Perhaps it is time to put
emphasis on the 'life after birth'. And make it as enjoyable and stress free as
it can be. Streamlining one's living pattern and priorities of life is perhaps
the most significant step that one can take in order to sidestep stress and its
effects.
The first thing is to set one's
body clock right to get around crippling stress-effects such as sleep
disorders, bowel disorders, nerve perturbation and hormonal dysfunction.
To minimize the effect of stress
one has to help oneself to a good sleep. The human body is designed for sleep
to come effortlessly. When sleep comes with an effort it is obvious that we're
holding on to the day's stresses and reaching out for tomorrow's as well.
Apart from adjusting one's
lifestyle to one's body clock, effectively managing time is also an invaluable
skill in coping with stress. Knowing when to take the load and when to offload,
often goes a long way to maintaining a healthy and balanced existence.
Effective time management and
living in an organized way can save us from nagging day-to-day stressors. We
just can't keep count of missed or procrastinated calls to the doctor, a
friend, a relative or a business partner in a day. Many don't have the time for
family and social commitments, which often results in anxieties and
relationship tensions. A bad time manager invariably ends up a much-harried one
at the close of the day. Getting organized in various fields of life—be it a
holiday trip, household, office or management of children's affairs—can be a
sure step towards avoiding stress.
To get yourself organized
in life the following points can prove vital:
• Be Flexible.
There is always more than one
solution to a problem. One should be flexible enough to accept alternative
solutions and experiment with them. It doesn't help becoming anxious, depressed
and staying screwed, if one's dream formula for a problem didn't work.
• Be Realistic About Your
Ability.
It does help to set realistic and
achievable goals?long term or short term, in life. The targets should
correspond to one's capability to achieve them. Making unrealistic demand on
oneself and others is a sure way to invite stress.
• Prioritize Your Tasks.
Prioritizing the tasks on hand
can help reduce the challenges in completing them. Putting time and energy to
important tasks and breaking a big task into smaller steps makes things easier.
When one finishes one thing at a time and is able to meet one's
responsibilities in time, the effect can be inspiring.
• Do Not Baulk At
Delegating Responsibility.
Delegating responsibility when it
is appropriate, prevents emergence of stress. When one has several tasks at
hand and puzzles over how to go about them, assigning smaller tasks to others
can work wonders. This can be done both in office and at home.
• Learn To Be Assertive.
Practicing to be a little more
assertive or learning to say `no' when required can prevent you from taking up
extra tasks which can eat into your precious time and energy. We often come
across a housewife at home or an executive in office putting themselves under
unwelcome stress by taking more than what they can handle.
• Keep A Time Planner.
Keeping a time planner ready
helps going about one's task systematically. The listings should be scheduled
on a day-to-day and priority basis. It is, also, important to allot a little
more time for each schedule to avoid working under strain and anxiety.
• Take Planned Breaks From
Work.
Whether a quick 5-minutes break
or a 5-day long holiday, the breaks might offload the after-effects of stress
in us. A jaunt to a spa or health resort goes a long way in refueling our
stress resistant capabilities.
Effective communication is key to
the success of all kinds of relationships. Stress—the real 'bug' in our lives,
generally comes from the interaction with others and demand from modern way of
living. A hiccup in communication at any level is most likely to lead you into
a stress situation.
Learning to say no, developing
interpersonal communication skills such as listening to other's views and
providing effective and timely feedback is key to effective communication.
When your ideas and attitudes are
effectively communicated to people around, you may find yourself in a win-win
situation in every sphere of life-family, workplace or social gathering. This
can save you from unnecessary misunderstandings and consequent tensions.
— It is imperative to create a
tranquil and inviting environs in and around the resting-place to slip into a
restful sleep.
— One must make it a point to end
the day with a pleasant or relaxing schedule: listening to choice music,
reading a light and leisurely book, doing some simple, relaxing exercises,
playing with children or watching a fun-filled tele-show.
