Stress Archives - GB Personal Training Ltd

21 Quick Actions That Will Radically Improve Your Health

By Greg Brookes

#1: Drink a Pint of Water as Soon as you Wake Up

We all know the importance of water, right?

We evolved from water. Our body is made up of approximately 70% water. We are basically a walking, talking, big mass of mostly water.

First thing in the morning your body is dehydrated from 7+ hours of no water. Drinking a pint of water before you do anything else will give your body the top up it needs to start the day.

In Dr. Batmanghelidj famous book “The Body’s Many Cries For Water“ he explains, in great detail, the importance of drinking water. He believes that often we are not hungry but thirsty as the body confuses signals for water.

Drinking 2 litres of water per day is a good starting point for most adults. Performance, concentration and sickness are all symptoms of dehydration. Your intestines will also squeeze and extract water from your feces if you are really dehydrated and nobody wants their body made up of that type of water, do they?

#2: Start a Workout Habit of 7 Minutes a Day

It doesn’t take long to form a new habit, usually in less than 30 days.

Don’t try to do too much too soon. Start by just developing an exercise habit rather than killing yourself at the gym.

Using my Daily 7 Minute Workouts is a great start:

1. Choose one movement pattern for each day of the week (Monday – Friday)

2. Movement Patterns include: Squatting, Pulling, Lunging, Pushing, Bending

3. Try to perform as many of that movement pattern as you can in 7 minutes

My advice would be to run through your 7 minute workout nice and early before breakfast. Early workouts work in tune with your hormonal system and leave you not thinking about exercise for the rest of the day.

Start your 7 minute exercise habit today and before long it will feel as natural as brushing your teeth!

#3: Ditch the Table Salt and Start Eating Real Sea Salt

The majority of people are still overloading themselves with processed salt.

Salt isn’t actually the problem, it’s the type of salt that matters. Did you know that human blood has the same salt content as sea salt?

Table salt is highly processed, often using chemicals, that leave it clean, white and absent of all those precious trace minerals. Most table salt resembles something you would find in a science lab rather than in nature.

There are lots of great unprocessed sea salt brands out there. Look for sea salt that is slightly grey in colour. My favourite is a French sea salt is called “Gros Sel de Guerande”.

Buy a good brand of sea salt and it will last you for months.

#4: Set Up an Organic Food Delivery

Eating seasonal food is important. The more local seasonal food your eat the less time it has spent in transit and the more nutrients the food will have. Fresh fruit and vegetables lose nutritional value from the moment they are picked.

To ensure you get the most seasonal and local food I recommend you sign up with a Local Organic Food delivery service like Riverford (the one I use) or Abel and Cole.

Organic Delivery is great because:

1. You get fresh fruit and vegetables delivered to your door weekly

2. You get to try some weird and wonderful foods that maybe you have never tried before

3. Organic food is not drenched in nasty pesticides and other chemicals

4. It actually works out cheaper than buying from the supermarket

5. It saves you time and effort of shopping each week

Set up an Organic food delivery today and you will be amazed at some of the great food you will be eating!

#5: Start to Breathe Deeply Through Your Belly Again!

Stress causes shallow breathing through the upper chest and neck. The more shallow you breathe, the more of a stress response you get.

Have you ever watched a baby breathe? They breathe deeply through their bellies right? As we get older and stress starts to creep into our lives we start to take that breathing from the belly and shift up and into the chest and neck.

Shallow breathing causes headaches, upper back and neck tension! As well as keeping you highly charged and your hormonal system on overdrive.

Learn to slow down your breathing and take your breath to your belly. Deep breathing through the diaphragm stimulates the “Parasympathetic Nervous System” and causes the body to relax.

1. Try taking 10 deep breaths counting to 5 on the IN breath and 5 on the OUT breathe

2. Push your belly OUT as you breathe IN and pull the belly IN as you breathe OUT

3. 2 thirds of your breath should come from your belly and 1 third from your chest

Take some time each day and learn to breathe deeply. It’s a wonderful stress reliever!

#6: Re-Assess Your Medication and Make Some Changes

The sale of Drugs, whether over the counter or via prescription is a multi-million pound industry. Many people are far to easily convinced to take drugs based on TV ads or Doctors recommendations.

The truth is, ALL drugs are poison to the body. It takes a lot of energy for the body to process drugs and most drugs have side effects.

