Your Healthy Body In Less Time, Effort and Sacrifice Look 20 Years Younger Without Dieting, Hunger, Counting Calories, Working Out Longer

Any situation the body perceives as dangerous or threatening triggers stress.

Also the “fight or flight” response…

This threat may be real or perceived as a physical danger or something more subtle.

For example:

Daily situations in dealing with food cravings, interpersonal conflicts, disagreement with a co-worker or financial pressures.

The body’s efforts to deal with a threatening situation cause a series of reactions.

Heart accelerates to provide maximum oxygen levels to organs and cells.

Muscles tighten and shorten to prepare for action.

You’re ready to maneuver through the situation (fight or flee from danger)…

Adrenaline flows into body heightening awareness for a quick burst of energy.

The automatic stress response serves a purpose, right?

It is there to protect you, but chronic stress can become a real problem.

Chronic stress means remaining in a stressful response state for a prolonged period of time and it takes a negative toll on the body.

It causes physical and psychological distress, which affects overall health and well-being.

Negative Effects of Stress:

• 43% of all adults suffer from health problems because of stress.
• 75% to 90% of all doctor’s office visits are for stress-related ailments and complaints.
• Stress is a key contributor to heart disease, headaches, body aches, high blood pressure, diabetes, skin conditions, asthma, arthritis, anxiety and depression.
• The 50% prevalence of any emotional disorder is typically due to untreated stress.
• The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) reports stress is significant hazard in the workplace and costs over $300 billion annually…

Symptoms of chronic stress related to continuous release of stress hormones (cortisol) and elevated metabolism:

• The digestive system may experience stress as stomach aches, nausea and intestinal irritability.

• Mentally, a woman under chronic stress may experience racing thoughts, unreasonable worrying, lack of focus and disorganization and pessimism.

• A woman under chronic stress displays emotional and behavioral markers and may become irritable, experience feelings of overwhelm, depression and low self-esteem.

• Stress associated behaviors, overeating or undereating, avoidance and displaying nervous behaviors like nail biting and pacing can be symptoms of chronic stress.

• Stress related aches and pains could occur in different parts of the body. When muscles shorten or tighten to prepare for action within stress response and remain frozen that way!

This constant tension causes aches and pains in different parts of the body.

Muscular tension while under stress varies from one person to another…

Some women clench or tighten their jaw causing pain and discomfort in this area and possibly across forehead and scalp.

Other women hold tension in shoulders and neck.

Some women may find themselves experiencing chronic backaches…

Yoga and Stress Related Aches and Pain

Essentially, yoga acts as a therapeutic antidote to stress; provides physical, mental and emotional relief to women experiencing chronic stress.

Relief can happen during the actual yoga practice and the benefits often continue to present beyond sessions via yoga consistently…

Yoga poses ease stress related aches and pains due to muscular tension.

The yoga poses stretch, lengthen, strengthen, and relax tense muscles.

The meditation and breathing exercises calm the mind and nervous system.

The exercises allow relaxation, mental focus and clarity during and following practice.

The breathing and poses practised during yoga draw out a relaxation response in the body, which helps to decrease and regulate stress hormones.

It is also important to note that yoga has a profound effect on various aspects of health, including ability to lower blood pressure.

Yoga can support normal heart functions, help to regulate blood sugars in diabetes and decrease anxiety, all of which are commonly seen with chronic stress.

How To Utilize Yoga To Manage Stress

Daily yoga practice can be part of a stress management plan, consistency is key to health and well being.

Yoga provides a simple approach with progressive therapy.

Yoga poses are designed to reshape and improve health and functionality of muscle.

Support normal healthy joints and organs over a long period of time; it’s a form of fitness training where regular practice sets the stage for progression.

Fitness training which can support meditative and relaxation exercises associated with the practice of yoga.

According to Dr. Debra Fulghum Bruce, PhD, recent studies show results in 3 months of weekly yoga practice helps to relieve stress.

Stress can be related to headaches and backaches…

So its good to reduce stress, which lowers cortisol (stress hormone) secretions.

And also good to lower blood pressure which improves emotional stability and mood.

Practising yoga has been shown to relieve immediate symptoms of stress related aches, pains, mental distress and negative emotional states.

Also appears to effectively counter the fight or flight stress response by lowering cortisol levels by teaching the mind to observe (through meditation) rather than react to situations.

Women experiencing chronic stress can benefit greatly from doing yoga.

Have you thought about yoga as part of your health regimen?

You can begin with yoga by joining a class that is led by a qualified instructor.

There are also instructional programs available on DVD…

It is very important to learn proper techniques for poses and breath work to reap all the benefits yoga has to offer…

Yoga

Women’s Health, Stress and Stress Management…

Allow me to ask you a question:

Why do you feel stress, the effects of stress, stressed out and stress anxiety?

What’s your plan for emotional health and stress management for a healthier YOU?

Just picture it…

You and your family know how to remove mental and health stressful barriers for stress relief.