— It is significant to keep a
watch on what you take at dinner, as most of our mind-body anomalies spring
from indigestion of food at physical level or indigestion of emotions
(irritation, uneasiness et al) at mental level. A rich and heavy dinner close
to bedtime can intervene with your sleeping patterns, make you sluggish in the
morning and can disrupt your normal diet routine.
—Taking an expert's help for
natural product based aromatherapy and Flower Essence therapy can be a useful
option against insomnia.
Approximately 20 million
prescriptions are written each year for sleeping aids (Archives of Internal
Medicine), a number that is dwarfed by the quantity of over-the-counter
sedatives sold annually. Though these medications relieve short-term insomnia,
medically it is held that these are not helpful in resolving chronic sleep
problems. Non-toxic sedatives available over the counter in holistic medicine
shops have been proved to be better options for sleep disorders.
A change in attitude such as
simple modifications of habits, thought, and behavior patterns often go a long
way in reducing stress and tension. Practicing to let go or making a conscious
choice not to become angry or upset over trivial matters saves a lot of mental
and physical energy. Trying to develop the habit of adopting a humorous view
towards life's situations, can take the edge off everyday stressors.
Bringing pets into your life can
be rejuvenating. This has been proved by many recent experiments. Company of
pets other than humans can have a therapeutic effect on us, especially when we
are in the grip of stress.
As human-to-human interactions
are often complex and unpredictable, we may not feel relaxed and comfortable in
the company of our own species. But, with pets as company, we can be ourselves
and enjoy unconditional acceptance from our companions. A pet can be anything
from a cat to a fish, or a bird to a tortoise. People are known to keep unusual
varieties such as snakes as pets. It is obvious that the selection of pets
should be compatible to one's temperament, availability of space at home and
lifestyle.
The company of a pet has amazing
capability to transport you from the grindings of day-to-day life to a more
relaxing and fulfilling existence.
Clinical researches show that
presence of pets around stressed out individuals can:
• help check stress-induced
disorders such as hypertension and heart ailments.
• be excellent mood enhancers. It
diverts your attention from depressing subjects to something more pleasurable.
Individuals who have mental illness or low self-esteem focus on themselves and
have difficulty in relating to others. Spending time with pets can develop an
outward focus in their thinking.
• increase the nurturing instinct
inside you and can give you a sense of authority as you take care of your pets.
• lessen medical attention for
stress-induced aches and pains as you spend time with pets and taking care of
them.
• lessen negative mental
responses such as anger and self-centric attitudes developing a sense of
empathy, especially in children.
• add years to one's life. It's
known that pets provide unconditional, nonjudgmental love and affection to
their owners. It has been found that many cancer patients with pets lived
longer because subconsciously they felt that their pets need them and they need
to survive to take care of their pets. Watching or observing the natural and
pleasant activities of pets, holding or touching them and talking to them
enlivens their mind and heart. It also creates a sense of belonging and
responsibility in their life, which can boost the desire to live longer.
When the body is in a 'fight or
flight' mode the digestive system shuts off temporarily and our appetite is
suppressed. The release of adrenaline and cortisol help mobilize carbohydrate
and fat for quick energy. When that situation is over, the cortisol lingers
there increasing our appetites in an effort to replace the used up carbohydrate
and fat. If the body doesn't react in that survival instinct the lingering
hormones tend to create an artificial craving for food. Resulting in overeating
and eating the wrong kind of food.
A well-nourished and fit body can
be more resilient to stressful conditions. Many illnesses induce stress and
stress too induces eating disorders, addiction to alcohol and substance abuses.
Hence, a planned and nutritious diet can act as an effective stress-fighting
tool.
Natural, unprocessed foods and
herbal concoctions are proved to be helpful to many stress induced disorders
such as disturbed bowel syndrome, digestive malfunction, nerve perturbation and
other disease conditions. Again a healthy and disciplined diet habit can help
an individual in stress conditions as well as prevent him from falling victim
to abusive food habits.
0 facebook:
Post a Comment