stress relief or you experience anxiety attacks it may have something to do with your diet. 

Let me explain … there are several factors that determine the level of stress and anxiety you experience daily.  They include: your environment, your psychological status, your methods for releasing stress and your diet. Diet has shown to impact how we handle stress at work, our level of concentration and the ability for our bodies to function normally.

There are several parts of your diet you may believe help to relieve stress, but few people are aware that these are the same things that actually cause stress.  Take for instance, smoking.  Many people believe that smoking helps to relieve stress.  But if you read this article you’ll understand smoking is one of the main causes of stress.

Here are some of the foods and drinks you should take in moderation to reduce your stress and experience natural stress relief:

—> Foods that contain caffeine – This is found in coffee, non-herbal tea, chocolate, coke, etc.  Caffeine causes the release of adrenalin which increases the level of stress.  Too much caffeine has the same effect as long term stress on the body. 

—> Alcohol – Excessive consumption of Alcohol stimulates the secretion of adrenaline and is shown to result in nervous tension, insomnia and irritability.  Excess alcohol will deposit fat around the heart and in excess limits the liver from removing toxins from the body.  During stress your body produces several hormones that are normally filtered by your liver.  If your liver isn’t functioning properly, then your body can’t remove the toxins resulting in serious damage

—> Sugar – Sugar has NO essential nutritional benefits what so ever. Sugar provides short burst of false energy that can not sustain the body.  These short bursts of false energy result in irritability, poor concentration and depression.  High consumption of sugar can also result in diabetes.

—> Fat – Avoid foods rich in saturated fats as they place unnecessary stress on the cardiovascular system.  These include: deep fried foods, bacon, sausages, cakes and pies. 

—> Salt – Foods high in salt increase the blood pressure affect the adrenal glands and cause emotional instability.  Look for salt substitutes that contain potassium to still enjoy the flavor of salt without all the nasty side-effects.

These foods mentioned are all Ok in moderation, but should never be used solely as a method of stress relief as they will result negative side affects.

Of course diet is essential in stress relief, but nothing can beat well chosen stress relief techniques like exercise, yoga, a stress relief CD, meditation, relaxation breathing techniques or other beneficial stress management activities.

Easy Stress Management for Couples 

Imagine how your life might be if you knew how to finally stop the stress in relationships that saps your strength, drains your energy and ruins your productivity! 

Until you have released the need for judgment, you will always have it reflected back to you in your relationships. This is one of the main causes of stress. All too often we assume that we know what others mean by what they say or do without bothering to gain a clear understanding of what’s really going on. Inevitably this leads to a breakdown in communication and conflict.  

Stress management techniques for relationships 

The biggest secret to stress free relationships is to master the skill of being agreeable! If you think about it just for a moment this makes a lot of sense. How did you feel the last time someone disagreed with what you though, said or did?  

Did you thank them, give them a big hug and then ask for more disapproval? Probably not! The bottom line is that people don’t like being disagreed with. This is what leads to arguments and conflict.  

You have a choice every time you relate with another person. You can either be agreeable in nature or you can be disagreeable. The first choice will cause people to be more relaxed and enjoy your company. The second creates stress and frustration.  

It costs nothing to agree with someone else’s point of view even if you think it’s ridiculous. Who are we to judge how another person views their life and the world around them. Conflict always arises from disagreement’s which then leads to power struggles.  

This means that either one or all parties are trying to prove that they are right and someone else is wrong. This is a no win scenario because if one person is made wrong, then the outcome is tension and resentment.  

So what do you do if you disagree with what someone is saying? Ask if it’s ok to share your opinion. If the answer is no then to keep your relationships stress free keep your mouth shut. Changes topics if you need to or go do something fun together but let it go and move on.  

The next secret to effective stress management in relationships is to master the skill of understanding. 

The key here is to learn to be a good listener. Can you remember a time recently when you were talking with someone and they either interrupted you before you finished talking and started talking about themselves or completely ignored what you said and talked about something totally unrelated?  

I know that’s happened to me thousands of times. Well guess what, if you didn’t like it I can guarantee you that others won’t like it if you do it to them. 

By listening attentively to what others say and not interrupting you will prevent the possibility of causing stress and tension in your relationships because the people you are communicating with will feel seen and heard.  

This builds trust and respect which are two of the most important ingredients of a happy, healthy and productive relationship.  

Here are 4 stress management tips to master the skill of understanding: 

1.       Don’t interrupt unless you have something urgent to attend to. Then excuse yourself politely and make a time to meet with them that you can give your undivided attention. 

2.       Look them in the eye and keep your body language open 

3.       Only ask questions that are relevant to the topic. This lets the person who is talking know that you are really listening to them. 

4.       Never assume you know what someone means, always ask for clarity before sharing you’re opinion. Don’t be afraid to keep asking questions until you are 100% sure about what is being said.  

The best time to seek to be understood is only after you have taken the time to first understand them. Then they are more receptive to what you have to say.  

