Stress

Stress, Stress, Stress!!!

No matter what stage in life we are in, life is filled with stressful situations. We encounter stressful situations, and we get a sense of accomplishment or relief when we overcome each one of them. Students are stressed about exams; the unemployed are stressed about landing a job; the employed are stressed about the amount of work and deadlines to meet; parents are stressed about their children's well-being; children are stressed about becoming adults. We are all running in this journey and at times, we run out. Some of us run out of gas, others run out of steam; some run out of money, the elderly literally runs out of breath. And the most common thing that we run out of nowadays, is time. We are all running out of time.

Of course, our adrenal glands handle short-term stress by releasing epinephrine to get us out of dangerous situations. And stress can temporarily push us to perform at a higher capacity, and that can be a good thing when we are being chased by a wild cat. But if the cause of stress in our life is not removed, and if we are continuously under chronic stress, it messes up with our hormonal balance and we may experience some unpleasant symptoms in our body as well as our mind.

Stress can cause a lot of health conditions, to name a few:
-pains and aches: headache, migraine, joint pain, hypochondriac pain, intestinal cramps, epigastric pain, shoulder and scapular pain, back pain, muscle tension, TMJ
-mental disorder: anxiety, insomnia, irritability, depression, panic attacks, mood swings, foggy-minded
-irregular bowel habits: constipation, diarrhea, or alternating between the two
-other digestive issues: gas, acid reflux, cravings
-cardiac disorder: arrhythmia (irregular heart beat), high blood pressure, heart attack
-adrenal gland dysfunction: sweating, weight gain, fatigue, hair loss, weight loss (sometimes)
-gynecological disorder: irregular menstruation, menstrual cramps, amenorrhea, infertility

If time is permitted, exercising for 30 minutes a day, 3 to 5 days a week is advised. Of course, depending on the health condition and preference of each individual, different exercises are needed. I recommend choosing an exercise that you enjoy, so exercising doesn't become an additional burdensome task on your to-do list. If you like exercise with others, I recommend recruiting a work-out buddy to encourage each other and to enjoy exercising as a social activity.

For those of you who are pushed to the limits and have no time for exercise, try the following Relaxation Exercises to help you relax when you are feeling overwhelmingly stressed!

1. Breathing Exercise
-First, find a quiet place, sit comfortably
-Close your eyes and focus on your breathing
-Slowly inhale, pause, count to 3 in your heart
-Slowly exhale, pause, count to 3 in your heart
-Repeat for 10 to 15 minutes

2. Release Muscle Tension Exercise
-First, find a quiet place, sit comfortably
-Close your eyes and focus on your body
-Make a fist tightly on both hands, count to 3 in your heart
-Slowly release your fists
-Repeat tightening and releasing your fists
-Continue to tighten and release other parts of your body (face, arms, shoulders, back, abdomen, buttocks, thighs, calves)

Wishing you happy adrenals, and an enjoyable, stress-reduced life!