If your are suffering from a sickness or disease then start to question what may be out of balance in your life. Are you stressed out, eating dead foods, dehydrated, lacking in quality sleep?

If you have been taking medication for a long time then book an appointment with your doctor to reassess your situation. Don’t just reach for the drugs every time you have a headache, backache, constipation etc. Start to question the source of the problem rather than addressing the symptoms every time.

#7: Eat More Living Food

If you want to bring life into your body then you need to eat live foods. Dead foods only equal a dead body!

So think about what foods you are eating. Do you eat fresh and seasonal foods (see action #4) or are you eating packaged and processed foods?

The fresher the food the better. Try steaming or eating some of your foods raw to get the maximum nutrition from them. Boiling vegetables only leaches all the vitamins and minerals out into the water. So if you do boil vegetables make sure you use the water to make soups and sauces.

#8: Get to Bed by 10:30pm, it’s When, Not How Much Sleep that Counts

The human being operates on what is called a circadian cycle.

We evolved from nature and have always been influenced by the fall and rise of the sun. In the mornings the hormone Cortisol is stimulated, this prepares the body for action. In the evenings Cortisol levels should be reduced and Anabolic hormones are released to stimulate tissue regrowth and repair during sleep.

If you go to bed too late then you miss out a large portion of the the Growth and Repair cycle which usually runs from around 10-2am. From 2am to 6am most repair is mental rather than physical.

We are creatures of the earth and need to work with our hormones rather than against them.

It’s not necessarily how much sleep you get that matters but more when you sleep that counts!

#9: Take Your Shoes off and Start Earthing

How often to you touch your bare feet on the grass or earth?

Earthing is based on the principle that we have lost our connection with the earth. If you think about it, do you ever walk around in bare feet anymore? Our ancestors used to have constant connection with the earth and this is something that has been lost today.

There is lots of research coming out now that shows positive reasons why we should all get out there and dance on the grass or paddle in streams.

Just connecting your body to the earth will give you lots of natural energy.

So get out there today for 5 minutes and get connected back with nature.

#10: Avoid Wheat for the Day, You Won’t Regret It

Wheat is a major problem and probably the most influential food action your could take today.

It’s not actually the wheat that is the problem but the wheat’s protein Gluten that is the real nasty. The sticky protein Gluten is a big irritant to most peoples gut.

Being Gluten intolerant doesn’t just mean having gut problems like wind and a bloated stomach. Gluten can also cause an auto immune response from Leaky Gut Syndrome resulting in: Arthritis, Headaches, Back Pains, Depression and more.

Gluten is everywhere so be careful. Common foods include: Breads, Pasta, Sauces, fillers in Sausages, and Cereals.

You can take a food sensitivity test to find out if you are Gluten sensitive or you can avoid Gluten for 30 days and see just how amazing you feel without it.

#11: Free Your Mind With 5 Minutes of Meditation

Stress is the number one killer. Meditation offers you a chance to take your mind away from the daily grind and be with yourself for a few minutes.

There are many ways to mediate, here are 2 of my favourite methods:

1. Sit quietly and breathe deeply through your belly. Concentrate on your breath as you breathe through your nose. Count each breath and see how high you can count.

2. Again sit or lie quietly and breathe through your belly. Concentrate your vision on an object about 10 feet in front of you. Keep your eyes relaxed and focus on that object ONLY.

If you do start to think about your worries and problems don’t give up just accept them and refocus on your meditation.

Start with 5 minutes and work up to 30 minutes per day.

#12: Avoid Drinking Caffeine in the Afternoon

Coffee and Tea both contain caffeine which adds extra stress to your body and mind.

The stress that caffeine causes effects your nervous system. With every cup of caffeine your adrenal glands release hormones that fire up your system and prepare it for action. As the system gets fired up glucose is released into the body to give it energy. This energy response all dates back to our survival days when we needed energy to fight or run from wild animals. We don’t usually need this energy anymore so it gets stored in the liver or in the fat cells for later.

The roller coaster that the blood sugar levels are put on due to caffeine intake and subsequent cortisol and insulin responses is very damaging to the body. Adrenal fatigue is all too common these days, as is Insulin Resistance and Diabetes.

Caffeine really does get on your nerves so take a break from it as much as you can, especially in the afternoons when you should be winding down.

