You can start to relieve some of the stress in your life by just starting to break a sweat and exercize. the benefits of exercize as related to stress relief are medically documented. So, follow along as I try to show how exercize and stress can be related.
Are you swamped at work? Do you always feel one step behind trying to catch up on all the chores on your "to-do" list each day? Do you toss and turn in bed at night thinking about all the things you should have accomplished that day, but didn't? All of us have experienced a hectic set of circumstances in our lives at one point or another. Maybe you experience stress every day of your life. This stress can lead to sickness, depression, and make you feel overwhelmed. Therefore, how can you combat this nagging daily stress? One answer is exercise.
Stress comes in both physical and mental forms. The severity of stress placed upon your body depends on your job, family, and life obligations. Exercise will benefit nearly everyone from a mother of five to a single on-the-go professional. You can find a form of exercise to suit your needs whether you have just ten minutes of free time a day or can hit the gym regularly. Exercise has the potential to be a highly effective stress reducer. Following are common questions, excuses, and solutions regarding exercise in our daily lives.
How does exercise affect the body? Won't it make me feel tired? On the contrary, exercise has been shown to increase "endorphins". Endorphins are the "feel good" chemicals that are linked to an elevation in mood. This endorphin kick can be akin to eating a chocolate bar. Chocolate has caffeine and hits the pleasure center in our brain. Exercise is similar in that blood pumps faster in our bodies increasing the oxygen supply to our brain. This endorphin rush is why many exercisers become addicted to exercise.
Exercise has long been an antidote to stress. Exercise takes your mind away from the stresses of daily life while you run, lift weights, or engage in any activity that raises your heart rate. An added benefit to exercise is that it will help you sleep better at night. For many people stress wreaks havoc on their lives by causing insomnia. Make sure, however, that you don't exercise too close to bed time. The rise in activity and heart rate that exercise brings should be completed at least three hours before bed time. Each person reacts differently to exercise so test out different exercise times and see which time works best for you.
How am I supposed to find time to exercise when my day is already filled to the brim with chores, kids, work, etc.? Before you brush off exercise time, take a closer examination of your day. Do you have down time? Do you spend time watching television? Many people watch television during the course of the day. This television time could be exercise time instead. Record your favorite TV shows and watch them later after you have exercised. Time exists for exercise; it is just a matter of making time and placing value on your exercise program and overall health.
What type of exercise should I do to relieve stress? I don't want to be a gym rat and purchase an expensive health club membership. Good news. You don't need to sign an expensive gym contract to get your exercise in for the day. You can exercise from the comfort of your own living room or head outside and enjoy the fresh air.
For example, break a sweat with exercise videos/DVDs. There are a bevy of exercise videos/DVDs available for home use that range for calming Yoga to boot camp kick boxing. Some videos/DVDs come with extras such as free weights, aerobic steps, exercise balls, and strengthening bands. It is like you have a personal mini-gym all to yourself. You can create your own exercise video library and rotate the different workouts to keep your exercise program varied and interesting.
Strap on your walking shoes and head outside to enjoy the sights of your neighborhood. Walking is a low impact form of exercise. It is fun to walk with your spouse, children, and friends. Many neighborhoods have jumped on the walking bandwagon by starting walking clubs. They meet twice a week in the morning for an hour long walk. It is a great way to get to know your neighbors and exercising with a partner will help you to keep on track. This accountability is a great defense against skipping your workout.
Many people want to get away from the stress of others. They want to walk and exercise by themselves. If this applies to you then you can listen to a tape or CD on your walk. It is a great way to catch up on books you have been meaning to read by listen to the audio version. Or you can listen to soothing music. Either way you can reduce stress from your daily life by placing your focus on other things besides all the errands you need to get done that day.
Reduce your stress with exercise. It is a natural way to energize your body and calm your mind. Make exercise an integral part of your daily living. You will be glad you did as you enjoy each day, stress free.
So, get on the sneakers, get out to the park or gym or garage. But go! You are the one who will totally benefit from this small amount of effort.
Resources:
Help with living stress and anxiety free....Click Here!
As we journey together,
Larry
Exercize For Good Health
Monday, June 28, 2010
Your Needs And Stress
A lot of our stress and worry is caused by how we percieve reality. If you are struggling with COD (compulsive obssive disorder) or a similar mindset that can easily distort what is going on in your life you will "make a mountain out of an ant hill". Everytime.
Internal conflict, conflict within yourself, reflects the difference between what you really feel and what you are able or choose to do about it. Interpersonal conflict occurs between you and another person when what they do or say is different to what you feel and vice-versa.
Everyone has four basic psychological needs. These are the need to be valued, to be in control, the need for self esteem or self worth, and lastly the need for consistency or stability.
1. The need to be valued or appreciated by others is a basic psychological requirement
You want others to recognize your worth and appreciate your contributions. You are more motivated when your contributions are recognized. When you feel unappreciated, taken advantage of, or taken for granted your need to be appreciated and valued has been violated and this can trigger a response of fear, anger or frequently both.
