How Stress Effects Your Body And Brain And What To Do About It

Title:
How Stress Effects Your Body And Brain And What To Do About It.

Word Count:
943

Summary:
Which of these is stress?

• You receive a promotion at work.
• Your car has a flat tire.
• You go to a fun party that lasts till 6:00 a.m.
• Your dog gets sick.
• Your new bedroom set is being delivered.
• Your best friend and his wife come to stay at your house for a week.
• You get a bad case of hay fever.
• All of the above.

ALL OF THESE ARE STRESS.

If you are used to thinking that stress is something that makes you worry, you have the wrong idea of stress....


Keywords:
Make Up, stress, skincare, beauty, health, eye shadow, looking good, advice on make up, advice, tips


Article Body:
Which of these is stress?

• You receive a promotion at work.
• Your car has a flat tire.
• You go to a fun party that lasts till 6:00 a.m.
• Your dog gets sick.
• Your new bedroom set is being delivered.
• Your best friend and his wife come to stay at your house for a week.
• You get a bad case of hay fever.
• All of the above.

ALL OF THESE ARE STRESS.

If you are used to thinking that stress is something that makes you worry, you have the wrong idea of stress. Stress is many different kinds of things: happy things, sad things, allergic things, and physical things. Many people carry enormous stress loads and they do not even realize it!

What is Stress?

We are all familiar with the word "stress". Stress is when you are worried about getting laid off your job, or worried about having enough money to pay your bills, or worried about your mother when the doctor says she may need an operation. In fact, to most of us, stress is synonymous with worry. If it is something that makes you worry, then it is stress.

Your body, however, has a much broader definition of stress. To your body, stress is synonymous with change. Anything that causes a change in your life causes stress. It doesn't matter if it is a "good" change or a "bad" change, they are both stress. When you find your dream apartment and get ready to move, that is stress. If you break your leg, that is stress. Good or bad, if it is a change in your life, it is stress as far as your body is concerned.

Even imagined change is stress. (Imagining changes is what we call "worrying".) If you fear that you will not have enough money to pay your rent, that is stress. If you worry that you may get fired, that is stress. If you think that you may receive a promotion at work, that is also stress (even though this would be a good change). Whether the event is good or bad, imagining changes in your life is stressful.

So:

Anything that causes change in your daily routine is stressful.
Anything that causes change in your health is stressful.
Imagined changes are just as stressful as real changes.


Stress Affects Your Body and Brain

Stress causes problems with with the chemicals in your brain. When life is smooth, your brain is able to produce enough “calming chemicals,” such as serotonin, to keep up with normal levels of stress, demands, and expectations. But when too much stress is placed on the brain, it begins to fall behind in its ability to cope. As the stress continues, some of the calming chemicals may begin to fail. Important nerve centers then become distressed. You enter a state of brain chemical imbalance known as -- Overstress.

Overstress makes people feel terrible. With stress overwhelming the brain, a person feels "overwhelmed" by life. People complain of being tired, unable to fall asleep or to obtain a restful night's sleep. They have plagues of aches and pains, lack of energy, lack of enjoyment of life. They feel depressed, anxious, or just unable to cope with life.

Stress Affects Your Looks

From the above description, you can probably imagine that overstress can affect your looks. When you can’t sleep, you look tired. When you have aches and pains, you look (and feel) unhappy. When you have no energy, you can’t participate in life with your usual smile and sparkle. Stress can also cause skin rashes and stomach problems, which will also affect how you look.

How to Combat Stress

Breathing

Breathing exercises are a wonderfully effective way to reduce stress, regulate mood, and feel energized. One way to promote deeper breathing and better health is by exhaling completely. Try it: take a deep breath, let it out effortlessly, and then squeeze out a little more. Doing this regularly will help build up the muscles between your ribs, and your exhalations will naturally become deeper and longer. Start by practicing this exhalation exercise consciously, and eventually it will become a healthy, unconscious habit.