#13: Choose BIG BANG Exercises and Save Time

If your goals are to improve your fitness and lose fat then you shouldn’t waste your time with small exercises.

Small exercises only target small muscle groups, like the biceps or triceps. To get a quicker response from your workout you need to focus on big exercises that hit large muscle groups.

Here’s my list of top 5 Big bang exercises:

1. The Lunge – a basic movement that not only works most muscles of the body but improves your balance and movement skills

2. The Row – pulling your hands towards you is excellent for recruiting most of the muscles in your back. Perform this exercise standing up and you will use the legs and core muscles too!

3. The Squat – uses most muscles in the body but in particular the buttocks and thighs

4. The Push Up – avoid the bench press and stick to the push up. The push Up targets the chest, triceps and core muscles and you can do them anywhere.

5. The Deadlift – again uses most of your 600 muscles but heavily works the back of the body so great for posture

Put these exercises together in a circuit in the same order as above and you have a quick and highly effective workout.

#14: Take a Walk in Nature

There is nothing more natural and uplifting than taking a walk in nature. If your mind is busy, you are feeling the pressures of the day, or you simply need a break from the office. Taking a quick stroll through a park, fields or woods, is great for the soul.

Walking in nature can offer you some active meditation. A time to let yourself go and reassess your situation. Remember we all come from nature so get out there and reconnect.

#15: Plan Out Your Meals for the Week

OK, don’t turn your nose up at this suggestion. A little planning can go a long way.

There is nothing worse than opening the cupboards and finding them bare. Empty cupboards usually means eating and drinking things that you know you shouldn’t.

Take 5 minutes and write down a list of meals for the week. Once you have your meals jotted down, split each meal up into ingredients required. You then have your shopping list for the week.

This is a simple technique that only has to be done once a week, but the time and aggravation it saves is well worth it. Also, once you have written down a few weekly lists you can combine them to save even more time.

#16: Follow the Rainbow Diet

It’s a fact that different coloured vegetables contain different nutrients.

Next time you are out grocery shopping try and choose as many variations of colours as you can find. The brighter and more colourful your shopping basket the better.

#17: Dream about What You Really Want

Do you know what you really want out of life? Have you ever taken the time to think about it?

Setting goals and taking control of your life is important for your overall happiness. There is something very intrinsically rewarding about achieving a goal. Generally the harder and longer a goal takes to achieve the more rewarding it will be.

The subconscious mind has a clever way of finding solutions for you but you have to set it a goal first. Dream big and don’t worry about how you will get there, just let your subconscious take care of it.

Here’s my proven goal setting technique:

1. Close your eyes and dream about what you want your life to be like in 5 years. How will it look and feel?

2. Now ask yourself what skills you need to achieve your dream? List them down.

3. Next work backwards and plan out your pathway to your dream. Where will you need to be in 3 years, 2 years, 1 year, 6 months, 3 month, 1 month, 1 week?

4. Write out your road-map and stick it on the wall. Tick off each week as you progress towards your 5 year dream.

This technique is highly effective. Don’t sweat over the small stuff, it will sort itself out. As I said before trust your subconscious to find a way. Take control of your life and you could be living your dream in only 5 years!

#18: Spend More Time Standing

For some people the idea of standing more often terrifies them but the truth is sitting down is not very good for our backs.

When we sit down huge amounts of pressure is transferred to the lower back, far more than when standing. It always amuses me when people say their back hurts and so they need to sit down. If you have a bad back you are better to either lie down or stand up.

I’m sure you know that we live in a sitting world. We sit going to work, at work, going home from work, and finally at home in the evening.

Try to spend more time on your feet. One simply technique to prevent prolonged sitting at work is to set a stopwatch on your computer. Every 50 minutes take the time to get up, move around, drink some water and look at something other than the computer screen. You will be amazed at how much more productive you will become by using this simple method.

#19: Turn the Lights Down and Chill Out in the Evening

Dig out those candles, dim the lights, and play some soft music. In the evening it’s time to relax and work with your hormones not against them.

I mentioned earlier how we are influenced hormonally by the sun and how these hormone levels change throughout the day. Well, in the evening we should be winding down and preparing to sleep. Bright lights and stimulating TV will activate the cortisol hormone. High cortisol levels should naturally occur in the morning when its time to wake up and get going, and not in the evenings.

