What Is Stress Doing To You. What Can You Do To Help Manage It What Is Stress Doing To You? What Can You Do To Help Manage It? How Can Vitamins and Herbs Help With Stress Management?

What Is Stress? What is Stress? Stress is the body’s reaction to any change that requires an alteration or reaction. Our bodies respond to stressful situations mentally, physically, and emotionally. Stress is something we will all come across, but knowing how to manage it can help make life a little easier. But good news is I am here to help you figure out some ways that the stress in your life can be managed! For example: If you are supposed to be off one day from work and you have already made plans, but someone gets sick and calls in, so therefore you are called back into work. You have to break your plans even if your plans consisted of just sitting at home and doing nothing. This can cause a person to be angry or feel overwhelmed because they need a day off. Having a husband in the military is a prime example of living a very high stressed life. We are always going through changes and don’t when how to make plans because we don’t know what his schedule will be like!

Is Stress Affecting Your Health and Well Being? Stress can have a positive affect in our lives at one point or another. But stress becomes negative when a person no longer receives a break from the challenges in their life. When this happens, it is called distress. What are some of the effects of distress? Headaches Upset stomach Elevated blood pressure Chest pain Problems sleeping Stress can also become dangerous when people try to overcome their stress with the use of drugs, alcohol or tobacco products. What people don’t understand is that using these substances doesn’t help their stress go away, it maintains and even rises the stress levels in their lives! Stress keeps us alert and keeps us ready to avoid any situations that we don’t need to be into. When people are not able to relieve the first stressors they come across, they begin to build a stress wall and eventually it grows so much it can’t be broken down. Distress is the bodies negative reaction to stressful situations. Researchers have discovered that too much stress can also lead to diseases or can cause a person’s immune system to become very weak.

Facts About Stress 43% of all adults suffer from health problems caused from stress 75-90% of all doctors visit are stress-related Stress can cause, if not worse headaches, high blood pressure, heart problems, diabetes, skin conditions, asthma, arthritis, depression, and anxiety Stress has caused the American industry over $300 billion every year. Stress has been labeled hazardous in the workplace by The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). All facts are from: http://www.webmd.com/mental-health/effects-of-stress-on-your-body So as you can see here, stress effects everyone and needs to be managed, or it can be expensive and dangerous to anyone who can’t learn to control it.

What Can You Do? With the expense of everything, it is hard to find something that can get the job done, but that stays in your budget. Here are some simple ways you can relieve stress: Take your vitamins Add herbs to your daily diet Talk with someone about your stress Get more sleep Take deep breaths Go for a walk Listen to positive music Go get a massage Or even just take a hot bath All of these suggestions are things we all need to do in order to have a less stressful life. Most of these are things are free or don’t cost too awful much, and they can make a world of difference if we will just use them! Resources are available to help us get through the hustle and bustle of life, but we just have to find what works best for us!

What Are Some Vitamins That Can Help With Stress? B Vitamins- responsible for feeding the nervous system in which the body uses the nutrients from when we are stressed B1 (Thiamine)- enhances intellectual activity and brain function Folic acid- brain food that helps with depression and anxiety B6 (pyridoxine)- needed for normal functioning of the brain B12 (cyanocobalamin)- helps to prevent nerve damage and protects the nerves; a key factor in memory and learning as well B5 (Pantothenic Acid)- needed for developing the central nervous system and properly functioning the adrenal glands that transfers fat and sugars into energy Choline- helps with brain function and memory Vitamin C- helps produce anti-stress hormones Inositol- is used for a calming aid Well thank goodness for us, there is a whole list of vitamins that can help relieve stress.

What Are Some Herbs That Help With Stress? Passionflower- used in the past to help with restlessness; has a calming and soothing affect and helps with mood Fennel- helps strengthen the digestive system Feverfew- helps with muscle tension Hops- helps the body rest Chamomile- provides alertness mentally and supports nerve health; also supports circulation throughout the body and helps with digestion Schizandra fruit- allows our bodies to have a quick response time to stress Herbs are natural substances that people can take to help relieve stress. Herbs are becoming more popular because people are trying to find natural ways of living a healthy life. Herbs have been used for thousands of years before doctors were able to discover medicines that could help people, and I suspect they will be used for many years to come.

What Can You Do At Home To Help Manage Your Stress? Talk with someone you trust- talking to someone who you can trust and confide in, will help us to see things from a different point of view and will often help the stress be relieved some if not completely Sleep does do the body good- getting 8 hours of sleep per night is important because lack of sleep can cause the body to have meltdowns and become more stressed over situations Taking deep breaths is good for the mind, body, and soul- breathing in deeply allows oxygen to flow through the cells of the body and allows the mind to think before making any rational decisions Go for a walk- exercising boosts the body’s endorphins and allows us to be in a better mood; taking a walk for even 10-15 minutes can help make someone’s mood much better Turn on some music that speaks positively to you- music can often change the mood, if it is the right music Go pamper yourself- being relaxed physically and just as important as being relaxed mentally. Having someone who can be there to listen can sometimes help with the problems. Sometimes all people want is to find someone who will listen to them. Sleep is not just needed for children and teens. Adults are often faced with stressful situations more often than children or teens and they need just as much, if not more sleep to be able to think things through before making rational decisions. Sleeplessness can make a person feel overwhelmed and people are more prone to breaking down when they don’t get their needed sleep. Sometimes just stepping back from what you are doing and taking a deep breath can give a second to collect your thoughts and allows you to make the right decision when you are little more calm and your brain is functioning better! When the situation seems too overwhelming, just walk away from it for about 10-15 minutes and it will calm you down. Getting out of a situation before it turns too bad will help lower the stress levels of a person for sure! Music was made to speak to people through words and to let people take it and live within it. Sometimes just hearing the right song can change your mood and make you just want to dance with joy. Music can often give us more energy as well because it makes us feel alive. But choosing the wrong music that sends a negative message can do the opposite and bring us down. Being able to let the body relax physically by taking a bath or getting a massage is just as important as letting your brain rest. Our bodies need to be able to function just as much physically as they do mentally.

So The Good News Is… Yes, stress is everywhere and everyone is going to come across it at one time or another, but there are things that we can do that don’t cost much, or anything for that matter, that can help relieve stress! So instead of living with the stress you have now, let’s go out and do something about it! Even though stress will always be a part of our lives, we can manage it, and we can live with it. Stress does not have to overcome and take over our lives. If we want to live a happy, healthy life, we have to learn what stress management task works best for us and go after it! We would all like to live a stress free life, but we will just have to learn to deal with it instead!

Where Can You Find Helpful Resources? One great place to find information on vitamins and herbs is the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine website (NCCAM) http://nccam.nih.gov/ Another great source to find information that can help you through the journey of finding the perfect medicine for you is the following http://www.webmd.com/depression/stress-anxiety-depression I hope these will help you along your journey of becoming stress free. I know stress can be overwhelming and take over our lives, but these are some sources where you can go for help to figure out the best way to get stress out of your life!

References http://www.clarocet.com/vitamin-b-vitamin-c-and-herbs-for-anxiety/ http://www.naturessunshine.com/Blog/post/vitamins-herbs-for-stress.aspx http://www.webmd.com/mental-health/effects-of-stress-on-your-body