Get Up – Get Moving – Get Relief

The Dangers Of Stress

Stress isn’t inherently a bad thing. Instead, it’s a vital survival process that allowed us to run away from danger or get ready to fight back during the caveman days.

Even today, stress can motivate us and help us get through cramming all night long for an important exam or getting a vital work project finished. There’s a time and a place for stress. The big problem today is that we’re under too much stress and feel it almost all the time. That’s when stress can become very dangerous and even deadly.

Stress tends to be categorized into two different types of stress. Acute stress and chronic stress. Acute stress is what you feel when you’re in a dangerous situation. When your house catches on fire, and you barely get out, you’re feeling acute stress. While it takes a toll on the body, it’s not nearly as dangerous and deadly as chronic stress. This is the type of constant stress we feel day in and day out that I described at the beginning of this post.

It simply starts to wear out the body. Stress will do damage to your heart, your arteries, and even your gut and your immune system. Stressed people frequently suffer from high blood pressure, heart disease, stomach, and digestive problems, ulcers, and due to the lowered immune system, they are more susceptible to various bacterial and viral infections like cold and flu. Add to that the fact that high stress is often accompanied by insomnia; it’s no wonder we feel bad.

Stress makes it harder to heal and recover from any injury or sickness, and it’s clear that stress is dangerous and something we need to address. It’s essential to focus on reducing stress as much as we can and find ways to cope better. We have to actively make time for relaxation to give our body a chance to recoup and recover. While there isn’t always a lot we can do about external stressors; there is a lot we can do to counterbalance from yoga and meditation to getting more sleep and cutting back on distractions.

In light of all the damage, chronic stress can do to your body and the negative effect it can have on your overall health and wellbeing, are you ready to embrace rest and relaxation? If so, don’t miss tomorrow’s post where we start to take a closer look. For now, start to become more aware of the stress you’re under. It’s much easier to start addressing the problem once you’ve become aware of it. When your stressed,  exercise is the last thing on your mind.  Most of the time you feel like sitting in a corner and indulging in a pity party.

If stress makes you feel like you’re all tied up in knots, in a way, you are. Your muscles get tense, and your head throbs. You want to make the stress go away, but you feel like moving will only make it worse.

That’s not true! Exercise is an excellent, natural way to relieve the harmful effects of stress.

The worst way to deal with stress is to rely on food, drugs, or alcohol. Stress eating is not only fattening but can grow into an eating disorder – particularly when stress is compounded by a depressed mood.

Alcohol is a depressant, so any effect it has on stress is temporary, leaving behind more stresses and problems. Drugs – whether prescription or non-prescription – deliver the same problem as alcohol. Substance abuse isn’t a cure for anything.

Stress eating tends to be an overload of things like chocolate, cookies,  ice cream or pizza as well as comfort foods like macaroni and cheese. Once you start, it’s like the spoon has a mind of its own and just won’t quit. It’s better to close the refrigerator door and open the front door.

Take a walk or run if you enjoy that. If neither appeals to you, do some other soothing motion-based activity like sweeping the patio, washing the car or cleaning the windows. Choose an activity that requires motion, but very little concentration.

You want to free your mind, not clutter it. Better still, maybe your mind will wander into something positive. If you start thinking about work, stop, and refocus on your activity.  Create a mantra or something you repeat to yourself over and over again to prevent that stress storm from entering your mind

Pilates is more advanced than Yoga, and it’s a more vigorous activity that takes a high level of concentration to complete each move. If you’re focused on your Pilates movements, you don’t have time to think about stressful things.

Dust off your bicycle and find a safe place to ride. Look for quiet streets or parks with bike paths. Pedaling around is good exercise and lets you appreciate your surroundings as you travel.

Dance to your own music. Put on some music with a peppy beat and dance around your living room. Or put on something classical and let your inner ballerina come out.  If those aren’t for you, turn to a rocker beat and have fun banging your head like you did when you were a teenager.

No one is looking, so be yourself. You’ll get exercise and probably end up laughing, which is also a physically and emotionally healthy way to beat stress!

Quick Stress Buster: Hit the Gym

You’ll either love or hate today’s stress buster tip. The idea is to get in an intense workout to release tension and get those feel-good endorphins pumping through your body. Trust me; it works extremely well. Even if you’re cringing at the tough, I encourage you to give it a couple of tries. Once you see just how effective a good workout is at relieving stress, you’ll be motivated to do it more often.

There’s a reason I suggest you hit the gym. It doesn’t matter if you use a home gym, the one at your apartment complex, or one of the many local gyms. You want to be able to get a short and intense workout in somewhere. If neither of those are an option, buy a couple of dumbbells, grab a milk crate and figure out a workout routine that you can do at home in a pinch.

Whenever you feel particularly stressed, make sure you get a good workout in that day. You can head to the company gym on your lunch break or stop at your local one on the way home. After an intense workout and a shower, you’ll feel like a new person. By the time you get home, the stress will have melted away, and you’re ready for a relaxed evening with your family and good night sleep.

It’s this combination of endorphins and getting more sleep that has the most significant effect when it comes to taking stress down a notch. I don’t have to tell you that everything seems a lot worse than it is when you are tired and haven’t slept well. After a good workout and particularly if you make it a regular habit, you’ll sleep better and deeper. This avoids the afternoon slump and of course, the added stress. As a bonus, you’ll get more done throughout the day. Your productivity will increase with adequate rest.

Exercise also does an excellent job of distracting you from your worries. When all your attention and concentration is focused on making it through the next set, you don’t have time to wallow in what’s stressing you out. As a bonus, all that exercise will tone your body and make you look good. With that, you’ll get a boost in confidence that also helps you get over much of what’s stressing you out. Sometimes it’s just about attitude.

Give it a try for a few days and then turn those days into weeks and months. Exercising may never become your favorite thing to do, but that’s ok. It’s a tool you can use to reduce stress and feel better. That alone should be plenty of motivation to get it done. Of course, the rest of your body and your overall health will benefit from it as well.

So get up- get moving- get relief.  Do it today because you only have now, the past is the past and tomorrow only leads to tomorrow.

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you found this information useful.  Print it out it helps to read it a few times.  But leave a comment I’d appreciate it.