So in the evenings try to avoid all stimulants, relax and wind down the right way.

#20: Limit Your Fruit Intake to 1 Piece Per Day

What? I know what you are thinking. Reduce fruit, I thought that was good for me?

Fruit is good for you but only in small doses. Fruit contains high amounts of sugar. I know it’s the natural sugar Fructose but it’s still sugar.

Sugar is the largest cause of obesity today. No its not fat, its sugar. Sugar consumption has drastically risen over the last 50 years and fat consumption has drastically dropped, but we are all in worse shape than ever. We have more gyms, medical practitioners and health carers than ever before but we still can’t stop the obesity epidemic. Stop sugar and it all goes away!

Here’s my quick guide to Fruit and Sugar:

1. Avoid all Sugars including syrups and artificial sweeteners (they are even worse than sugar).

2. All ingredients that end in “ose” are a sugar. For example: Sucrose, Glucose, Fructose, Maltose etc.

3. Limit fruit to one piece a day. Only eat seasonal fruit. Fruit is not a meal.

Fruit has changed a lot over the years. Our ancestors would have eaten fruit that was much smaller and more sour. They would have only eaten it when it was in season and usually to fatten up for the winter.

Be very very careful with fruit and sugar!

#21: Do Something Different

Remember the feeling you last had when you did something different? We are creatures of habit and although most habits keep us safe they don’t always challenge us.

Have some fun by changing a habit and doing something you haven’t done before. It can be as simple as taking a different route to work or waking up in the middle of the night and looking at the stars. The challenge is to experience something new.

Spend 5 minutes looking through Google for something new. Try a new sport, join a new club, start a new business, try a new hobby, reconnect with an old friend, go to the theatre, book a weekend break.

Life is short. It’s amazing what happens when you try something new. With new experiences come more new experiences. Without change you get the same results so get out there and explore.

How many of these Quick Actions will you take today?

Is Your Left Brain Affecting Your Health?

By Greg Brookes

Do you spend too much time using your Left Brain?

If so it may be seriously effecting your health!

Let me explain…

The 2 Autonomic Nervous Systems

We have 2 autonomic nervous systems, the Sympathetic and Parasympathetic. Both are involuntary and control many things from heart rate and perspiration to digestion and breathing rate.

The Sympathetic Nervous System which initiates our “Fight or Flight” response helps us to avoid or deal with life threatening situations. Historically it was our “Fight or Flight” response that kept us alive.

When this survival response is activated we get a sudden rush of adrenalin, the muscles are primed, our focus intensifies, and our heart rate increases.

You have probably experienced this feeling when you catch yourself before a fall or have come close to any kind of physical danger. When you look at the brain it is the Left Hemisphere that predominately controls this response.

Now lets take a look at the Right Hemisphere of the brain.

The right hand side of the brain predominately controls the Parasympathetic Nervous System (PNS) or our “Rest and Digest” response. The PNS helps repair the body, slow the heart rate, and reduce stress levels.

Now think about how you spend your day.

Which Hemisphere do you spend most time using?

Left Hemisphere

Stress & Deadlines
Financial Issues
Caffeine
Too Much Exercise
Smoking, Alcohol, Drugs
Sugar
Yang

Right Hemisphere

Meditation & Deep Breathing
Art & Creativity
Playing Music
Sleep & Relaxation
Yoga & Tai Chi
Nature
Yin

Finding a balance between your Right and Left Brain hemispheres will seriously help to improve your health.

Use Your Right Brain More Often

Next time you feel really stressed out (Left Brain Dominance) try something that is a stress reliever (Right Brain Dominance).

Here are a few examples:

Take a stroll in nature to clear your head
Take 10 Deep Breaths with your diaphragm
Change approach and get creative or brainstorm
Chill Out and Listen to some music
Draw, Paint or Doodle for a while
Lay off the Caffeine, Booze and Sugar

Conclusions

Living in your Left Brain can be a fast and bumpy ride.

Spend more time reducing your stress levels by learning to use your Right Brain more often. Get creative and switch things up.

Remember when you were just a kid and used your Right Brain more often?

It’s time to revisit those days again!

What is Tai Chi?

By Greg Brookes

What is Tai Chi

Guest Post by Stuart Ward

We are always looking for ways to stay fit healthy and improve longevity. One of the current trends is HIIT training. The basic idea being you train at a very high intensity on and off for around 30 minuets. This can deliver fantastic results in body composition, muscle tone and cardiovascular health.

