There are effective ways to deal with too much stress. Here are free techniques and tips that work. The goal is not to eliminate tension completely, because the only way to eliminate it would be to die.
The best way is to manage it by arranging our lives so that its consequences are beneficial rather than detrimental.
Here are our best relief techniques. These work equally well for relief from tension, anxiety, depression, comfort eating, and other related problems.
One of the ways to manage tension well is to sleep well. Troubled sleep leads to unwanted weight gain.
Sleep is discussed on another page. You'll find the link to our Sleep page awaiting at the bottom of this page.
Causes of Stress
We are creatures of the Pleistocene [a prehistorical era] who have developed Holocene [the historical era] habits.
However, stressors have changed from the Pleistocene to the Holocene. We discuss this transition in our section "Best Weight Loss Tips," which is listed on the menu buttons.
One of the key differences seems to be that, although we might not be as constantly exposed to physical dangers, we might be exposed to more constant nonphysical stressors than our ancestors.
Obstacles to relaxation (stimulants) are around us twenty-four hours a day.
For example, we are profoundly affected by sound. If, like most people, you live in a city or even a suburb, you are constantly bombarded with the sounds of traffic, including sirens, and frequently music and often construction and maintenance noise.
Radio, television, and the Internet are available every minute of every day; if we are not using them, our neighbor seems to be. Playing children often create irregular, disturbing noises. All stimulants raise blood pressure.
There are many other stimulants as well. Many people are addicted to the news, which is filled with stories that are deliberately chosen because they titillate, excite or disturb.
We frequently stimulate ourselves with caffeine and its relatives as well as street drugs like cocaine and amphetamines.
Who would want to go to a movie, a play, or a zoo that wouldn't stimulate us? Who would want to listen to a preacher, a comic, a teacher, or a salesperson who wouldn't stimulate us?
Since few are immune to it, a frequently unnoticed stressor is time consciousness. The more we pay attention to watches and clocks instead of to whatever we are doing, the more stressed we are.
There are huge productivity advantages to be gained from timing performances. But they come at a cost and we've only been bearing that cost in recent centuries. (If this topic interests you, read David Landes's Revolution in Time: Clocks and the Making of the Modern World [rev ed].)
The same goes for the other major stressors that cause worry such as separation from loved ones, aging, poverty, and ill health.
sidebar quotation from Hans Selye: "Death is inevitable, but it is quite possible not to worry about it all the time."
Our thinking itself generates much of our anxiety, guilt, and unhappiness.
Our failure to control our minds causes stress-related illnesses of all kinds. The idea that mind and body are separate is a delusion.
All this elevates our levels of the hormone cortisol, which increases abdominal fat storage.
Hence the relevance of the topic of relief techniques to both health and lasting natural weight loss.
Stress Relief Techniques
If there is too much tension in your life and you want more relaxation, we have several suggestions.
We suggest meditation. Mastering meditation is a real cure for what ails us. Its goal is freedom from compulsive thinking.
It requires daily practice to yield major results. However, our recommendation is that everyone can benefit from meditation. Even just 15 or 20 minutes twice daily can work wonders.
Please don't confuse it with religion. It is a spiritual or breathing practice. It is neither religious nor anti-religious; it's nonreligious.
Meditation is for everyone. It works from the inside out. It supports the person on all levels. It produces precious peace of mind: serenity, tranquility, peacefulness. See the meditation section of our website, which is listed on the navigation buttons, to learn more about more about it.
We also offer two free e-series for you:
Meditation: an aid to relaxation & weight loss
The Emotional Eating Cure
If you would like either or both, simply request them via the request boxes on the appropriate pages. They arrive direct by e-mail. The buttons to the Meditation section and the Emotional Eating section are listed on the navigation menu.
sidebar quotation from Eknath Easwaran: "learning to control your mind is difficult—the most difficult thing in the world. But I want to remind you always that what you are seeking is glorious beyond compare..."
sidebar quotation from Andrew Weil, M.D.: "meditation is for anyone willing to commit to a discipline that makes training the body look like child's play."
When the Buddha said that, "All that we are is the result of what we have thought," he was giving us the best possible news.
Teaching yourself how to control your mind will permanently improve all that you are, not just your consciousness but also your character and conduct as well! What is required is mastering some effective spiritual practice or other such as meditation.
Yogic Breathing Technique
Whether you meditate yet or not, we also provide you with a simple yogic breathing technique to use whenever your thoughts upset you.
Click on the link to see our section:
If you do this for about 5 minutes twice daily, in just a few days you'll notice the difference. If you develop the habit of doing it whenever you are troubled, you'll find that it really, really helps!
We also suggest fitness exercise. Two or three brief sessions of intense fitness (cardio) exercise each week will stimulate a lot of benefits if you are not now doing it.
Even regular mild fitness exercise like brisk walking has important psychological as well as physiological benefits.
For a plan of action, see our Fitness Walking section.
You will find the section listed on the menu buttons.
When introduced to it properly (in other words, slowly), fitness exercise has been proven to restore a sense of well-being and to reduce the level of stress-related hormones. Remember: we evolved exercising.
Furthermore, there are other relief techniques available to you that are worth investigating if you are still struggling:
Biofeedback and Hypnotherapy.
They work well for some people.
The key to improving the way that you deal with life is to take more control of your life by assuming greater responsibility for your "internal" and "external" environments.
Lasting freedom is the reward for disciplining yourself to do that.
It is difficult. However, not only is it possible but also it is intrinsically rewarding (since the more control we have the happier we are).
There is a way to live well and, furthermore, you can do it. Please verify that for yourself.
For futher help, click on any of our links listed above to see our other pages relating to relief techniques, or click on the link listed below to go to our web page on Sleep:
