Seven Major Facts about Stress

Stress is already a part of daily living. You may never know it but you are already affected by this issue. You shout at your kids or nag your partner about something. You seem to raise an issue out of a particular event even if it is not true. You also tend to be suspicious at some points. All these are due to stress. Scientifically, stress is a state of high tension or pressure, resulting from an accident or injury or a psychological reaction of heightened emotional response. Certain occupations are particularly stressful, such as acting, advertising, controlling air traffic, politics, investing and gambling. As an effect of stressful emotions such as panic attacks, fear and anger, the blood pressure rises, the pulse beats faster, breathing is accelerated, digestion stops, and the adrenal glands become overactive. Major Facts about Stress The real issues behind stress can be best understood with a number of facts. Take a look at the following points: 1. It can be caused by many factors. Fear and anxiety are the greatest causes of psychological stress. In modern times people are constantly beset by the threat of calamities. They fear depression and inflation, unemployment, cancer and heart failure, missiles and bombs and famine. At home they may be confronted with marital incompatibility, quarrels, family illness, or financial troubles. 2. It can also cause something. Many illnesses are caused by mental stress, including ulcers, spastic constipation, diarrhea, high blood pressure and migraine headaches. Sometimes latent mental disorders are precipitated by stressful circumstances, as in the case of manic-depressive psychosis, schizophrenia, hysteria and neurasthenia. 3. It can worsen through time. When a person is subjected to repeated stresses, she is likely to develop what people call nervous breakdown, an unscientific but expressive term. The stress produced by the problems of everyday living has led to the widespread use of tranquilizers, a last resort when there seems to be no escape from a difficult situation. 4. It happens in daily living. Stress exists in almost every human activity and is not the same as nerve tension. Some stress is beneficial since it may stimulate action. 5. It can be lessened through healthy intimate relationships. Psychiatrists also found out that for the avoidance of excessive stress being married is better than being divorced or single. 6. There are major stressful events connected to it. Studies also showed that the death of a child is the most stressful of any life's events. Other items include a jail sentence, major financial problems, divorce and the beginning of an extra-marital affair. Some of the environmental factors that may be related to stress are the status of health, the social class, and the size of the household. 7. There are also some stresses that cannot be controlled. Too much stress can show itself in various emotional, behavioral and physical signs, and the signs of stress differ extremely according to each individual. Usual Physical, Emotional and Behavioral Signs of Stress The physical indications of stress include sleep interruptions, tense muscles, annoyance, gastrointestinal problem, and exhaustion. Its emotional and behavioral indications consist of apprehension, fear, alterations in eating practices, depleted energy, and mood swings. All of the symptoms given cannot tell whether a person has an elevated stress level because these indications may be due to other medical or mental problems. It is also a fact that persons in stress are most likely to maintain harmful activities like drug and alcohol addiction, excessive cigarette smoking, and poor eating habits. These harmful activities can extremely add to the severity of the indications connected to stress. Remember that all people may be prone to stress – no matter what age you are in and no matter what status of life you have. The extent may vary also depending on how you take up the challenge that goes with it. If you have a support system with you, it is easy to do away with the situation. But at the worse, it may only lead you to panic attacks.

reBlog from ashok_gunasekaran: Health is Wealth

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

I found this fascinating quote today:

STRESS is already a part of daily living. You may never know it but you are already affected by this issue. You shout at your kids or nag your partner about something. You seem to raise an issue out of a particular event even if it is not true. You also tend to be suspicious at some points. All these are due to stress.ashok_gunasekaran, Health is Wealth, Jan 2010

 

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Water - The Best Drink

Water lovely water

Water without a doubt is the most important nutrient in the human body. It is involved in every bodily function and makes up at least 70% of your body weight.

Water helps you maintain your body temperature, it metabolizes body fat, aids in digestion, water lubricates and cushions organs, transports nutrients through the body and flushes toxins from your body.

The blood running through your veins is approximately 90% water. You didn’t know that did you? Your blood transports nutrients through your system. If you are not getting enough water your body will pull these nutrients from wherever it can in your body to feed it’s self. If you are dehydrated this can cause the closing of some smaller capillaries making your blood thicker and raising the chance of blood clotting. This can also affect you by having serious implications regarding hypertension, high cholesterol and heart disease.

Being dehydrated can increase body fat? True story read on

Water contributes to energy storage along with glycogen. Without water, extra amounts of glucose remain in your bloodstream until reaching the liver, the extra glucose is stored as fat. Your body takes water from inside cells in an effort to compensate for a dehydrated state, including fat cells. Less water in your fat cells means less mobilization of fat for energy.

One of your liver's primary functions is to metabolize stored fat into energy. The kidneys are responsible for filtering toxins, wastes, ingested water, and salts out of the bloodstream. If you are dehydrated, the kidneys cannot function properly, and the liver must work overtime to compensate. As a result, it metabolizes less fat. So remember, if you are trying to decrease the amount of fat on your body, drink plenty of water.

Dehydration can also cause muscle weakness, fatigue, dizziness headaches, arthritis and heartburn.

So next time you are tired in the middle of the day make sure you are well hydrated.

One great thing about water is that it is a natural suppressant. Have a glass before every meal and between and you will definitely find yourself eating less.

It is better to drink water in pure form instead of relying on getting it from drinks like coffee or pop etc because these products have caffeine and caffeine is actually a diuretic. Diuretics increase your need for water because they force stored water out of your system along with essential nutrients.

How much should you drink?

