One way to help increase your tolerance over sickness and stress, is to implement healthy habits in your lifestyle whether you’re looking for health benefits, less stress or just for leading a happier life from day to day.
Maintaining a new healthy habit can be harder than it seems. Luckily, there are a few tricks that can make this easier. Here are some things that you must consider:
Simplicity
Do not take up a habit that will end up giving you stress as you master it instead of relieving stress. For example, if pilates can be straining and difficult for you then do not force it because it will only frustrate you. Choose something easier like walking.
Lifestyle
Do not force something that does not fit your lifestyle. If you are a morning person, then it is best not to choose a morning workout as your stress management habit. It will be too difficult to maintain. And if you are the type who gets exhausted by nighttime, a meditation session before bedtime is also not the best choice for you. And if you have to take care of your children, do not take a practice that requires privacy and silence.
Strengths
Identifying your strengths and weaknesses can help you find a good stress reliever that will fit you perfectly. If you are a verbal person then you can try journaling as a stress management habit. If you have a creative imagination then you can choose visualization.
Once you have made a careful evaluation of yourself and your lifestyle, choosing the right habit can be much easier. Remember that if you want to make it easy to stay with a healthy habit, it must be something you enjoy and those habits must fit in well with your personality.
In yoga, breathing is considered to be the foundation of all life and that it sustains the connection between your body and your spirit. Breathing is also an indicator of health and mood.
Victory Breath or Ujayii breathing is a yoga exercise that makes your breathing sound like the ocean. Practicing this has a calming effect on the central nervous system which helps increase mental alertness and clarity – making the exercise very effective to those who are suffering from anxiety and depression. The exercise also builds heat in the body and promotes a sense of calmness in the mind.
Here are steps to doing the Victory Breath exercise:
Inhale through your nostrils while constricting your back throat so that the breath will make a soft yet audible sound. Think of ocean waves rolling over the shore.
Exhale also through your nostrils while pulling your belly towards your spine. Empty your lungs completely and begin again.
Continue to keep on breathing deeply and allow your belly, ribcage, and the upper chest to expand with each inhalation. Make sure that you breathe audibly. And remember that your breath should sound hollow like the ocean.
The exercise is called Victory Breath since it gives you strength and power. This exercise can be challenging to the lungs which at the same time challenges them to work harder.
If you have asthma however, be careful with this breathing exercise. People with bronchitis, sinus or lung infection should avoid doing this exercise until they have been full recovered.
So if you ever want to pull out from your busy schedule and want to have a chance to cool down – even from your cubicle, breathe. Through practicing Victory Breath, you can manage your emotions, gain clarity and take greater control of you life.
All efforts towards physical and mental fitness will come to nothing if you do not get enough sleep.
Sleep is essential to your survival. Sleep deprivation can result to numerous sicknesses in your mind and in your body. It can lead to memory damage, decrease in physical performance and reduced ability to solve mathematical calculations. If sleep deprivation is continuous, it can lead to more harmful consequences.
Yet in this time and age where everything works at a fast pace and stress is inevitable, sleeping disorders are turning out to be a popular health problem. By improving your sleeping habits, you can increase the chances of falling asleep when you need to and stay asleep for six to eight hours each night to avail of a good night’s sleep health benefits.
The key to better sleep is getting a better sleeping environment. Ideally, your room should be quiet, dark, well ventilated and at a comfortable temperature. Your bed must also be large enough and your mattresses should be comfortable.
Taking light snacks before bed can also promote sleep. These snacks must contain the amino acid called tryptophan which helps calm the brain and allows you to sleep better. These foods can be warm milk, low fat yogurt, a banana or a cup of hot chamomile tea.
With your busy schedule, it is hard to leave the stress and worries of daily life behind during bedtime. Thinking of such things triggers the “fight or flight” mechanism in your body that makes you more alert. This does not only give you difficulty in sleeping but it also can cause you to wake up frequently as well. To avoid these, you can have a stress relieving bedtime ritual such as having a warm milk bath to help you relax and ready for rest.
Remember, when you miss sleep, you pay a price in your ability to learn, your health, and your quality of life.
Breathing might be second nature to us but a lot of people do not know how to practice deep breathing. This is because when we breathe, we do it unconsciously and it results to shallow breathing. Deep breathing makes us more aware of our bodies then this allows us to focus in the steps we need to take to make our bodies the shape and size we want them to be.
