health1105

How To Combat Stress
by John Moore

Tips To Ease Tension

We all know what it feels like to get emotionally mangled by the weight of day to day struggles. Our bosses yell at us, our spouses yell at us - it feels like an endless circle where getting ahead at the office can leave us with so little energy for home that home turns into battlefield that leaves us with no energy for work.

Is mere survival all you can ask of a hassle-filled world ? No. Stress, in fact is not only something you can beat, but a force you can turn into an advantage. You don't have to run from it, and you don't need any special stress management. The following tested tips show you how to combat stress - and win.

Work On Your Attitude
The most important point you can make about stress is that in most cases it's not what's out there that's the problem, its how you react to it. Changing the way you think can change a life of stress and discomfort to a life of challenge and excitement.

Think About Something Else
Distract yourself - to break the thoughts that are producing your stress, you must think about something else. Anything will do, as long as it breaks the chain of bad thoughts.

Think Positive
Thinking about a success or a past achievement is excellent when you're feeling uncertain, remind yourself of all the good things you've achieved in the past, and tell yourself that you're going to do the same in the future.

Take A Mental Vacation
Imagine yourself lying in warm sand on a beach in the Bahamas, a cool wind blowing off the ocean, the surf rolling in quietly in the background. It's amazing what this can do to help you relax.

Take Deap Breaths
Belly breathing is what some people call it. It's an old and useful trick for defeating anxiety and nervousness. The basic idea is act calm, be calm. When your experiencing stress, your pulse races and you start breathing very quickly. Forcing yourself to breathe slowly convinces the body that the stress has gone, whether it has or not. The correct way to breathe is abdominally - feeling the stomach expand as you inhale, and collapse as you exhale.

Stretch
A lot of us respond to stress with muscle tension. Ideally, we'd prefer to eliminate the cause of the stress, but stretching the muscles at least reduces the sensation of stress - the muscles relax, and we feel less tense.

Take A Hot Soak
Hot water works by defeating the stress response. When we're tense and anxious, blood flow to our extremities is reduced. Hot water restores circulation, convincing the body it's safe and that it's ok to relax. Cold water must not be used because it has the opposite effect, and will increase tension.
An office alternative might be running hot water over your hands until you feel the tension starting to drain away.

Exercise
Regular exercise will burn off some of the stress chemicals tension produces, and exercise will tire your musles - a tired muscle is a relaxed muscle.

Listen To Music
Music soothes as perhaps nothing else does. You can use it in two basic ways - to relax or to inspire. New - Age music is very relaxing.

About the Author
I'm a 36 year old father of two, and this article was born out of my own problems with stress. I hope it will be of help to you all. www.information-city-online.com