2. The need to be in control
Being in control is important for everyone, but more for some than others. The more insecure you feel about yourself, the more controlling you may become. On the other hand, if you feel secure and confident about yourself, then your need to control others will reduce.
Whenever you have to deal with an over controlling person remember their need to control comes from their insecurity. Make them feel secure and their need to control will normally reduce.
3. The need for self esteem and self worth
By this I mean you should appreciate yourself and look to your strengths rather than any weakness (we all have both). A strong self esteem gives you a powerful, solid base for dealing with all types of problems and situations.
With a strong self esteem, you have the ability to positively respond or react to any type of situation, rather than reacting negatively by panicking of avoiding the potential conflict.
4. The need to be consistent
You need to know what is likely to happen in any given situation. You need consistency from family, partners, friends, everyone in your life otherwise you are always anxious about the unexpected.
This is not to say that no-one can change their minds but someone who changes opinions or reacts differently to the same situation brings a level of insecurity in to your life and you never know how to react.
The reason some people feel the need to change comes from their insecurity. They are insecure in themselves so they try to fit in with others all the time and will agree with whoever they feel is the most dominant personality.
Whenever any of these needs are not met conflicts, internal, external or both, are produced and people usually react in one of four ways.
They can retaliate, dominate, isolate, or cooperate.
Retaliation and domination can result in extreme violence. Isolation separates the parties but does not resolve the conflict whereas with cooperation one party allows their feelings to be ignored and accepts the opinion of another over their own.
If you are aware of these basic needs and reactions you will begin to understand how and why you and others react the way you do. Considering these needs, understanding them and acting upon them will make you a more complete and therefore a more confident person and will give you strength at times of conflict.
The best lesson I learned TOO late in life is I cannot control everything. Stuff happens. It is how we percieve stuff and how we react to stuff that counts.
Practice taking deep breaths and saying to yourself "This To Shall Pass".
God Bless,
Larry
Get Started Exercizing Now
Internal conflict, conflict within yourself, reflects the difference between what you really feel and what you are able or choose to do about it. Interpersonal conflict occurs between you and another person when what they do or say is different to what you feel and vice-versa.
Everyone has four basic psychological needs. These are the need to be valued, to be in control, the need for self esteem or self worth, and lastly the need for consistency or stability.
1. The need to be valued or appreciated by others is a basic psychological requirement
You want others to recognize your worth and appreciate your contributions. You are more motivated when your contributions are recognized. When you feel unappreciated, taken advantage of, or taken for granted your need to be appreciated and valued has been violated and this can trigger a response of fear, anger or frequently both.
2. The need to be in control
Being in control is important for everyone, but more for some than others. The more insecure you feel about yourself, the more controlling you may become. On the other hand, if you feel secure and confident about yourself, then your need to control others will reduce.
Whenever you have to deal with an over controlling person remember their need to control comes from their insecurity. Make them feel secure and their need to control will normally reduce.
3. The need for self esteem and self worth
By this I mean you should appreciate yourself and look to your strengths rather than any weakness (we all have both). A strong self esteem gives you a powerful, solid base for dealing with all types of problems and situations.
With a strong self esteem, you have the ability to positively respond or react to any type of situation, rather than reacting negatively by panicking of avoiding the potential conflict.
4. The need to be consistent
You need to know what is likely to happen in any given situation. You need consistency from family, partners, friends, everyone in your life otherwise you are always anxious about the unexpected.
This is not to say that no-one can change their minds but someone who changes opinions or reacts differently to the same situation brings a level of insecurity in to your life and you never know how to react.
The reason some people feel the need to change comes from their insecurity. They are insecure in themselves so they try to fit in with others all the time and will agree with whoever they feel is the most dominant personality.
Whenever any of these needs are not met conflicts, internal, external or both, are produced and people usually react in one of four ways.
They can retaliate, dominate, isolate, or cooperate.
Retaliation and domination can result in extreme violence. Isolation separates the parties but does not resolve the conflict whereas with cooperation one party allows their feelings to be ignored and accepts the opinion of another over their own.
If you are aware of these basic needs and reactions you will begin to understand how and why you and others react the way you do. Considering these needs, understanding them and acting upon them will make you a more complete and therefore a more confident person and will give you strength at times of conflict.
The best lesson I learned TOO late in life is I cannot control everything. Stuff happens. It is how we percieve stuff and how we react to stuff that counts.
Practice taking deep breaths and saying to yourself "This To Shall Pass".
God Bless,
Larry
Get Started Exercizing Now
Stressless Living - Is It Possible?
In todays fast paced society Stress is an everyday challenge. The clock seems to run out before the work is done. The paycheck can run out before the month or week ends. Spouse, family, work, house,friends it can and does become an endless unmanageable circus.
However, stress can be and is a very powerful emotion. Along with all the crazy it brings in our interaction with others it will cause very serious personal health problems for us as well.
Let's look at a few of the results of stress
We all experience some stress in our lives every day, but if you find yourself worrying so much that you’re losing sleep and having a hard time concentrating at work, then it is time to take action. Worry and fear are powerful emotions, and if left untreated they can often lead to anxiety and even depression.
