Get Moving When Worried Or Stressed

Title:
Get Moving when Worried or Stressed.

Word Count:
531

Summary:
For mild to moderate depression, one sure-fire way to halt or reduce the effect of the torrent of depressive thoughts will be to divert the mind from them. Proper Exercise is perhaps the best way to accomplish this. Let’s see which ones will do the trick.


Keywords:
Overcoming Depression


Article Body:
When we face depressive situations our minds and thoughts are usually clouded with worry, fear, anxiety and sadness. Needless to say, diverting our minds from these emotional states-at least temporarily- may help with dealing with them.

Friends, one sure-fire way to accomplish this is through exercise.

“Aw, boy…? Is he saying I have to go to the gym or jump down and do a bunch of push-ups, I don’t feel like it and besides I’m not in shape...”

If that was your initial response, don’t worry, it’s not about muscle building or ‘body punishment’. Simple to moderate exercises can and will do just fine.

However, I must stress friends that exercising-even 10-15 minutes or less-is quite helpful for handling stress as this engages the motor centers of the brain, making the blood flow away from the emotional activity center; consequently one becomes more receptive to positive thoughts.

Now, based on my personal experiences with dealing with my problems and admittedly, on some bad days- in spite of how much I believe in positive thinking and all…, I’ve found the following exercises to be very, very effective as ‘pick-me-uppers’ for the day.

You will observe that they are Yogic in nature, however, as true as that is, I tend to think they are versatile enough for anybody to do. (As long as you keep in mind that the goal here isn’t building muscle, just something to get our minds off stressful situations)

Here are the exercises:

1. The Sun Salutations:

The sun exercises stimulates and balances all systems of the body including the endocrine and nervous systems that have marked effects on our emotions, furthermore they induce deep breathing, which has been known over the ages to help alleviate many a stressful situation. Performed in rounds of 3, they actually are a combination of very simple movements executed in a flowing motion.



2. Hindu Push-Ups:

These actually are best described as “Downward-and-Upward Facing-dog-meets-Calisthenics.” Nonetheless, these are quite simply great. As a matter of fact, I almost swore off Yoga for these babies till it dawned on me that it’s still Yoga, basically poses in motion. However as pick-me-uppers, these work.

Hardly has there ever been a time when I did them and didn’t almost immediately have lethargy and sadness thrown off and have enthusiasm, joy and happiness miraculously restored as positive replacements.

Now, although these are my personal favorites, hey, feel free to explore whatever can get your heart-rate up such as simple jumping jacks, hikes in the park, jogging, dancing or even sex with the one you love.

Combining these simple exercises with such drug-free factors as intentional positive thinking and proper diet (which ironically demands for abstinence from even the best of foods at time), I can confidently say one will be well on one’s way to overcoming the problems and challenges we all face in our daily lives.
Moreover, these principles form the basis of improved health naturally.

So, when next stress starts to creep in and you need a relief, get in motion with your favorite activities. With exercise, even a little bit, does help.

In Friendship,


Foras Aje

BONUS : Title:
Ginseng - a herb to reduce stress?

Word Count:
330

Summary:
Many health benefits have been claimed for ginseng, but, as with many other traditional remedies, little has been proven


Keywords:
ginseng, chinese, herbs


Article Body:
Many health benefits have been claimed for ginseng, but, as with many other traditional remedies, little has been proven. As ginseng is a plant that is freely able to grow by anyone, there is little incentive for drug companies to invest in large-scale trials, which means that most of the studies we have are the efforts of enthusiastic amateurs and perhaps-biased Chinese researchers.

The primary health benefit claimed for ginseng is that it reduces stress without otherwise harming the body – something like alcohol, only without the side effects. The few studies that have been done have shown a few other benefits: it was proven to slightly reduce the risk of flu in old people, for example. The most controversial claim (again, one that is made for many traditional medicines) is that ginseng helps to fight cancer – but while this has been shown to be true in animals, it does not seem to have any effect in humans.

Red ginseng has a few extra health benefits: it even further reduces the risk of cancer in some animals, and has also been proven to be an effective treatment for impotence, although nowhere near as effective as real impotence medicines such as Viagra. Similarly, wild ginseng has the same effects as normal, domestic ginseng, but is a lot more powerful. Many of the problems with studying ginseng come from the sheer number of different types on the market and different places they are grown, as every variety seems to produce slightly different effects.

Studies from China make somewhat vaguer claims for ginseng, including one government-funded study that concluded that ginseng ‘increases quality of life’. It seems likely that this is more of an attempt to promote Chinese agriculture than anything, however.

In the end, the only real proven benefit for ginseng is that it reduces stress, and, indeed, this is the reason most people take it. As a stress treatment, ginseng can be very good, but don’t expect the world from it.