Managing stress is not about removing all the stress from your life, it’s about how you deal with the stress that’s an inevitable part of your life that’s important. Brilliant people don’t have stress-free lives, they are simply able to handle it in a healthy way.
What does ‘poorly controlled’ stress do to you? If you don’t deal with it well, you’re more open to:
So it’s a must that you deal with stress and do so brilliantly.
Here are some ideas to help you deal with the stress in your life.
It has been proved time and time again that laughter stimulates the immune system, stimulates breathing, which oxygenates the body and uses nearly every muscle of your body – which in turn keeps you looking great.
Laughter by its very nature invites us to look at things in a different light. Look for the funny side of (almost) every situation – and don’t be afraid to have a really good laugh out loud.
A study compiled by the Mayo Clinic over a 30-year period shows that subjects who were categorised as pessimistic had a 19% greater chance of dying early than those described as being optimists.
Now that’s something to be optimistic about.
Having fun reduces stress, which reduces the amount of adrenalin the body produces.
Listen to a relaxation CD, quieten your mind and learn how to meditate. By practising deep relaxation for 15 minutes three to four times a week, you will significantly reduce your levels of stress. I recommend ‘White Island’ relaxation available as a CD or download from www.michaelheppell.com as an easy way to get started.
A study at the University of Miami on premature babies found that babies who were stroked regularly gained weight 49% faster than those babies of the same birth weight who were not stroked.
In fact babies who are not touched and cuddled, even if they are cared for physically, are at a greater risk of death. Doctors call it ‘failure to thrive’.
People with hostile personalities have up to five times the death rate before the age of 50 than people who are less prone to these negative emotions.
In a study carried out at the University of North Carolina, 13,000 participants were asked a series of questions about their levels of anger, i.e. whether they were hot headed, whether they felt as though they wanted to hit someone when angry, etc.
Of those questioned, 8% were at the high end of the spectrum. In the six-year follow-up period, it was found they were three times more likely to have died suddenly than those ranked lowest.
Having someone to talk to is a very powerful medicine. Get it off your chest. Have a whinge about your job, the kids, life and then let it go. A good supportive friend or spouse will hear you out and then support you when you move on.
Studies show that married men live on average four years longer than single men. Companionship and shared interests add mental stimulation, which boosts your immune system.
Be a lover not a fighter.
A poor body image can affect how you think and feel about yourself. A poor body image can lead to emotional distress, low self-esteem, dangerous dieting, anxiety, depression and eating disorders.
With a positive body image, a person has a real perception of their size and shape and feels comfortable and proud about their body. With a negative body image, a person has a distorted perception of their shape and size, compares their body with others and feels shame, awkwardness and anxiety about their body.
When you look in the mirror, what do you focus on? Do you like what you see? We are all (men and women, young and old) under pressure to measure up to a certain social and cultural ideal of beauty, which can easily lead to a poor body self-image. By cleverly presenting an ideal shape that is difficult to achieve and maintain, the cosmetic and diet product industries are assured of success. Because once you start looking for perfection, you just can’t stop.
So let’s start with what you’ve got.
We all want to look our best, but a healthy body is not always linked to appearance. In fact, healthy bodies come in all shapes and sizes!
Developing and nurturing a positive body image and a healthy mental attitude is crucial to your happiness and wellness. There is a common misconception that you have to be very thin to be healthy. This can then cause people to do all sorts of unhealthy things to become very thin – eating an inadequate diet, smoking, pills, etc.
Your body is amazing. Start right away by treating it well. Get a massage, sign up for a treatment, nourish your skin, look after your nails, floss your teeth, dry body brush, have a facial, exfoliate, clean your tongue, have a colonic irrigation, relax in an Epsom Salts bath, massage your feet and condition your hair. Then, in the afternoon . . .
It’s easier to feel more comfortable and do the right things for your ‘new’ body when you find things to like about the one you have now.
Essentials to developing healthy body image are the same as for overall wellness:
Dieting does not work! If it did, it would not be one of the fastest-growing industries in the world (think about that one). Dieters spend billions on weight-loss programmes that have little long-term effect on their weight.
Did you know that, even if you remain on a diet programme, it is likely that you will regain one- to two-thirds of your lost weight within one year? And nearly all of your lost weight within five years?
Women in particular who diet frequently are more likely to:
Remember – women are meant to have curves (but men aren’t meant to have breasts!).
Adopting a healthy lifestyle is the best way to manage your weight and model healthy behaviours for your children. Use the following to encourage positive beliefs about body image at home:
If you need support, seek professional advice from someone who specialises in childhood weight issues.
Write a list of 10 things you like about your body. Keep it in a safe place and when you don’t like what you see in the mirror look at the list instead.
‘Not getting enough sleep is a surefire way to make me feel lousy. It’s not that I need much, 14–15 hours a night and a couple of naps during the day is all I ask, but I’m just not getting my quota.’
Or:
‘I’m so lucky: four or five hours a night and I’ve got all the energy I need! Sleep? I can take it or leave it!’
My guess is you’re closer to the first than the second and that’s why you’re reading this section.
If you get broken sleep or you find it hard to ‘drop off’ in the first place then here are a few tips to help you:
Did you know 85% of all healing occurs when you are in deep sleep?
Meditation or other methods of deep relaxation can improve your health dramatically. Relaxation of all kinds decreases cortisol and epinephrine levels in the blood and helps to balance your biochemistry. In simple terms that means it lowers blood pressure and prevents depression.
In most Western cultures we aren’t taught how to meditate properly, if at all. Instead we are told to stop daydreaming and to pay attention.
If you find it difficult to drift off to sleep, when you go to bed visualise each part of your body from your scalp to your toes relaxing and say in your mind ‘I’m falling into a deep relaxing sleep’ five times for each body part. You’ll drift off much faster and have a deeper, better quality sleep.