Exercise

For many people, exercise is a main method of reducing stress and promoting relaxation. One of the benefits of regular aerobic exercise is its moderating effect on emotions, both long-term and short-term. If you feel angry or upset, a brisk walk or run or a half hour of lifting weights will often put you back in a good mood. While exercise is a great way to burn up excess energy and dissipate tension, it does not necessarily teach you how to process stress differently, and is best used as a complement to another technique, such as breathing, visualization or yoga, for instance. Yoga is an excellent promoter of relaxation as well as a good form of non-aerobic body conditioning. It perfectly complements aerobic exercise.

Be Positive

Did you know pessimism has been linked to a higher risk of dying before age 65? On the other hand, expressing positive emotions, such as optimism, is associated with a variety of health benefits: lowered production of the stress hormone cortisol, better immune function, and reduced risk of chronic diseases.

Action Steps:

If you are stressed-out or anxious, and tend to become negative when in this state of mind, try the following steps:

• Take care of yourself by eating a healthy diet, exercising regularly and getting adequate sleep.
• Express your emotional reactions honestly so you can effectively deal with what's bothering you.
• Confide in someone - your mate, a good friend or a trusted relative.
• View the cup as half full instead of half empty.

BONUS : Title:
How Stress Increases Productivity?

Word Count:
462

Summary:
Stress is an unavoidable consequence of life. As Hans Selye (who coined the term as it is currently used) noted, "Without stress, there would be no life". However, just as distress can cause disease, it seems plausible that there are good stresses that promote wellness. Stress is not always necessarily harmful. Winning a race or election can be just stressful as losing, or more so, but may trigger very different biological responses.

Stress Increases Productivity

Increa...


Keywords:
stress,stress ball,tension,stress management,heart attack,Body,heart,palpitation,blood pressure,bloo


Article Body:
Stress is an unavoidable consequence of life. As Hans Selye (who coined the term as it is currently used) noted, "Without stress, there would be no life". However, just as distress can cause disease, it seems plausible that there are good stresses that promote wellness. Stress is not always necessarily harmful. Winning a race or election can be just stressful as losing, or more so, but may trigger very different biological responses.

Stress Increases Productivity

Increased stress results in increased productivity, up to a point. However, this level differs for each of us. It's very much like the stress on a violin string. Not enough produces a dull, raspy sound. Too much tension makes a shrill, annoying noise or snaps the string. However, just the right degree can create a magnificent tone. Similarly, we all need to find the proper level of stress that allows us to perform optimally and make melodious music as we go through life.

Fight-or-Flight

Some of the early work on stress established the existence of the well-known fight-or-flight response. Researches showed that when an animal experiences a shock or perceives a threat, it quickly releases hormones that help it to survive.

These hormones help us to run faster and fight harder. They increase heart rate and blood pressure, delivering more oxygen and blood sugar to power important muscles. They increase sweating in an effort to cool these muscles, and help them stay efficient. They divert blood away from the skin to the core of our bodies, reducing blood loss if we are damaged. And as well as this, these hormones focus our attention on the threat, to the exclusion of everything else. All of this significantly improves our ability to survive life-threatening events. This is Stress.

Unfortunately, this mobilization of the body for survival also has negative consequences. In this state, we are excitable, anxious, jumpy and irritable. This reduces our ability to work effectively with other people.

How Can I Tell What is Optimal Stress for Me?

There is no single level of stress that is optimal for all people. We are all individual creatures with unique requirements. As such, what is distressing to one may be a joy to another. And even when we agree that a particular event is distressing, we are likely to differ in our physiological and psychological responses to it.

It has been found that most illness is related to unrelieved stress. If you are experiencing stress symptoms, you have gone beyond your optimal stress level; you need to reduce the stress in your life and/or improve your ability to manage it.

Stress Ball

Many organizations are now giving out free stress balls to their employees. Stress balls has been proven to relieve stress! Find out more about stress balls.