Deep breathing for weight loss is possible. Just like food, oxygen is considered as fuel for the body. Plus oxygen has no calories. So breathing well can provide you a sense of satisfaction without the calories that come along with the food. Regular deep breathing helps increase the metabolism which will help you burn more calories and effectively utilize the food to provide you more energy. That increased energy can increase your ability to exercise and reduce weight.
Deep breathing can also assist your body when it comes to fat burning. This is because deep breathing changes the way that oxygen is delivered throughout the body which creates a change in the way that the body works – including improved fat burning. When deep breathing is done to minimize stress, the fat burning abilities of the body increases because the stress factor goes down.
One example of a breathing exercise is done while lying down totally flat on your bed, couch or floor. Allow yourself to relax for a second or two before taking a deep breath. Take a deep breath through your nose while pushing your belly up. Stick your chin on your chest to watch your belly rise. Once you’ve got as much air as you can hold, stop and hold your breath for twenty seconds - You will be able to feel your lungs stretching out. Practice doing this for 5 minutes regularly and you will be able to feel relaxed and refreshed with that extra oxygen that you gifted your body with.
Stress is a normal part of our life that we have to deal with whether we want to or not. But even as a passive thing it is still hard to find a way to wind down and relax. Floatation therapy is one way to get some time out and give you relaxation.
Floatation therapy works by you floating on a floatation tank that’s filled with a very dense salt water mixture. The water in the tank is 25 cm deep. With a very high concentration of Epsom salts, the mixture makes it impossible for you to sink so you can float effortlessly.
The floatation tank is usually placed in a room with its own bathroom facilities. You are required to shower before entering the tank and then shower again after you float to remove the salt mixture. Most people do not wear anything when they float which makes it a very private experience. But you are also allowed to wear a swimsuit if you prefer to do so.
The tank has a hatch that allows you to chose if you want to float in darkness by closing the hatch or to leave it open. Some spas also give you the option of floating in silence, with soft and gentle music or with a self-hypnosis audio playing in the background.
When you float, your body instantly relaxes since the external stimuli to your senses are reduced. And since the water in the floatation tank is at skin temperature, the boundary between your body and air and water will be hard to distinguish.
Research has shown that this type of therapy has a number of physical effects on the body. The heart rate and breathing slows. The reduction in gravity causes the muscles to relax and decreases electrical activity in the muscles which allows them to release tension. The blood flow to the muscles also improves. All these factors can lead to faster healing. They also help reduce cardiovascular problems, pain, stress, depression, sleeping problems and fatigue.
Stress can greatly influence ones physical, psychological and emotional well being. In fact, most illnesses are triggered by stress , that is why stress relief is important not only for relaxation purposes but also for ones’ health.
Aromatherapy massage is very similar to massage therapy only that it is used with essential oils that is added to the massage oil or lotion. The essential oils are made from plants that have a sedative and stimulating effect. Aromatherapy is more focused on improving stress or emotionally related conditions by soothing your soul through massage and scents.
It is noticeable that there will be a subtle aroma filling the air and your entire body throughout the massage. This type of therapy stimulates your limbic system which controls emotions and influences your hormones and nervous systems. When you inhale the essential oil molecules, they are sent to your limbic system and affect your heart rate, stress level, breathing, memory, blood pressure, immune system and digestion. Aside from the nose, essential oils can also be absorbed through the skin.
During aromatherapy massage, a consultation is done first to identify which essential oil should be used. Every essential oil has a different healing property. Some are used for calming while some are for cleansing. For instance, chamomile and lavender are used for calming while rosemary is used for energizing. Other essential oils include Eucalyptus, Peppermint, Lemon, Tea Tree and many others. After identifying which one to use, these oils are then mixed with the massage oil or lotion.
Inhaling the scent then instantly calms and relaxes you. Aromatherapy massage can also be used for insomnia, headache, digestive disorders, premenstrual syndrome (PMS) and back pains.
If you’re looking for a great way to relax, you should try getting an Aromatherapy massage. Nothing beats getting a massage and inhaling the scents of nature.
Chronic stress can do irreversible damage to your health. It is often considered as a silent killer since you won’t even notice it’s there until the symptoms worsen. Here is a list that can show how stress can affect you and your overall health seriously:
Anxiety and Depression
If you are stressed out you could be experiencing uncontrollable levels of anxiety and this can cause many changes in the physiological functioning of the body. These feelings also encourage sadness and laziness which prohibits you from performing well.
Sleep Deprivation
Stress can lead to a restless mind which stops you from getting sleep. Lack of enough rest leads to an inability to maintain focus and can make you irritable.
