Reducing stress is one of the most important things one can do for their health. It is even more important than diet, exercise and sleep.

Stress reduces the production of disease fighting T-cells and limits their ability to function. This causes them to not be able to help destroy anything "foreign" in the body like; viruses, cancer cells and bacteria.

Stress happens when we feel fear, worry and pessimism. Those emotions reduce our ability to fight off colds and flu.

A UCLA study found that first semester law students who began the semester with an optimistic attitude had more disease fighting T-cells than the students who started the semester feeling pessimistic.

Another form of stress is anger. Everyone knows you should calm down and count to ten, or maybe 100 before you send that email, but did you know that when you stay frustrated, hold onto a grudge, or even constantly feel life is unfair, you are harming your health?

Research shows that couples who constantly use sarcasm and insults have fewer T-cells. They also have higher levels of stress hormones, and take up to 40% longer to recover from injuries than those who stay positive and affectionate during their disagreements.

The most destructive form of stress is the combination of grief and loneliness. Widows are far more likely to become ill the first year after their spouses death.



What can we do to combat stress?

Below are 5 suggestions:

1. Exercise
2. Touch
3. Laughter
4. Helping Others
5. Prayer/Meditation

1. Exercise

Researchers at the Mayo Clinic say:


"Exercise in almost any form can act as a stress reliever. Being active can boost your feel-good endorphins and distract you from daily worries."

• Physical activity helps to bump up the production of your brain's feel-good neurotransmitters, called endorphins."

• As you begin to regularly shed your daily tensions through movement and physical activity, you may find that this focus on a single task, and the resulting energy and optimism, can help you remain calm and clear in everything that you do.

• Regular exercise can increase self-confidence and lower the symptoms associated with mild depression and anxiety. Exercise also can improve your sleep, which is often disrupted by stress, depression and anxiety. All this can ease your stress levels and give you a sense of command over your body and your life.

http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-living/stress-management/in-depth/exercise-and-stress/art-20044469

Ok

2. Touching

(Health.com) -- Whether it's a squeeze of the hand, a big bear hug, a kneading massage, even a bedroom romp, touch is shaping up to be the ultimate mind-body medicine.

From lowering blood pressure and heart rate to increasing immune function and relieving pain, getting touched or doing some touching makes you healthier -- not to mention happier and less anxious.

How do you tap into these body-boosting benefits? Let us count the ways.


Try these:

• Get a rubdown

Anyone who's ever gotten a massage -- even a quickie at a mall kiosk -- knows that it helps you unwind. That's not just a mental sensation: Getting massaged causes muscles to unclench, a racing heart rate to slow, heightened blood pressure to fall, and levels of the stress hormone cortisol to drop. In that relaxed state, your body is able to regroup and recharge. One happy result: a more robust immune system.

"Cortisol suppresses the immune response," explains Roberta Lee, MD, vice chair of the Department of Integrative Medicine at Beth Israel Medical Center in New York City. "Anything that increases the relaxation response triggers the restoration of your immune response."


• Hug it out

The act of embracing floods our bodies with oxytocin, a "bonding hormone" that makes people feel secure and trusting toward each other, lowers cortisol levels, and reduces stress. Women who get more hugs from their partners have higher levels of oxytocin and lower blood pressure and heart rates, according to research done at the University of North Carolina.

But a hug from anyone you're close to works, too. Researchers at the University of Wisconsin at Madison tested that when they analyzed stress levels among volunteers giving a presentation. Afterward, participants who got hugs from their moms saw decreases in cortisol levels an hour after the presentation.


• Hold hands with your honey

When you're in a happy relationship, clasping hands reduces stress-related activity in a brain area called the hypothalamus -- which lowers the levels of cortisol coursing through your system -- as well as in the part of the brain that registers pain, which actually helps keep you from feeling it as much.


• Have sex

No surprise -- after all, lovemaking involves total-body contact. All that skin-to-skin stroking (not to mention or.gasm!) floods us with oxytocin and feel-good endorphins that do wondrous things for our emotional well-being.

Regular sex (I will add with your spouse) also does the physical body good, possibly even preventing us from getting sick as often. People who had sex once or twice a week had 30 percent more infection-fighting immunoglobulin A (IgA) in their saliva than those who didn't do the deed as often, according to a study done at Wilkes University in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.


• Cuddle up with your pet

If you're a pet owner, you've no doubt noticed you're less tense when scratching your animal behind the ears. In fact, research shows that people's blood pressure drops when they pet dogs, particularly if it's a dog they know and love. Dog petting has also been shown to improve immune function and ease pain, or at least the perception of it.

"You're focusing on the animal, not on you, so your mind isn't able to ruminate about the pain," explains Brad Lichtenstein, a naturopathic physician and assistant professor in the counseling and health psychology department at Bastyr University in Seattle. (Experts say snuggling with any furry pet should be just as soothing.)

So don't resist when your pet curls up with you -- spending quality time together may be just what the doctor ordered.

http://www.cnn.com/2011/HEALTH/01/05/touching.makes.you.healthier.health/

3. Laughter

Ever heard the phrase, "Laughter is the best medicine?"

Well believe it or not, it's true. Here's why:

Stress relief from laughter

A good sense of humor can't cure all ailments, but data are mounting about the positive things laughter can do.



Short-term benefits





A good laugh has great short-term effects. When you start to laugh, it doesn't just lighten your load mentally, it actually induces physical changes in your body. Laughter can:



• Stimulate many organs. Laughter enhances your intake of oxygen-rich air, stimulates your heart, lungs and muscles, and increases the endorphins that are released by your brain.