You might be wondering why stress is a problem or more specifically why stress causes women to gain weight or lose weight?

Ironically, most women tend to think or even expect workplace stress, we think it needs to be there.

Maybe you think you’re supposed to be stressed at the end of each day too?

Just maybe we’re all sick and tired of facing symptoms of stress?

How are you coping with stress and what’s your typical stress response?

Would you like to the simple formula for mental health and relaxation?

Stress is all around us everywhere…can you control stresses and reduce stress?

You have the power, to make a long story short…

Perhaps you find have to look deeper within for the lighter side of life of funny situations and happiness.

Sometimes stress relief is not so readily available, but stress reduction is within reach and must come from inside…if you have the desire to find it.

Can you make a wish for peace of mind and happiness oe day, one minute, one solution at a time?

Imagine if you decided to stop having to pay bills, living in time deprived very trying and difficult times!

Sometimes the reality of life…it doesn’t seem to be getting any easier?

Stress increases cortisol levels in your body, which can lead to weight gain and muscle loss…

Sometimes life can seem terribly painful and unfair, yet somehow we manage to struggle on, day-after-day, hoping and praying life will soon get better.

But day-by-day the world may feel like a louder, faster, crazier and more politically unstable, uncertain place to live in, and not to mention stressful.

Nothing seems safe anymore…

Millions of people are in record levels of debt paying higher morgage rates.

Many are losing their jobs, homes, health, members of family, divorce, standards of living, and sometimes even their sanity.

Increasing cultural barriers, politics, tension, religious differences, failing health care, land fill issues, breakdown of infustructure and communication.

Lack of sleep, pollution,, medication,drugs fast foods, road rage, overweight, health issues, coping with the demands of family, relationship, worry and depression…

…and anxiety seem to have become a way of life for way too many people.

We seem to have entered the age of the fast-track to mental and physical fatigue, obesity and anxiety!

In fact, just trying to show your feelings and be nice is becoming stressful.

Way back in 2002, the cover of Time magazine proclaimed this loud and clear on one of their covers as the featured story in that issue.

The constant guilt trips, stress and uncertainties of living in the 21st century have certainly taken their toll.

And as a result many of us seem to live a life of constant fear and worry.

When the terrorist attacks happened on September 11, this constant threats of violence, stress and worry seemed to just be magnified.

In fact, many people even now four years later report they are still scared that something of that magnitude could happen again…

Prhaps closer to them.

Turn on the news or open up a newspaper and we are bombarded with disturbing images and stories.

You immediately begin to wonder if you’re safe anywhere?

In this, the information age, never before have you had so much access to so much data.

The economy is another stressor.

The country is in debt and so are many Americans…

Soaring gas prices, outrageous housing costs, even the cost of food has sent many Americans to work in jobs that are unsatisfying and tedious.

You work these jobs because you need a paycheck…

Today, it’s more important to bring home the bacon rather than work in a dream career.

Having more women in the workplace adds to the stress.

So many women feel the need to be everything to everyone and this includes:

• Paycheck earner
• House keeper
• Mom
• Wife
• Daughter and sibling…

The only problem with that is some women just don’t make any time for themselves thus contributing to their stress levels being at an all-time high.

Even children can feel the pressure of stress and anxiety.

Teenagers who want to go to college find themselves pushing themselves during their studies to try and obtain scholarships.

They face going to schools that have ever increasing tuition costs.

They find themselves having to hold down part-time jobs on top of all that to earn money for extras that their parents can no longer afford.

Add peer pressure into the mix and you have a veritable pressure cooker!

Cell phones, internet, palm pilots, blackberries, i-pods – we are always on the go and always reachable.

You don’t make time to relax and enjoy life any more.

Why not?

You certainly can!

Maybe you feel guilty or pressured to do these things because you think you HAVE to, not because you WANT to.

All too often, it’s difficult for people to just say “No”.

Not saying that one little word piles up un-needed expectations and obligations that make you feel anxious.

Daily, you experience situations that cause you to become stressed or feel anxious.

The reasons are too many to note but can include:

• Buying a property
• Having guests stay over (in-laws)
• Being bullied
• Exams (stress test)
• Looking after children
• Managing finances
• Relationship issues
• Traveling…etc.

Stress is a ‘normal’ function of everyday life. Only when it appears to take over your life does it then become a major problem.

You have different reasons why a situation causes you pressure…

Generally speaking, usually when you don’t feel in control of a situation, then you feel its grip tightening causing you to feel worried or ‘stressed’.

If stress is caused by you not feeling in control of a situation, the answer is to try and reverse this, and regain that control.

The good news is YOU CAN!

You have everything inside you that you need to overcome your stress and the accompanying anxiety.

The big problem, often you don’t realize you’re in control because you feel so out of control of time.

But the resources and tools are here, you just have to use them…

Feel free to take a few minutes out to unwind, relax and re-energize your life!

Health and Stress are both your choices.