However for some people with particularly stressful lifestyles the last thing they need is more stress as with HIIT training. If you are burning yourself out you can forget about burning fat and being healthy.

The answer can be in more gentle forms of exercise such as Tai Chi. De-stressing the body and mind and creating a more balanced lifestyle can make all the difference to your wellbeing.

Tai Chi, the Martial Art

Don’t make the mistake of dismissing Tai Chi as Karate for the elderly as when studied through an experienced teacher it can be a highly practical and effective martial art. The main difference with Tai Chi from other martial arts is that this internal style relies on overcoming strength with softness or softness with more force. The principle is based on the ancient Daoist philosophy, yin and yang which Tai Chi is built on.

Tai Chi was born in Chen village around 400 years ago. The villagers would use their martial skill to defend the village from bandits while other members of the family made money working as body guards. The great thing about the Chen family’s martial system was that it also cultivated health and personal growth.

It’s now spread around the world in many different style with people practicing it for a number of reasons.

5 Key benefits of Tai Chi

I’ve been practicing this incredibly rich health and self defense system under the guidance of Chen style lineage holder Paul Lockyer and his teacher Grandmaster Gou Kongjie. These are my 5 key reasons why you could benefit from this often miss understood Chinese art.

1. Accessibility

The word Tai Chi will often conger up images of elderly people practicing slow, graceful movements in a park. Although this style of practice is only part of the system it does show how accessible it is. It can be adapted to suit the young and fit as well older people or those who have never done any exercises before. It doesn’t require equipment, can be practiced at home, in a park, alone or in a group. Tai Chi practice should begin by practicing simple movements and develop to more complex forms. When the person is ready these movements can then be applied to martial practice and more intense training.

2. Chi development

This is a huge subject on its own and one I’ll cover in more detail in a later blog. In short “chi” is the Chinese way of explaining the body’s life force. It’s the energy inside us which makes us more than just skin, muscle and bone. Chinese traditional medicine is based on the principle that when chi becomes blocked or stagnant we become sick. Indian culture use the word Prana, Japanese Ki and Hawaiians refer to it as kahuna. It’s all pretty much the same thing.

Tai Chi exercises such as form training and standing practice can improve the body’s natural flow of chi and even increase it. Our western health philosophy is based on treating the sick. The Chinese philosophy focuses on cultivating health to prevent sickness which we can learn a lot from and tai chi practice can be a good place to start.

Beginners first start to notice the improved circulation of chi with warming hands and feet while practicing Tai Chi. It’s later felt as a feeling of fullness in the body and can even be directed around the body when needed at the most advanced levels.

3. Body awareness

It’s Tai Chi’s slow graceful practice pace which makes it unique from other martial arts. The reason for it is to help the practitioner perfect full body connection and awareness. By slowing down and concentrating on the movement you will notice how the legs move the arms and how hips and shoulders are connected in movement as are the knees and elbows. This whole body movement and awareness not only helps develop Chi and therefore improve health but also martial skill. It’s a bit like practicing shadow boxing in slow motion to perfect your skill and iron out weak spots in technique.

4. Develop a new level of power

The Tai Chi classics use the image of a cat as a perfect example of how a Tai Chi practitioner should develop and display power. Watch a cat jump, you’ll notice it suddenly explode, not through strength and tension but a relaxed, soft power with full body connection and grace.

This explosive power or Fa jing as it’s called in China can only be perfected by relaxing the body and mind. If you try and force it, it won’t happen. When it comes to martial application this fa jing is Tai Chi’s deadly weapon.

Take a look at this video of Grand Master Chen Xiawang which shows how full body connection can produce this explosive power with effortless grace. The Fa jing is after 2 minutes 20 seconds but I’d recommend watching from the beginning.

5. Improved balance both physically and mentally

Ok I’m cheating a bit here as its two benefits under one banner. Tai Chi develops balance from both a physical and mental perspective.

Good balance at its most basic physical level simply means being able to stand without falling over. This is one reason why it’s so good for the older population. For those who train for self defense reasons will appreciate that falling over in combat is really only going to end one way. A key skill in Tai Chi is to practice rooting. If you have ever had a domestic cat jump on your lap you may have noticed its feet dig into you as it sinks its weight to stay balanced.