• Activate and relieve your stress response.

A rollicking laugh fires up and then cools down your stress response and increases your heart rate and blood pressure. The result? A good, relaxed feeling.



• Soothe tension.

Laughter can also stimulate circulation and aid muscle relaxation, both of which help reduce some of the physical symptoms of stress.





Long-term effects




Laughter isn't just a quick pick-me-up, though. It's also good for you over the long haul. Laughter may:



• Improve your immune system.

Negative thoughts manifest into chemical reactions that can affect your body by bringing more stress into your system and decreasing your immunity. In contrast, positive thoughts actually release neuropeptides that help fight stress and potentially more-serious illnesses.



• Relieve pain.

Laughter may ease pain by causing the body to produce its own natural painkillers. Laughter may also break the pain-spasm cycle common to some muscle disorders.



• Increase personal satisfaction.

Laughter can also make it easier to cope with difficult situations. It also helps you connect with other people.



• Improve your mood.

Many people experience depression, sometimes due to chronic illnesses. Laughter can help lessen your depression and anxiety and make you feel happier.


http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-living/stress-management/in-depth/stress-relief/art-20044456?pg=2

Informative.

4. Service

Helping others can take our minds off stress, reduce blood pressure and help us live longer, more healthy lives.


Dr. Michael Poulin – Psychological Benefits of Giving


You may have heard that stress is bad for health. Well, it turns out that giving to others may undo the negative effects of stress. In a recent study, my colleagues and I found that there was no link between stress and health among people who reported helping their friends and neighbors in the past year. But among people who didn’t engage in such helping, stressful life events predicted decreased odds of survival over the next five years.

http://wamc.org/post/dr-michael-poulin-university-buffalo-psychological-benefits-giving


Most of us know that if we eat our fruit and veggies, exercise often, and avoid smoking, we have a better chance of living longer and healthier lives. But your doctor may not have told you that regularly giving to others should perhaps be added to that healthy checklist. A new paper led by Dr. Suzanne Richards at the University of Exeter Medical School reviews 40 studies from the past 20 years on the link between volunteering and health. The article, which is freely available in the open access journal BMC Public Health, finds that volunteering is associated with lower depression, increased well-being, and a 22% reduction in the later risk of dying.

http://m.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-empathy-gap/201308/the-caring-cure-can-helping-others-help-yourself

Nobleval:
Informative.

I dey
teyu








SAW

5. Prayer


A well-noted study by Dr. Herbert Benson, a cardiovascular medicine specialist at Harvard Medical School, documented the potential healing benefits of spiritual practices, such as prayer and meditation (as well as hypnosisand other relaxation techniques). In his book Healing Words, Larry Dossey writes that Benson demonstrated that the body responds to these practices with what he calls the relaxation response, which consists of "a lowering of the heart rate, blood pressure, and breathing rate; a reduced need for oxygen; less carbon dioxide production." In effect, the relaxation response is the opposite of the stress response and can be consciously used to modulate the impact of stress.

http://www.takingcharge.csh.umn.edu/explore-healing-practices/prayer


The following explanations have been offered as to how prayer helps improve health:



•The relaxation response

prayer elicits the relaxation response, which lowers blood pressure and other factors heightened by stress.



• Secondary control

prayer releases control to something greater than oneself, which can reduce the stress of needing to be in charge.



• The placebo response

prayer can enhance a person's hopes and expectations, and that in turn can positively impact health.



• Healing presence

prayer can bring a sense of a spiritual or loving presence and alignment with God or an immersion into a universal unconsciousness.



• Positive feelings

prayer can elicit feelings of gratitude, compassion, forgiveness, and hope, all of which are associated with healing and wellness.



• Mind-body-spirit connection

when prayer uplifts or calms, it inhibits the release of cortisol and other hormones, thus reducing the negative impact of stress on the immune system and promoting healing.




Do yourself a favor...exercise, give someone a hug, laugh, help others and pray/meditate often. It could save your life.

JigsawKillah:


I dey
teyu



SAW

lol...too "stressful" for you?

texanomaly:


lol...too "stressful" for you?

No. I jus dey confirm wetin d bros talk
Good piece of information ma'am





SAW

texanomaly:


lol...too "stressful" for you?

Dont u think the essay is stressful too

Silkmoth33:


Dont u think the essay is stressful too

Nah. Not too stressful for me. I put it all together remember?

Just read the bolded parts. You'll get the basics.

Interesting. Quite informative, especially for people like me that have mood swings just for no reason.

masonkz:
Interesting. Quite informative, especially for people like me that have mood swings just for no reason.

Are you seeing a doctor for these mood swings? Please don't ignore this. If you try the things above and you are still experiencing the mood swings, please see your doctor. Don't mess around with your health Hun.

Thanks for sharing this with us texanomaly, are you a Texan by any chance? I live in Texas, Spring Texas to be precise

xcelsia:
Thanks for sharing this with us texanomaly, are you a Texan by any chance? I live in Texas, Spring Texas to be precise

Wow...You are way down by the Gulf. I'm up in the Panhandle. How long have you been in Texas?

texanomaly:


Wow...You are way down by the Gulf. I'm up in the Panhandle. How long have you been in Texas?

Yeah Spring is about 2hrs from Galveston where the beach is, I've been here since 2002, it's so good meeting another Texan on here

xcelsia:
Yeah Spring is about 2hrs from Galveston where the beach is, I've been here since 2002, it's so good meeting another Texan on here

Nice to e-meet you too.

Thanks