The first thing to remember is that just as a seed cannot grow without soil and water to nourish it, your anxiety cannot grow without you feeding it. Anxiety is caused by an intense fear or worry about a possible outcome. These are the thoughts that are running unchecked through your head. The only Way to control your anxiety is by controlling your thoughts.
You can begin by thinking back to other times when you worried about something. Did the fear come true or was the worry groundless? How much time have you wasted agonizing over something that never came about? It’s okay to have a little anxiety, everyone does. It’s when the worry begins to control your life that it has become a serious problem.
Worry has never solved anything. Because worry is a form of fear and intense fear can paralyze us, anxiety can actually make us fear making a decision and prevents us from solving the problem. Instead, we just keep running the same negative possible outcome over and over through our heads. Our fear actually creates additional fear.
If there is something wrong, then you need to focus on fixing it instead of worrying about it. If it can’t be fixed, then worrying about what might happen tomorrow accomplishes nothing except spoiling today. Worry on its own has never fixed anything.
Anxiety can become a vicious cycle that feeds itself. The only way to overcome the anxiety is to overcome the fear, and this is accomplished by changing your thought process. Rather than having a mind full of fear, fill it with hope and favorable outcomes. Events seldom turn out as terrible or as wonderful as we imagine they will. Our thoughts tend to the extreme while life is usually somewhere in the middle.
Concentrate on the positives and when you feel any negativity creeping into your thought process, push it away and go back to the positives. It is like a tug-of-war, either you control your anxiety or your anxiety will control you. Start with small issues and work your way up to larger ones, always picturing a positive outcome. Once you can keep these positive results in mind, you then need to begin taking positive action to make them come about. The cure for anxiety begins as a thought and then works its way into a positive action.
If you are carrying around a lot of worries, you need to either let some of them go or get yourself bigger shoulders.
As a recovering worryer I can only tell you what has worked for me. First of all I am not in control of all things that go on in or out of my life. Life Happens.
The more I turned my life and will over to Jesus, He began to do for me what I was unable to do for myself. And that was the mose positive step in my life.
Also, I know what that "Black Hole" looks like, smells like and feels like (depression). I will take whatever steps are necessary to not go near IT.
Resources:
"The Power And Blessings Of A Sunrise"...Click Here!
"Panic Away"...Click Here!
God Bless,
Larry
Stress And Relationships
However, stress can be and is a very powerful emotion. Along with all the crazy it brings in our interaction with others it will cause very serious personal health problems for us as well.
Let's look at a few of the results of stress
We all experience some stress in our lives every day, but if you find yourself worrying so much that you’re losing sleep and having a hard time concentrating at work, then it is time to take action. Worry and fear are powerful emotions, and if left untreated they can often lead to anxiety and even depression.
The first thing to remember is that just as a seed cannot grow without soil and water to nourish it, your anxiety cannot grow without you feeding it. Anxiety is caused by an intense fear or worry about a possible outcome. These are the thoughts that are running unchecked through your head. The only Way to control your anxiety is by controlling your thoughts.
You can begin by thinking back to other times when you worried about something. Did the fear come true or was the worry groundless? How much time have you wasted agonizing over something that never came about? It’s okay to have a little anxiety, everyone does. It’s when the worry begins to control your life that it has become a serious problem.
Worry has never solved anything. Because worry is a form of fear and intense fear can paralyze us, anxiety can actually make us fear making a decision and prevents us from solving the problem. Instead, we just keep running the same negative possible outcome over and over through our heads. Our fear actually creates additional fear.
If there is something wrong, then you need to focus on fixing it instead of worrying about it. If it can’t be fixed, then worrying about what might happen tomorrow accomplishes nothing except spoiling today. Worry on its own has never fixed anything.
Anxiety can become a vicious cycle that feeds itself. The only way to overcome the anxiety is to overcome the fear, and this is accomplished by changing your thought process. Rather than having a mind full of fear, fill it with hope and favorable outcomes. Events seldom turn out as terrible or as wonderful as we imagine they will. Our thoughts tend to the extreme while life is usually somewhere in the middle.
Concentrate on the positives and when you feel any negativity creeping into your thought process, push it away and go back to the positives. It is like a tug-of-war, either you control your anxiety or your anxiety will control you. Start with small issues and work your way up to larger ones, always picturing a positive outcome. Once you can keep these positive results in mind, you then need to begin taking positive action to make them come about. The cure for anxiety begins as a thought and then works its way into a positive action.
If you are carrying around a lot of worries, you need to either let some of them go or get yourself bigger shoulders.
As a recovering worryer I can only tell you what has worked for me. First of all I am not in control of all things that go on in or out of my life. Life Happens.
The more I turned my life and will over to Jesus, He began to do for me what I was unable to do for myself. And that was the mose positive step in my life.
Also, I know what that "Black Hole" looks like, smells like and feels like (depression). I will take whatever steps are necessary to not go near IT.
Resources:
"The Power And Blessings Of A Sunrise"...Click Here!
"Panic Away"...Click Here!
God Bless,
Larry
Stress And Relationships
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