10 Tips For Reducing Stress And Improving Your Health

Being stressed impacts on your health and wellbeing. It also impacts on your dental health increasing your risk of dental decay, gum disease, mouth ulcers, clenching and grinding, facial pain, cold sores and poor oral hygiene. A holistic approach deals with the underlying cause of a problem as well as the symptoms that result. When you feel under pressure try these fabulous tips to decrease your stress levels and take care of your health.

1. Stay calm and centered. Remember to stay calm and take it easy. When you feel stressed close your eyes and breathe gently in and out through your nose, make your breaths long and steady but gentle.

2. Care for yourself. No one can take care of you as well as you can. Say when you need a break, take time out for you and do things that help you unwind

3. Sleep well live well. Having the right amount of sleep changes your outlook on life. You feel more alive, less reactive, more productive and much more joyful. Aim to prepare well for sleep by winding down and relaxing before bed. Choosing not to stay up late and waking early leaves you feeling the most rejuvenated.

4. Eat well and avoid stimulants. Food is our best medicine or worst poison. A healthy diet keeps the body strong and is perfect for wellbeing. Watch those double shot lattes and avoid sugar and processed foods full of additives. Caffeine and nicotine put more stress on the nervous system by producing adrenalin and cortisol. Repeated use of stimulants adds to the stress of modern life.

5. Stop the clock. Constantly telling yourself that you are short of time speeds up your biological clock resulting in faster heart rate, increased blood pressure and more adrenalin production. Stay in the present moment and focus on the task at hand, your body clock will slow down, and time seems to expand for you.

6. Take control of anxiety. When we expect the worst and expect things to go badly it can become a self-fulfilling prophecy. Instead of focusing on the negative, picture how you would like things to turn out and put a positive outcome in its place. This helps you to overcome negativity and feel less reactive to situations and people.

7. Avoid conflict and hostility. The stress of extended and unresolved conflict is as dangerous as smoking. So get honest, look at what is behind the conflict, deal with the issues and seek resolution.

8. Let go of perfection. There is no such thing as perfect. Be able to let things go and accept them for how they are without the need for control or perfection. Make mistakes and learn from them. Setting unrealistic expectations is setting you up for more stress.

9. Connect to nature and the Divine. Instead of drinking or using drugs, try walks in nature, meditation or prayer. Stress tends to dissolve away when you connect to your inner most.

10. Go with the flow. Stress is not something out there in the environment; it is in how you handle it. So prepare yourself to deal with life; have fun, laughter, connection, exercise, sleep, meditation, and love in your life and you will be better equipped to deal with whatever the World throws at you. -By Dr Rachel Hall

Natural Home Remedies for Stress, Mental Disorders

What are these?

Nervous diseases are more difficulty to diagnose than diseases of the various organs of the body because the nervous system is hidden from the eye of the physician and it can be known only from the disturbances of the organs governed by the affected nerves whether and of what type the nervous diseases is. Under this head come apoplexy, forgetfulness, hysteria, mental defectiveness, mental illness, neurasthenia and others. The most common nervous weakness, nervous break down or nervous exhaustion.

Causes:

Many factors contribute to the production of nervous diseases. Some people are born with a nervous disposition and it is that category which generally suffers from headaches, neuralgia, hysterical manifestations and bizarre forms of mental activity. The nervous system is exposed to the fast pace of modern life, which tends to bring on many diseases like anxiety states, digestives disturbances and exhaustion. Shocks to both mind and body, such as the loss of a dear one, money reverses, an unfortunate love affair and an accident may be the starting point of many chronic nervous complaints. Certain organic poisons like the one produced in body by diseases like syphilis give rise to serious nervous disorders. Chronic alcoholism may bring on severe mental derangement. The organic disorders manifest themselves in the shape by hysteria, anxiety states and nervous breakdowns.

Weakness of the nervous system can give rise to diseases like dyspepsia or palpitation, which cannot be helped by remedies directed towards those organs. It is but natural since it is the brain and the nervous system enclosed in it, which controls the bodily functions. A sudden loosening of bowels or the bladder in case of fright is an example. Another example is of certain persons with a strong will power who are able to fight serious crisis brought on by diseases much better than ordinary individuals.

Symptoms:

A person suffering from nervous weakness or debility generally experiences a sense of nameless fear, agitation, perplexity, confusion, worry, disappointment, loneliness, irritability and insomnia. The physical symptoms are constipation, dyspepsia, headaches, vague aches and pains all over the body and feverishness. The patient is also inclined to be a hypochondriac. The moment he reads about or hears the symptoms of a disease he imagines that he suffers from it. The wise physician will keep him away from any medical literature.