Diabetes
Diabetes is known as a huge epidemic in the world and both mental and physical stress can cause fluctuations in your blood sugar levels. Aside from that, this disease is also linked t heart disease, blindness, liver problems, kidney disease and many more.
Heart disease
Stress is closely linked to heart attacks and cardiovascular diseases. This is because when stress is not managed, the body breaks down easily and the heart is impacted.
Obesity
Most people cope with stress through eating. This is more known as “emotional eating”. Stress also prohibits chemicals needed to control the breaking down of fat which slows down your metabolism.
Fatigue
The lack of energy that you feel during stress can affect your work and how you interact with people. This can greatly affect your life professionally and socially.
Sexual dysfunction
It’s been found that stress is one of the main reasons why men become impotent and women lose their libido.
Stress is something that everybody encounters on a regular basis. But little things add up and once it starts to build up, it can cause a negative impact not only in your mind but in your body as well.
There are some people who cannot stand the thought of not moving even for a minute. This immediately zeroes out meditation as a form of relaxation for them. How can you meditate when you can’t keep your body or mind still?
A common misconception of meditation is that you must be seated with your legs crossed and eyes closed, chanting some kind of mantra to go off to a peaceful state of mind while keeping still all at one time.
What most people are unaware of is that the scenario above is just one way of meditating. There is another side of meditating called Active Meditation. An example of which is Walking Meditation.
Walking meditation is done by focusing on the walking itself instead of a mantra or your breathing. In walking meditation, you should be able to notice the pressure on each foot as it touches the ground and feel the relief of that pressure as your foot rises again. Then you should be able to feel the muscle in your legs work like when they tense and when they relax. You may also be able to identify a change in your toes as they meet the ground or how your ankles react as you walk along.
Aside from the stress relief that meditation usually brings, walking meditation can also bring about a feeling of energy and rejuvenation. Aside from that, it also promotes your body’s physical health since walking is a good cardiovascular exercise.
If the thought of sitting still to meditate put you off, then taking up walking meditation instead may be more suitable for you. It does not only relax you and calm you down but it keeps you fit as well. Give it a try and experience the calmness and healthy feeling afterwards.
The way you breathe can be a symptom for stress and other anxieties. Learning how to breathe better can help calm and relieve you from panic disorders. The art of breathing usually requires practice, patience and diligence.
Rapid, shallow breathing is a common indication that something is wrong. They mostly happen to people who are under a lot of stress and also for those who have panic attacks. In rapid breathing, the breath you take is quick and short with very little time in between breaths and many breaths are taken in a second.
People who experience panic attacks usually make the mistake of holding their breath which causes the carbon dioxide levels to drop which eventually leads to hyperventilation.
It helps to practice breathing exercises to help calm you down compared to just using them when your panic attack arises. This is because in times of panic, it is very hard to think straight. It does not take much time and space either. You may find that breathing exercises are very easy to do. Five to ten minutes of your time each day is enough for this exercise.
Here is one example. What you need to do is to increase your habit of taking deeper and slower breaths. You have to breathe in slowly and deeply through your nose and then breathe out through the mouth slowly. When you do this for the first time expect to feel a little bit light headed. This is because your body is not used to receiving so much oxygen.
Practicing breathing exercises like this regularly makes proper breathing a second nature to you and allows you to use it properly when the time comes instead of ending up hyperventilating.
Remember, in times of panic – focus and concentrate on your breath. This can help you get better, be more confident and give you more control.
You may have noticed that the blog is active again and that there is a new poster - Marie. Marie and I are working as partners on this blog now still providing you with the best information on alternative ways of looking at your health through movement, breathing and nutrition. You can see from the last few posts that she really has some good information to share. Welcome to Marie and thank you from me for being a part of the education of the masses about staying healthy.
Now you know I offer free breathing exercises but coming soon will be an all new ebook about health and how to live longer by adding to your life. So stay tuned it is coming soon. We are working on it right now.
Breathing might be second nature to us but a lot of people do not know how to practice deep breathing. This is because when we breathe, we do it unconsciously and it results to shallow breathing. Deep breathing makes us more aware of our bodies then this allows us to focus in the steps we need to take to make our bodies the shape and size we want them to be.
Stress is a normal part of our life that we have to deal with whether we want to or not. But even as a passive thing it is still hard to find a way to wind down and relax. Floatation therapy is one way to get some time out and give you relaxation.
