Lately I've been very stressed. After finally finding balance, I have come upon new information that is turning my life upside down. I am doing my best to manage my time and my finances, but things are not going as well as I'd like and it is extremely stressful.
I am a very optimistic person and continue to see the good in all things, but even when there is good, there is bad, and I won't know for sometime how well everything is going to work out for me.
I do my best to get to the gym as often as possible because I know this releases endorphines and some tension in my back, but I find myself with bouts of insomnia, and constant worry that things won't fall into place.
Only time will ease my stress, but while I'm waiting, ways to calm this ailment would be highly beneficial.
Thank You in advance for any advice.
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Dear Anon, I think DianeP gave you wonderful advice and suggested great links for you to visit. I just have a couple of suggestions for you. You may not like what I have to say, but stress is a state of mind that you can choose to dwell on or make the best of.
Stress has been with humanity for thousands of years. It is a natural state of self-preservation. A biochemical programming in our cells, a mechanism that allow humans to survive situations of real danger as it used to be during the cavemen times. This "fight or flight" biological response is not longer adequate to face today's threats. Instead, modern bodies (which by the way does not recognize the difference in threat levels) will react the same way as they did millions of years ago, even if the threat is just a mosquitoe flying over our head.
To understand "stress" you must learn to understand your body. The Human Body has the sympathetic nervous system ( the accelerator) and the parasympathetic division (the brake). The sympathetic system responds to stimulus that require quick responses. The parasympathetic system is your "calming self" and does not require immediate reaction. The main actions of the parasympathetic nervous system are summarized by the phrase "rest and repose" or "rest and digest" (in contrast to the "fight-or-flight" of the sympathetic nervous system).
You need to learn to bring up the parasympathetic response when you feel stress. There are many ways to achieve this: deep breathing exercises, meditation, contemplation, chanting, prayer, self-tak, etc will active the parasympathetic response whenever you begin to feel the sympathetic response which results on high adrenaline response, high cortisol production, loss of sleep, etc.
There are natural supplements that can help you, I take Rhodiola, Ashwagandha, 5-HTP in addition to meditation and breathing exercises. With a dying husband and as a caregiver, you bet I have enough stress in my life, but my philosophy as a wellness coach has allowed me to take advantage of natural way of dealing with stress without resorting to prescription drugs.
I wish you well.
June 15, 2009 - 9:50pmThis Comment
Anon, I'm so sorry to hear about the stress you're dealing with. Times like that are difficult, frustrating and sometimes seem as though they'll never end. And if you're anything like me, extra stress brings anxiety by the truckload.
We have several people at EmpowHer who have written about how to help your stress. Here are some of my favorites:
https://www.empowher.com/news/herarticle/2009/06/01/dave-balch-change-stressful
https://www.empowher.com/media/video/video-dr-scherwitz-lower-stress-how-can-woman-accomplish
https://www.empowher.com/news/herarticle/2009/05/26/how-you-can-turn-down-volume-anxiety
Dave, in fact, writes about all kinds of stress for us. If you'll go here and scroll down you can see a few of his columns:
https://www.empowher.com/users/dave-balch
https://www.empowher.com/news/herarticle/2009/01/12/heather-jassy-why-now-actually-time-opportunity
Heather is a life coach. I like a lot of her columns. You can find her profile and a list of her other columns here:
https://www.empowher.com/users/heather-jassy
I hope some of this helps you take another breath, take another baby step (sometimes that's all we can do, you know?) and have a good day. Please write back and let me know if we can help with anything more specific?
June 15, 2009 - 10:08amThis Comment