Life is stressful for everyone today, often just watching the news is enough to shoot your blood pressure through the ceiling.  Sit down and pick up a newspaper or periodical, and not only is there very little good news, but the bad news just seems really bad, making us feel down in the dumps.  Feeling this way is in itself stressful, and may have repercussions if this is a regular occurrence.

But have you ever stopped to consider that your feelings and reactions to these things are not going to change a thing out there?  Only you are going to be changed by these events, so it might be helpful to actively decide to change the way you react to what you read, see, and situations you find yourself in.  After years of tearing my hair out at things going on around me, I decided a year ago to work on being ‘actively non-reactive’, a little term I coined for myself.  

By consciously getting yourself to look at each situation, whether it’s the news or a family drama, and realizing that your reaction is not going to change this situation for the better, you empower yourself to react in a more positive manner.  By training yourself to remain calm and actively positive it may just change the situation for the better – or at the very least you will prevent yourself from high blood pressure.

The way we react to stress is very important in terms of physical health and longevity.  

Each time we get stressed and allow ourselves to lose control, very harmful hormones and damaging substances are released throughout our bodies.  Long-term, and with regular exposure to these harmful substances, we are going to cause major damage.  It’s a bit like the frog in cold water on a stove though – you don’t realize what’s happening until it’s too late.  If you find negative stress is a part of your daily life – it’s time to take action.

By making a conscious decision to look for the positive aspect in a negative situation (and there is always one!) you can change how you view the situation, and ultimately conserve your health by preventing those damaging hormones from running riot.  In fact you will find that you begin to feel you have really achieved something personally, and might be able to level-headedly offer a sensible solution.

Believe it or not, by having what has been called “an attitude of gratitude” you can change what happens in your body for the better!  

Be Thankful: 100’s of “feel-good” hormones are released all through your brain and body when you are thankful.  This positive emotion offers all sorts of positive physical effects, apart from the emotional spin-off.  Finding something to be thankful for in difficult times helps to refocus energy and thought patterns, thereby lifting one’s mood.

Many studies show that your state of mind (ie. happiness or depression) actually affects the health of your body.  What an incentive and what a powerful tool we possess, if only we’d use it to our own advantage!  If you wish to improve your health this year start right now – it’s free and you don’t need any equipment or pills – but you do need to train your mind to be thankful and to look for the positive aspect in a negative situation.

By continually reacting in a positive manner and finding something to be thankful for in the situation – even something funny to laugh about – you will cause brand new neural pathways to form in the brain.  These are rather like paths in a field.  If you use the same path everyday to walk through a field, a pathway is created, which will be used by yourself and everyone else going through that field thereafter.  

In our brains we have a similar situation, and we need to travel down these same paths of humour, positive outlook and optimism to create these, and then they happen naturally after a while.  So when you are tempted to throw in the towel or see the worst in a situation, think about building and creating those neural pathways in your brain (that’s how you get “set in your ways”) – positive, humourous, grateful pathways!

There are also ‘feel-good’ foods we can eat - foods which help us to improve our mood by releasing more of those very helpful little hormones.  

Stress-Busting Foods: Not only do good foods offer good moods, but they improve the overall health and longevity of the body.  This in turn always impacts the health of the mind, spilling over into mood quality.  So there really is ‘good mood food’!  A good mood, a positive outlook and a grateful heart are probably the best stress busters there are.

 

Some foods which actually give you a happy, relaxed feeling include:

* Chocolate (yes! but make sure it’s dark organic chocolate – and raw chocolate is best of all)
* Avocados
* Water, believe it or not!
* Fresh green leafy vegetables 
* Dark-coloured fruits and berries (not too many – 2 portions a day is fine)
* Eggs
* Fatty fish
* A cup of tea – very healthy and therapeutic, especially for women

Eating regularly - as in 3 meals, and 3 snacks daily - helps to stabilize blood sugar levels.  This in turn improves mood quality, and reduces stress.  Stress is something that can be exacerbated by low blood sugar levels – in itself a cause of severe physical stress.

The very best way to lessen stress levels though, has to be exercise.  The endorphins or ‘happy’ chemicals in the brain are released, and stress is relieved.  Exercise is a good remedy for high blood pressure and a stressful lifestyle. 

Another helpful tip is to eat about 50-80% of your food in a raw state whenever you can.  Granted, raw meat tastes ghastly, and raw rice will break your teeth – but practically all vegetables are quite delicious raw.  Make a lovely “mayonnaise” with tahini, a little water, salt and honey – even a dash of lemon juice, and you have a gorgeous ‘sauce’ or creamy dressing, to make them taste even better.  A couple of raw fruits a day with some nutritious raw nuts, and you will feel fantastic.

The changes the body experiences as a result of stress include:

* Increase in the stress hormones adrenaline and cortisol
* Increase in blood sugar and cholesterol 
* Increase in the heart rate and blood pressure 
* Increase in respiration 
* Accumulation of toxins like carbon dioxide
* Emotional changes due to alteration in the brain chemistry
* Gastro intestinal disorders like irritable bowel syndrome 
* Suppression of immunity

Breathe! Make sure you are breathing properly – as odd as this sounds, when very stressed, people can forget to breathe properly, and are often oxygen-deprived.  Actively taking 3 deep breaths when you are stressed, holding it for a count of 5 then breathing out again is a great help.  If you are still feeling a little stressed after this, sit or lie down, put on a favourite CD, sit with your eyes closed, and keep doing these breathing exercises gently to relax you for at least one song.

Keep your sense of humour. There's enough stress in the rest of your life to let bad shots ruin a game you're supposed to enjoy - Amy Alcott