The main cause of a nervous breakdown is the rat race in which modern man engages. The lust for money and success-which again is measured in the good things of life, -motivates a man to overwork, both mentally and physically. Constant worry about things being done and to be done lead to tension and a man falls prey to his imagination. Overstraining leads to mistakes which erodes his self-confidence and after that the only way is the way downhill.

Treatment:

Since a healthy mind can reside only in a healthy body, see that the body regains its health. The paint must live a normal, natural life. He should try to get sleep. During the day also he should be advised to relax in a bed for some hours. The loosening of tensions by relaxation will help his organs to do their work properly and he would be able to get rid of the poisons.

The next imperative for such a patient is exercise. He should take walks and if possible take a jogging. His foods should include bread made from wheat from which bran has not been sieved out, fruits and boiled vegetables. Since nervous debility shows a marked lack of vitamin B, the deficiency should be made up by inclusion in his diet of foods, which contain it in larger measure. Unpolished rice, milk, cucumber, mangoes, pears, pineapples, guava, tomatoes, raisins and leafy vegetables should be his mainstay. He should be asked to eat his food in a relaxed manner, chewing it properly before ingestion.

Massages can help in reactivating the nervous system. Hydropathic treatment is also recommended and that merely consists in bathing his spine with a garden or bathroom shower for a couple of minutes. The water should be cold. During summer cold showering of the spine could be done three times or more and in winter twice would do.

The patient must be told to exercise his willpower to get rid of the disease. He must be told that he is getting better. Psychological impressions must be created on his mind, which will help to understand that his disease is not incurable. Suggestion is the best thing in such circumstances. It has to be remembered that certain nervous diseases like hysteria are the result of autosuggestion and nothing else.

Persons suffering from nervous debility are always on the look out for crutches on which they can lean or shoulders on which they can weep. The wise physician tries to reawaken their self-confidence and the desire to stand on their own feet.

Exercises:

Some exercises are helpful in dealing with nervous debility.

Sit on your feet with your stomach touching your knees. Try to keep your spine straight and extend both your arms. Now thrust your right foot forward and stand up with a jerk. Resume your earlier position and repeat the exercise with your left foot.

Stand with your right leg about a foot from your left. Join your hands and extend the arms downward, upward and then backward. More the arms with the hands joined in a circular motion and inhale and exhale deeply during the movement.

Lie on your back on the floor with your elbows touching your sides. Then try to raise the body with your elbows and heels and then resume the former position.

Stand like a boxer and make positions like you are hitting somebody with your fists. Or, to put it differently, indulge in shadow boxing for some time, moving your feet as a boxer does.

Stand in the normal position and then sit down with a jerk on your toes, with your palms touching the ground. Suddenly jerk your legs back just as you were about to do push-up. The exercise is akin to doing sit-ups and push-ups simultaneously.

If this regimen is followed for some weeks, you can get rid of any nervous disorder. It is also beneficial for sciatica, hydrosel and dropsy.

By Dr John Anne

Your Health and Stress, What Is the Relation?

The hustle and bustle of daily life can really create a lot of stress and put a person into a tailspin. Although we are all in charge of our own happiness sometimes it can be difficult to defuse all of the negative information coming from all different directions.

You hear constantly, "you just have to have a positive attitude." This is something you know is true, but the question is how do we accomplish that?

Feeling positive in a negative world is like a person with a drinking problem hanging in a bar expecting not to be tempted to drink. When Negative is all around only the strong seem to be able to persist in being positive.

Being positive is something that needs to be practiced. The more you think positively the more your "positivity muscles" will grow and it gets easier to be positive.

Stress can make us negative about relationships, life, work and even things that we love doing. Stress takes Joy away. I don't know about you but I really like Joy, I would rather have joy than Stress.

Many people will ask if the glass is half empty or half full; that is not the question that they should be asking. The question is how heavy is the glass of water?

Lets compare that glass of water to stress (the one who steals joy). Fill a glass of water and carry it around. It's relatively light and easy to manage without spills. If you carry that same glass of water around for a few hours it starts to feel heavier, you have to pay closer attention not to spill the water out. By the end of the day, your arm and hand will be totally taxed and stressed out; it will be extremely difficult to keep from spilling.

That is what stress is like; it builds and builds until you are exhausted. Do you hold your stress like that glass of water? The same glass of water if being held gets more stressful without changing weight or shape and the same is true for stress. The longer you hold stress the worse it gets even if you don't add to it.

The old way of thinking was that disease was something that was genealogical and that we were destined to get what was passed to us from our family. The modern way of thinking goes back to ancient fundamentals putting us back in control of our own health. If we can control our stress, we can prevent disease. Modern medicine believes that stress is responsible for 75% of all disease. This shift in thought about disease is closer aligned to what Ayurveda believes; that all disease manifests from stress of one form or another.