This skill is one of the most important in building good bonds between people that are stress free. There is nothing more powerful than letting others know that they matter.  

Happy, healthy and stress free relationships are no accident they are skillfully developed over time by people who care about people.  

These stress management tips will only work if you apply them. The more you apply them, the less stress you’ll have in relationships. I know this for a fact because they have been working for me for more than 15 years. 

To Your Great Life and Health,

By now most people are aware that men and women handle stress in different ways and they both seek different Stress Relaxation Techniques to deal with stress. To understand the reasons why men and women handle stress differently we need to pull out the scientific hat for a moment to look at the physiological differences between men and women.

One of the differences is in hormones. There are 3 hormones that men and women produce when under pressure or stress called – cortisol, epinephrine and oxytocin. When we are stressed the cortisol and epinephrine together raise a person’s blood pressure. The amount of cortisol and epinephrine produced by both men and women are about the same. It’s the 3^rd hormone oxytocin that plays the big part. When women are stressed they produce a greater quantity of oxytocin that counteracts the effects of the cortisol and epinephrine and promotes nurturing and relaxing emotions. Men do not produce as much of the hormone oxytocin and as a result they handle their stress differently.

A method women use to find stress relief is open talking and communication. Women just want to talk about their stress, examine their stress and cry about it (if they need to) to release the stress. Men on the other hand will either fight back or bottle it up. Relaxation Techniques for men are usually some form of sport of physical method to release the stress.

This puts a whole different slant on work related stress and methods you may offer both men and women as effective Stress Relief Techniques. Even though work related stress affects men and women differently it can be harder for a woman working in an all man environment and vice-versa for them to truly experience Stress Relief. This is an area where it is important for an employer to offer different methods of support and stress relief techniques to ensure a happy, healthy and productive workplace.

It is always very interesting to watch a couple go through a relaxation program together. There are certain relaxation breathing techniques that will work for women that aren’t as effective for men, and there are visualization techniques for relaxation that won’t work as well for women. Whichever program a couple chooses it is always important to ensure the program is structured for stress management activities for both men and women.

There are many wives tails and few of them generally show a grain of truth.  So, is the wives tail true about an apple a day, and can an apple a day reduce stress? 

Well, an apple a day is an indirect stress relief technique.  A fresh apple actually contains phenolic phytochemicals which reduced the affects of stress in the body.  But realistically you need to do more than just eat an apple a day to experience true relaxation. A really good stress management technique is in your daily eating habits.  You see, when it comes to a healthy, happy stress free body, 5 serves of fruit or veg everyday is a right up there with exercise.

But what are the benefits?  When it comes to controlling your stress relief it’s important to have as many factors on your side as possible.  After all if you don’t feed your body the right way it can’t perform to its best.  Athletes are aware of this, and this is why diet plays such a big part in relaxation techniques for athletes.

If you are stressed and you’re thinking of the best relaxation techniques, maybe the first step should be to look at you’re eating.  Are you making it easy for your body to relax?  One of the greatest stress management skills I learned was to feed the right stuff into my body from the very beginning.  Feed yourself the right stuff, combined with effective stress management activities and will permanently eliminate your Stress Monster.

Finding the right Stress Management Technique it’s all in the mindset.  What do I mean when I say mindset?  Let me explain.  If you take on a new task you’ve never done before and you don’t really think it will work, how do you approach it?  Do you run in arms open expecting great things, or do you hold back a bit expecting it to fail.  The way you look at or approach a task is in your mindset.  If you expect something to fail usually you will be rewarded with … failure.  But of course you knew it would fail, Right? 

This is the same with Stress Management.  If your try Stress Management Activities and you think they suck even before you do them, then you’ll more than likely confirm they suck without really giving them a go. 

Keep an open mind.  You never know what Stress Management Tips could work.  It could be the difference to an excellent result where you feel complete Stress Relief, or feeling even more stressed and out of control.

The first question so many people have when they read this title is … What’s a Jelly Head, and how can it possibly be related to Stress Management? Well the Jelly Head is lingo that has been around for as long as I have been alive and it usually is the result of years of built up pressure and stress. At some point if a person takes on too much pressure without ever using any Stress Management Activities they will eventually go … SNAP!

I’m, not talking death or serious physical injury, it’s that point when they just can’t handle stressful situations anymore. It takes a different period of time for different people to experience Jelly Head, but eventually when it does happen they find it hard to handle situations that would normally be a breeze.

The down side is this type of person is normally swept under the rug and tried to be forgotten about. So what can you do to stop yourself or someone you know from becoming a Jelly Head? The first step would be to explore different types of Stress Management Techniques.

You can do this by reading Stress Management Articles or by finding a Stress Management Program. There are many Stress Management Programs available ranging from face-to-face, by DVDs, audios, or following a step by step self paced program. Even it means leaving early once a week and going for a long walk in the forest.

What ever method you choose the most important thing if you are feeling stresses is to do something about it before it’s too late and you become a Jelly Head.