By constantly practicing rooting as you move in Tai Chi you develop a sure footedness and awareness of your movement. A simple practice technique I use is to freeze at random points in my practice to check I feel balanced form all angles and if I can adjust to improve it.

For the frantic business person whose mind is like a hive of bees the concentration and calmness involved in Tai Chi practice can be the perfect compliment to a busy day. By working on full body connection and flow the over active mind can soon be stilled which lowers stress levels for the massive array of health benefits it brings.

The mind also needs to be balanced and relaxed for optimal martial application. It’s not enough to just keep practicing the same technique again and again and hope for proficiency in a stressful situation. Imagine a task you perform every day such as unlocking your front door. Try doing that same simple task in a panic; you end up fiddling and dropping the keys.

Tai Chi’s foundation is built on Daoist philosophy and is an incredible way to help understand this rich spiritual side to ancient Chinese culture. Over time you begin to notice how the form demonstrates principles of change which can be a real eye opener on your outlook of health and life.

Find Out More

If you would like to find out more about Tai Chi you can contact Stuart Ward from the Kinect Method.

The Benefits of Earthing or Grounding

By Greg Brookes

Last year I read an eye opening book by Clinton Ober called “Earthing“.

Clinton’s book is full of all the latest research and the huge benefits that can be had from Earthing or Grounding yourself.

Earthing has been proven to produce such amazing results for recovery that many of the cyclists in the “Tour de France” last year were embracing it.

Research is also highlighting many other benefits of Earthing or Grounding yourself including:

Anti-inflammatory effects
Reducing stress by Activating your Parasympathetic Nervous System
Thinning the Blood by Reducing Blood Viscosity
Improving Sleep by Normalising Cortisol Levels
Acting as a Powerful Antioxidant
Speeding up Healing Times from Exercise or Injury

What is Earthing or Grounding?

Earthing is quite simply the act of touching your skin to the Earth to take advantage of the never ending supply of negative ions on the Earths surface.

The moment your skin makes contact with the Earth your body absorbs trillions of these negative ions and they act as a nutrient to the body.

Here’s what Clinton had to say in his own words:

“Your body becomes suffused with negative charged free electrons abundantly present on the surface of the earth. Your body immediately equalises to the same electric energy level, or potential, as the earth.”

Why Should We Care About Earthing?

Think about your regular day.

You wake up, walk around on your insulated floor, put on your insulated shoes, drive to work in your insulated car, sit at your desk, drive home, watch TV, go to bed.

For most people your skin rarely makes contact with the Earth.

This is very different from our evolutionary ancestors who spent more time outside working and touching the Earth on a daily basis.

Now think about how great it feels when you take off your shoes and walk on the grass. How about walking barefoot along a beach? What about how great it feels after a day of gardening, camping, swimming in the sea or paddling in a stream?

There is something intuitive and instinctive about our connection with the earth that when embraced it pays us back in dividends.

It is also worth noting that both Chinese Medicine and Ayurvedic Medicine have both been using Earthing for 1000’s of years.

How it Works?

The voltage of the surface of the earth is zero.

The body is made up of over 70% water along with lots of other minerals making your body highly conductive.

When you make contact with the earth your body is Grounded or Earthed and becomes a zero voltage.

Our super conductivity can also work against us by absorbing Electro Magnetic Fields from all our electrical appliances and mobile phones. Earthing helps to neutralise these Electro Magnetic Fields.

How to start Earthing?

In a modern world Earthing is not as easy as it used to be but research from Clinton Ober and many others have shown that regular Earthing or Grounding can have great health benefits.

My simple advice would be to make the most of the good weather and get outside into nature more often.

Spend more time walking barefoot. Make contact with the Earth more often by touching nature.

In short, be instinctive and live like a child again.

There is a reason why kids love water and walking around without shoes on, it goes back millions of years!

For more on this topic visit Clinton’s website www.earthing.com

5 Signs of Stress and How to Take Action

By Greg Brookes

Stress can have an enormous impact on your Physical, Emotional and Mental health.

It’s important to note that the body cannot distinguish between one stress and another, stress is stress regardless of its origin.

Everybody suffers from stress in one way or another but how stress is perceived is a very subjective matter. For example someone who works with bears would be less stressed when confronted with a wild bear than someone who sees a bear for the first time.