Where does stress come from?

Our thoughts
Memories
Wrong food combinations
Unhealthy food
Lack of food
Extensive exertion
Lack of sleep
Individual triggers
Pollution

Some of the stress we create and cause, some of the stress is beyond our control. We can only do our best to prevent stress and reduce the effects that it has on our health. To handle various stressors in our lives, we begin with cleansing and strengthening our system so the effects of stress can be minimized. We can only bring in the positive when we consciously accept and remove the negative.

Looking at the list above of the things that cause stress within our bodies it becomes apparent that there are some things we can improve.

Thoughts and memories are totally within our control if we can learn how to divert negative thought and memories into something that is positive. Often times we just need to look at the other side and make an attempt to be Positive. As I mentioned above you have to practice positivity.

Wrong food combinations, unhealthy food and lack of food are items that can affect many aspects of life. All of us know what is healthy and what is not and that pile of french fries is not in the healthy column. The flip side is wrong food combinations that many people are not aware of, you may need to investigate what is right for you. For many people they fail to feed their bodies and this is just as harmful.

Excessive exertion and lack of sleep seems to be the norm. Too much physical exertion and then not getting enough sleep leads to many health issues. Everyone has different requirements, when you listen to your body it will send you clues.

Pollution is something that we have to do our best with because there is no way to avoid a certain amount of pollution. Cleansing can help your body rid itself of toxins that affect your health.

Individual stressors need to be identified only then can they be rectified. Ayurveda will help you to identify your stressors, help you to understand wrong food combinations, and help you learn techniques to minimize stress.

Ayurveda; its simple, its effective, and it makes sense. 

By: Shelli J Thompson

Home Remedies For Anxiety

Who have not undergone any kind of anxiety and panic disorder? Most probably, you will not find any one who will tell he/she has not! Anxiety is one sort of birthright, you can say, for everybody. Up to certain extent, it's OK to have anxiety; but if you cross the limit, problem pops up and you may need to visit medicos to cool you down. If you have chronic anxiety problem, it would be nice knowing some home remedies for anxiety. Some knowledge in this aspect will reduce your chances of frequenting doctors. As a matter of caution, majority of home remedies for anxiety and panic disorders may not have sufficient scientific background and experimenting with them may always not give intended results. It is not advisable to use home remedies for anxiety without being prescribed by an expert physician. However, few well known home treatment for anxieties are given below for your reference, further investigation, and using them after getting approval from your family physician.

A Few Examples of Home Remedies for Anxiety

Remedial measures to be implemented against anxieties largely depend upon causes of the disorders. You must dig out main cause for your discontent and then try concentrate solving the issue rather than blaming the near and dear ones. One of the best home remedies for anxiety is to getting into involved with some family affairs or some social causes. Never sit alone. To achieve immediate relief, many people use Niocinamide and other similar drugs as part of their home remedies for anxiety. Using of such drugs, at least for the first time, must be consulted with a doctor; else, it may harm you later.

Taking vitamin B6 and B12 daily for 7-8 days during peak anxiety period to control blood pressure and panic disorder is quite common amongst the older members of my family who always believe practicing home remedies for anxiety. I also found no harm using such vitamins to check anxieties; they work well. Few other prominent practices that are widely followed as best home remedies for anxiety are daily exercising for at least half an hour, taking bath with cold water, playing with kids, watching movies, sleeping for at least 7-8 hours, listening music, and attending religious ceremonies, etc.

All of the home remedies for anxiety may not equally affect you all and you must find out what applies you best. Main theme of all the home remedies for anxiety is to stay busy, stay occupied by whatsoever means may be. Of course, long term physical and health conditions that one may lead also help greatly fighting facing anxiety and panic disorders. If you have already developed syndromes of anxiety or want to avoid developing such behavior in future, you may consider leaving smoking, drinking, and all sort of caffeine to enhance effectiveness of home remedies for anxiety that you may employ separately to reduce your panic disorders.

Develop a healthy food habit to fight Anxiety

Clinically and physiologically, experts say that if you lack certain vitamins and minerals in your body, you may risk facing panic disorders. So, going by their words, if you have already living with anxieties, you may consider using appropriate vitamins and other mineral compounds after due consultation with your doctor as part of your enhanced home remedies for anxiety. Even without seeing a doctor, you may consider occasional usage of calcium, vitamin C, B-complex, and other vitamin supplements. After all, your body requires them all and simultaneously they can work well as part of your home remedies for anxiety.

By Aashu S