Over-Stress: How to Manage it...

Stress is the body's response to a challenge or tough situation. When the body is stressed focus, strength, stamina, and alertness are all heightened. to be more specific, hormones are released into the blood stream and heart rate increases, as well as breathing rate, blood pressure and metabolism. This is known as the 'fight-or-flight' mechanism. Our ancestors would have experienced stress responses when they were hunting animals for food or were, in fact, faced with an animal that could potentially kill them (i.e. lion, crocodile). In those days, whether you stayed to fight off the animal or ran for dear life, the movement of the body (or exercise) would use up all the stress hormones floating through the blood and reduce the heart rate and blood pressure, etc.

These days we continue to go through the exact same stress response as our ancestors, however we might facing a deadline rather than a lion or managing a team of  people instead of feeding a tribe. The thing is, unlike our ancestors we don't fight or run to get rid of the stress hormones, we continue to sit at our desk, typing away on the computer while the hormones build up, heart rate continues to rise and blood pressure goes through the roof! When a stress response is active long term it can cause health issues such as Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), headaches or depression.

So how to you deal with stress? Obviously you wont be able to remove all stress from your life so its a matter of finding ways to reduce the stress response and manage the way you're feeling.

• Exercise - going for a jog and doing a boxing class will get rid of any pent up energy, stimulate the production of endorphins (happy hormones) and lower your 'flashpoint'.
• Watch what you're thinking - attitudes and perceptions will heavy influence the way you see and feel about things so think positively.
• Set realistic goals - work out what your priorities are and set achievable timelines.
• Relax in a way that suits you- take time out to do something you enjoy such as  reading, meeting with friends, doing a yoga class.
• Take 'Breathing Breaks' - I'm a big fan of cigarette breaks, just minus the cigarette. Smokers take 5-10 minutes out every few hours and to go outside and take deep breaths. So do yourself a favour and take 'Breathing Breaks', it'll lower your heart rate and blood pressure.
• Talk to someone - there is nothing wrong with venting your frustrations. Talk to someone you trust about what is stressing you out, besides two heads are better than one, you might come up with a brilliant solution.

Just remember that we weren't designed to stew over things and become more and more aggravated, we were designed to be active and work off the stress response so the best thing you can do to reduce stress is to get into the gym and run, run, run!!!