Here are list of signs that indicate you are suffering from stress and ways to combat your everyday stress levels:

# 1 – Impotence

Lets start with one for the men. If you suffer from heavy amounts of stress then it is not uncommon for your sex drive to go down. Stress after all is a response to a threat whether that is physical (being attacked), mental (worrying about financial security), emotional (relationship issues), Chemical (medical drugs), and Nutritional (toxic unnatural foods).

During stressful times the hormone Cortisol is released which increases energy supplies by elevating sugar in the blood but at the same time suppresses non essential things like reproduction. When under threat getting an erection is the last thing the body is concerned about.

Take Action:

Discover your largest source of stress and deal with it. Here’s a true story about a stress that overtook my life. Many years ago while studying at university I started getting anxiety attacks. As time went on the anxiety got worse to the point where I couldn’t attend lectures or at one stage even leave the house. I tried everything to combat the anxiety from changing my diet, to exercising more, and even meditation.

Nothing worked until I addressed the thing I had feared the most, the relationship I had with my long term girlfriend. I was courageous and ended the relationship. There were tears but it was transformational. The anxiety attacks slowly disappeared, I got back to my lectures and I graduated with flying colours.

At the time I was blinded by the impact the relationship was having on my life but now I see how that relationship was my biggest stress. By taking action to deal with that stress everything else fell back into place. So identify your biggest stress and take action.

# 2 – Sleep

If you have difficulty sleeping at night then you may want to take another look at your stress levels. Stress is caused by the release of the hormones Adrenaline and Cortisol. Adrenaline increases your heart rate as well as elevating your energy levels. During the evening you need to slow down your heart rate and reduce energy levels ready for a good nights rest.

Take Action:

Wind down in the evenings. Avoid stimulating foods and drinks after 4pm, that means caffeine, sugar and chocolate. Exercise in the mornings and not late at night. Take a nice warm bath before bed and try drinking camomile tea. Avoid bright lights in the evenings and swap TV for a nice book. Lavender oil on your pillow or wrists can also help.

# 3 – Digestive Problems

If you suffer from bloating, lots of wind or you look down in the toilet and don’t like what you see, then you may be suffering from stress. During a stressful situation the Sympathetic Nervous System is stimulated and this leads to a whole cascade of reactions to deal with the threat. One of these reactions is the closing down of the digestive system. Digestion comes low on the priority list when danger is near by.

Take Action:

Be careful drinking caffeine after meals. Caffeine stimulates your “flight or fight” response and switches off your digestion. Take a good look at your diet and see how much of what you eat comes from nature. Go organic. Non organic food is sprayed with chemicals that cause a stress to your body. Just washing non organic food is not enough. Pesticides are designed to resist being washed off by the rain.

# 4 – Aches and Pains

Some people just can’t seem to get back into full health. They always have an ache or a pain somewhere. If you find that you take a long time to heal following an injury or a workout session then you may be suffering from stress. Cortisol, the main stress hormone, is released when you are stressed. Cortisol is responsible for suppressing growth responses that would usually help you recover from an injury or workout.

Take Action:

Ask your partner for a massage or better still visit a professional massage clinic. Receiving a massage will help de-stress and also reinvigorate soft tissue by bringing fresh blood to damaged areas. Spend 30 minutes every evening stretching all your tight areas, or invest in a foam roller and start rolling! Work on getting to bed early, asleep by 11pm latest!

# 5 – Mood Swings

Stress has a large effect on the brain. The constant release of the stress hormones Cortisol and Adrenaline is not only hard on the body but on the mind too. Stressed out people often suffer from depression, have energy swings, and struggle with mental clarity including memory issues.

Take Action:

Get your mind away from your troubles by trying some meditation. You don’t need to sit cross legged to meditate. Try going for an evening stroll in nature. Also try starting a new hobby or making some new friends. Basically try to find a way to distract yourself from your daily stresses. Simply counting 20 slow deep belly breathes can be all the distraction you need from time to time.

Final Note

Stress is stress no matter where it comes from. Taking daily action to combat stress will lead to a happier and healthier life. Start by identifying and then addressing your biggest stressor first and everything else will fall into place. Stress accumulates in the body so it is not always the final stress that tips you over the edge that is your biggest issue.

Good luck and RELAX!