According to the “Stress in America” survey of the American Psychological Association, Americans have crossed in 2017, the prerecorded anxiety meter of 2007.

The findings revealed that Americans are primarily stressed about 3 things – work, money and the economy. The college goers are stressed about paying college debt, the employees are worried about job security and the older citizens are stressed about the future of the economy. Overall, 1 of every 3 American adult is suffering from high blood pressure which is mostly because of stress. Clearly, it is high time, we must learn to Combat Stress in order to live a healthy life.

What is Stress?

Stress is a change that leads to any kind of physical, emotional and psychological strain. There are many kinds of stress but not all of them are bad for you. Eustress is a type of stress that is generated because of fun and excitement. For instance, a roller-coaster ride increases the level of adrenaline in your body and creates stress, which is not at all harmful. But chronic stress that occurs again and again, like a bad marriage can affect your health in every way possible.

How your Body Reacts when you are Stressed

When your body encounters stress it treats it as a danger. Immediately the Fight-or-Flight response mode gets triggered. During this, hormones like adrenaline and cortisol get released, speeding up the heartbeat, increasing the blood pressure level, slowing down digestion and changing other various autonomic nervous functions.

The main aim of this entire process is nothing but to give you more energy and strength to fight or flight. After the situation is dealt with, the body will come down to its normal function thru the relaxation process.

Now, you may ask, that how it can be bad for you? For acute stress or eustress this reaction will not be harmful at all, but with chronic stress the body losses the ability to relax, hence, soon several damages will start to take place. Example: Heart disease, changes in appearance, mood swings, depression, improper digestion, hair loss, insomnia, hyperthyroidism, obsessive-compulsive or anxiety disorder, relationship troubles, sexual dysfunction, etc.

Though high-stress levels can take a heavy toll in all aspects of your life, combating it is not difficult at all. Try these 5 ways to start living a healthy life from today.

1 Exercise

Those who spend a considerable amount of time exercising every day, are largely capable of controlling their emotions.  The practice of Yoga, deep breathing, jogging etc. will eventually make your inner organs stronger and healthier; your mind will remain in better control. And as a result of that, you will not get stressed so easily.

2 Positive Imagery

One of the most effective ways to combat stress is by imagining something good that happened to you recently. Or you can pick the happiest moment of your life and brace yourself, for getting the chance to own that memory. You will soon feel the difference in your mood.

3 Aquarium Therapy

Studies have revealed that contemplating an Aquarium (Aquarium Therapy) can significantly minimize your daily stress levels. Patients who have reported insomnia because of stress can largely get benefited by keeping a fish tank at their bedside. Also, to have your own aquarium, you don’t need to spend much as small fish tanks like 2 gallons are enough to have a beautiful fish like betta. Caring for a betta fish is even easy. Just contemplate the beauty of the tank and the serenity of the fish, your mind will automatically be in peace.

4 Meditation

The sole purpose of meditation, is to increase concentration while numbing the mind so that it cannot feel anything but the one it is contemplating. You can train your mind to stay happy always despite several encounters of stress.

5 Open Up

Another most useful way to combat stress is to open up about your personal problems to your closed ones. Tell them to share their problems too. Mutual sharing will eventually minimize the stress levels of both of you.

Final Thoughts

Increased level of stress in the body will seriously affect it, in the long run. Apart from hurting your physical being, stress can affect you psychologically and emotionally, resulting in creating multiple problems. Keep this 5 healthy habits in your ‘to do’ list and experience the change within you.

References

https://www.cdc.gov/bloodpressure/facts.htm

http://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/stress/

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