How much water you need to drink is a hard question to answer but there are some general rules. If you are a physically active person you will require more water and if you have more muscle mass

you will also require more. Different factors will determine how much water you need on a day to day basis. Out in the sun, swinging a sledge hammer, sitting on the couch etc.
Depending on body weight etc you will need anywhere from 8 to 13 eight ounce glasses of water a day. My method is to drink water throughout the day and if my urine is more clear than it is yellow then I know I am getting enough. Yes I said it, if your urine is more yellow than clear then you are not getting enough water. Spread it out over the day and stop drinking

fluids a couple hours before bed time or you will be up throughout the night going to the washroom.

You can drink to much though

Now on the other side of the scale although uncommon, it is quite possible to drink too much water. Drinking an excessive amount can overwhelm your kidneys' ability to get rid of the water. This can lead to hyponatremia ( an electrolyte disturbance), a condition in which excess water dilutes the normal amount of sodium in your blood.  Typical symptoms include nausea, vomiting,  headache

and malaise. Sad to say but this condition can result in death. Don’t be frightened now because this condition is very rare. This article is about promoting the benefits of drinking water.
This wonderful elixir called water can help to cure or prevent constipation. When the body does not get enough water it siphons what it needs internally. The colon is one of those spots siphoned from. So the result causes you to be constipated. When you resume normal water drinking habits your bowel will start functioning normal in no time.
Water is definitely something you want to start making sure you are getting enough of. Do yourself a favor and start getting enough. It will improve the way you feel think and function.

Enjoy Your Drink :)

Five Ways to Burn Calories

We all know that if we want to lose weight than we have to burn off more calories than we take in. It’s a simple equation that most of us can understand. Getting ourselves to actually do the work necessary to burn calories isn’t always quite so easy though. A lot of people find it difficult because they think that it means that they have to exercise every day. It’s definitely important to get enough exercise if you want to burn calories to lose weight. However, that’s not the only thing that you should be doing to burn calories. Believe it or not, there are a lot of other things that you can do to burn calories other than just your standard trip to the gym.
Here are five great ways to burn calories on a daily basis:


1. Eat to Burn Calories.
You already know that you have to eat properly if you want to lose weight. But were you aware of the fact that there are a lot of foods that you can eat that will actually assist you in burning more calories? If you eat smart, you can burn more calories even as you take calories in to get energy. What a great concept. Some of the tips that you’ll want to follow if you’re going to eat to burn calories include:
• Eat often but make the meals small ones. There are some experts who believe that eating frequently assists you in burning more calories than you would burn if you ate the same amount of food in just one or two sittings. The reason for this is that you are working your digestive system every time that you eat. Those experts say that each time you start a meal, you burn up some calories by igniting your digestive system. If you only eat once or twice per day then you only burn those calories once or twice. If you eat five or six times per day then you’ll burn more calories. The trick is to make sure that you keep your meals small so that you aren’t taking in more calories while you do this.
• Eat breakfast. You want to get started right away with those digestion burning calories. You shouldn’t skip breakfast for a number of reasons anyway. Doing so is definitely linked to weight gain with a few different causes to blame. Think about this when you’re trying to burn calories each day.
• Eat protein. The body has to work harder to digest protein than to digest other foods. This means that you’re burning more calories when you eat it. Choose protein that’s as low in calories as possible to get the most benefit.
• Burn some calories to get your meal. It’s the little things that we do all day long that help us to burn more calories. If you order your food as a delivery meal then you’re not burning as many calories as you would if you went to get your food. If you get a pre-made sandwich instead of walking around the kitchen to make your own sandwich then you’re not burning as many calories as you could. Think about how to burn calories while you’re getting food and eating it.
2. Drink to Burn Calories
It isn’t just the food that we take in that can help us with burning more calories. If we choose the right drinks then they can also act as calorie-burners. There are two really important drinks that we want to get used to having daily if we’re going to drink to burn calories: water and tea.
Water is really important for our bodies and for weight loss. The body works to absorb and use water and it’s burning calories the whole time that you do that. Most people don’t drink enough liquid at all. You should increase your liquid intake to help burn calories throughout the day. The liquid you choose should be water since this helps you to burn those calories without taking in new calories. With all of the other benefits water has for your body, this is really a win-win situation.
When water just isn’t going to satisfy you then your next best choice for a beverage is green tea. Green tea has been shown to have calorie-burning properties. When you drink green tea, you burn more calories than you take in. If you don’t like green tea then you can also burn calories by drinking caffeinated black tea. However, green tea is a better choice. Remember that you lose out on the calorie-burning benefits of tea if you add milk or sweeteners to it.
3. Chew Gum
You might not think that you would burn a lot of calories just by chewing gum. However, that extra action for your mouth can end up resulting in a lot of calories burned if you’re chewing gum all day every day. You’ll want to choose no-calorie gum to get the benefits of burning those calories. And you’ll want to discuss this with your dentist since chewing gum all day may be bad for some people’s teeth. It’s a neat little trick to add to your repertoire of burning calories though.
4. Move Quickly and Often
Ultimately you’re going to need to move to really burn some calories. Get in the habit of doing all of your daily activities with just a bit more speed and energy than you usually do and you’ll find yourself burning off more calories than you did in the past. Simply speeding up your walking pace is a good start. Do your house chores with intensity instead of doing them in the lazy manner that you’re probably accustomed to. By working this type of non-exercise exercise into your daily routine, you’re naturally going to burn a lot of calories without feeling like you’re doing too much work.
5. Exercise
Finally, there is the thing that will burn the most calories and that’s exercise. What you should do is to make sure that you choose forms of exercise that you truly enjoy. This will allow you to do them often in order to burn calories while still enjoying each day.