Self Improvement Articles

Stress invades people’s lives all the time, even daily for some. Life gets hard and it’s difficult to juggle all the things life throws at us. It’s important that we get our stress levels under control because frequent elevated levels of stress are toxic to the human body and can cause heart disease, high blood pressure, obesity, and diabetes. It’s easier than you may think to help yourself decrease your stress levels. Just follow these simple steps.

1. Avoid alcohol, caffeine, and nicotine. Caffeine and nicotine are stimulants and do not decrease your levels of stress; they increase them. Alcohol is a depressant in large amounts and a stimulant in small amounts, making it bad for you to take as a way of relieving stress. Instead of reaching towards the alcohol, caffeine, and nicotine, grab some water or herbal tea. These are hydrating and provide you with stress relief.

2. Try taking part in physical activity. Stress releases hormones in your body known as adrenaline and cortisol. Releasing some of these hormones can help your stress levels to go down.

3. Get more sleep. Not getting enough sleep is a direct correlation to high stress levels. However, stress sometimes prevents us from relaxing enough to fall asleep. If you are having this issue, try taking a warm bath or reading before bedtime. Another good tip is going to bed at roughly the same time every night. This creates a routine for you to follow, naturally decreasing your stress.

4. Try relaxation techniques. Every day, try a different stress-reducing technique. You can try self-hypnosis as this is very simple and easy to do anywhere. You could also attempt saying one word repeatedly to yourself that holds meaning for you. Don’t worry if these relaxation tips don’t work right off the bat. Relaxation is a skill that takes time to master.

5. Talk to someone you trust and who can help. Letting someone know how you feel is a great way to reduce your stress. Many people have said that it’s like a weight being lifted off their shoulders. Stress can cloud our mind and prevent us from thinking clearly. Talking through your situation with someone can help you figure out a solution to what you’re stressing about.

6. Keep a stress diary. Keeping a diary and writing down your thoughts and emotions will help you become more aware of what you’re feeling. Write down the date and place the stressful event occurred. Also include what you were doing and how you felt, both emotionally and physically. Writing everything down will enable you to avoid another stressful situation and you’ll discover some new coping mechanisms.

7. Manage your time. Many people experience stress when they run out of time to do important things. With a schedule to follow you can ensure that you get all of your important tasks done in a timely manner. Having all your work done on time will help to decrease some stress.

8. Learn to say “No”. It’s easy to believe that you have all the time in the world and can juggle one more thing in your life. But sometimes you need to remember that you have so many other important things that needs to be juggled. There’s only a certain amount of hours in a day, making it hard to get multiple things done.

Take care of yourself. Stress invades everyone’s lives but dealing with stress is manageable. Know that everything will get better and the thing that’s causing you so much stress won’t be a worry to you down the road.

It might be actresses such as Suzanne Sommers and Jane Fonda, or models such as Christie Brinkley or Kathy Ireland.  It seems that a number of celebrities today offer their own weight loss programs.  The programs are appealing because we see these various svelte celebrities and we want to have bodies just like them.  The celebrities are also highly likable, so we have a predisposition to be accepting of their products.

However, did you ever stop to think whether these celebrities have any nutritional training?  Do they have medical training?  Is the information that they offer nutritionally sound?  Or is it just a good sales pitch?

Nutrition experts Annette B. Natow and Jo-Ann Heslin, authors of the book Get Skinny the Smart Way, say that consumers should be leery of celebrity-inspired diet books.  They point out that such books are often based upon nutritional fiction and that, while the diets outlined in these books may result in short-term weight loss, they can be far from healthy in the long run.  Therefore, you might consider passing up the celebrity diet books and opting for those written by nutritional experts instead.

But celebrities aren’t the only ones preaching fad diets.  For instance, there’s the so-called grapefruit diet which recommends consuming a grapefruit prior to each meal.  Another fad is the cabbage soup diet, which requires you to consume all the cabbage soup you can handle.  Other fads call for eating all the eggs you can…consuming only raw foods…or fasting every other day.  Such diets are not only based on nutritional misinformation—they can also be dangerous.

For instance, let’s take a closer look at the cabbage soup diet.  No major health organization has endorsed it.  Moreover, the American Heart Association disapproves of it, noting that it can actually harm you.  Promoters of this diet say that you can lose as much as 15 pounds a week by following it—what they don’t say is that most of that weight is water weight.   Once you begin eating normally again, you will see your weight rise once more.  Some of the side-effects of the cabbage soup diet include a feeling of weakness, stomach pains, and diarrhea.

Yet another questionable diet approach is what’s known as food combining.  Such a diet assumes that you are overweight because you are not eating the right combination of food.  The requirements of such a diet can seem quite arbitrary.  For instance, you might be told that you can eat a banana only in the morning.  This is rubbish, since your stomach can deal with a variety of different foods at one time.  The idea behind such a diet is to eat food with fewer calories, but there are other methods you can use to accomplish the same goals.

Some companies even claim that you can shed pounds while you dream.  They say that, if you use their product right before bedtime, you will lose weight.  In actuality, no company can make such a claim with any degree of credibility.  It is impossible to burn a large number of calories while snoozing.  In other cases, you may be tempted to try to lose weight by consuming special milkshakes or candy bars.  In essence, these products are just milk and candy with certain vitamins and minerals added.  However, one rarely feels satisfied after consuming these products.  As a result, you may find yourself actually consuming additional calories during the rest of the day.  While you might be able to theoretically lose weight in the short-term, you’ll find it difficult to maintain the weight loss over the long haul.

The fact of the matter is that there is a great deal of money that can be made through the sale and marketing of diet products.  As long as America has a large contingent of overweight people, companies will try to make a profit off of overeating.  It is up to you to be savvy enough to recognize a diet fad when you see it and opt for a different approach to losing weight.  You’ll find that there are really no short-cuts to weight loss.  Any successful diet program takes time, patience, and determination, along with a willingness to change your eating patterns.