Stress, the Integral part of our lives
Everybody is rushing from pillar to post in a mad rush, with no consideration for our body health. The result is that majority of ailments today are stress related- ranging from increased blood pressure to depression.
A little stress can help your immunity cops to root out the infection and fend off illness.
Passive (bad) stress lowers your body’s production of immunity proteins, and leads to depression.
While active stress (good stress), can actually increase your disease fighting immunoglobulin. Good stress can be obtained by setting goals for hobbies, work or anything which makes you feel happy.
Do you know that stress makes you fat? Being obese creates stress.
Obesity is not only due to bad diet and lack of exercise. Studies in America show that people who had high levels of the stress hormones cortisol put weight more easily.
Getting fatter potentially trigger the stress response, which in turn encourages additional weight gain.
But dieting also stimulates cortisol production, which in turn triggers the stress response that counters weight loss.
Eating food high in fat, salt and sugar, combined with reduced physical activity, causes obesity.
Don't Let Stress Ruin Your Skin!
Here's how to save your skin from side-effects of tension.
We often blame bad diet and genetics for our skin problems, but stress equally harms it.
In fact, with our increasingly hectic lifestyles, it has become a major culprit.
How stress impacts our skin, and how to fix the problem.
1. Dryness: When you are stressed, you drink less water, and consume more tea and coffee. This causes dehydration, leading to dry skin. Stress also increases the level of hormone cortisol, which reduces the skin's ability to retain water, again causing dryness.
First and foremost, consciously drink more water when you are stressed. Opt for warm water to calm yourself down, besides it also helps your skin.
Go for foods and drinks rich in antioxidants. Prunes, blackberries, amla juice, pomegranate, and green tea are all good choices.
2. Fine lines: When feeling stressed, we tend to frown or purse our lips. Facial muscles tension can cause wrinkles and fine lines. Cortisol also causes an increase in blood sugar. Deep breathing as shown below can fix this.
3. Redness: Our breaths tend to become short and shallow when we feel stressed. The capillaries expand to increase the blood flow, causing redness and flushing in your face.
4. Acne and pigmentation: Cortisol disturbs the hormonal balance in the body. So stress becomes one of the major reason for acne breakout, as it causes inflammation of the skin. It can also upset the balance of good and bad bacteria in the gut, causing acne and pigmentation on the neck.
This problem can be fixed by avoiding anxiety food such as sugar and drinking lots of water, also consume high-fiber diet.
Remedy for stress is conscious relaxation.
This really makes our body relax bit by bit in a controlled manner. Conscious relaxation can be done by Meditation, Yoga, progressive muscle relaxation and hypnotherapy. You can do it anytime and anywhere.
Naturally you can do this by breathing exercises daily for at least 20 minutes. ‘A single session of conscious relaxation is equivalent to hours of sleep and rest’, says the experts.
Benefits of Relaxation
1. Relaxation boosts energy levels which make us focus properly.
2. Conscious Relaxation makes you relaxed and you become Optimistic.
3. Suppressed emotions like anger, anxiety and sadness when released consciously makes you lighter.
4. Immunity increases and the body functions normally.
5. Promote feelings of well-being.
6. Can solve your problems better as your power of concentration increases.
Anxiety Folk Remedies
Folk remedies had been already been ‘time-tested’ over many generations to prove some validity otherwise they would have been discarded a long time ago.
1. Drink hot root ginseng.
2. Breathing exercises for anxiety:
*a) Take a shallow ‘Chest’ breath, use only chest muscles to inhale rather than diaphragm (muscles found at the bottom of the lungs). Only fill the upper part of the lungs with air and oxygen, to increase the oxygen intake, once a day for at least one month.
*b) Sit on a chair without arm rest, with your feet on the floor and thighs parallel to hold your back straight lay one hand over other or place palms in a comfortable position on your thighs.
Inhale through your nose and breathe deep and full and the body completely relaxed.
3. Herbal Remedy- Kava.
Polynesia islands with Hawaii, Easter Island and New Zealand, Melanesia and Micronesia, have a traditional beverage which is made by grinding fresh or dry roots of the Piper Methysticum shrub. This makes a relaxing drink called Kava- this is also a common name given to the plant.
This kava exhibits psycho-active properties but curiously isn’t hallucinogenic or a stupefacient, Kava-lactones, a group of active compounds have enough anesthetic qualities to make it as narcotic and a hypnotic. Although, its consumption has never led to addiction or dependency yet is really an amazing relaxant.
In the 19th century it was prepared in a rather gross manner. The roots (kava) were first stoned grounded, then well masticated by village natives before being expectorated into a vessel to which water was added, the fermented mixture was added, the fermented mixture was eventually filtered through coconut leaves and then passed around in a formal ceremony to be drunk by everyone.
Today, kava is prepared in a more conventional way. Dried, coarsely chopped root is simmered for a while on low heat in double amount of water needed to cover it. When half that amount remains the brew is set aside and covered to steep longer.
Among under-privileged classes, kava finds merit for relaxation after work.
Laughter raises levels of immunoglobulin and natural killer cells.
Giggle makes you fit. Do you know that you can giggle yourself fit?
In Yoga laughter is considered to improve health, this remedy was there since centuries. The modern therapeutic use of humor originated in the 1970s. Norman Cousins, an American journalist documented laughing as a major curative factor during his prolonged ailment. He stated that 10mts of laughing gave him 2 hours of drug-free relief from pain.
Nobody believed him at that time, but today science has proved him right.
A good sense of humor means all is well. Humor can actually change our feelings, thoughts, behaviors and biochemistry. As stated by psychologist, it is a perfect self-care tool to cope with stress.
As we all are aware that there is a connection between stress and high blood pressure, muscle tension, suppressed immunity and other diseases. Now studies show that laughter is the perfect antidote for stress.
It has been found that laughter gives your body direct boost. It has been found that intense and regular laughter increases the flow of oxygen through the body.
*Laughter increases immune globin, which fights upper respiratory diseases.
*It increases tolerance to pain by increasing levels of natural pain-killing opioids.
*It brings in more oxygen and keeps the internal organs moving.
*It raises immunity by boosting the production of white blood cells
*Laughter can make you look younger. It tones the facial muscles and leads to an increase blood supply to the area, which nourishes facial skin.
No one believes that laughter can cure a disease all by itself. But it can be used to strengthen both the mind and the body. Create a laughter first aid kit with humorous videos, books and cartoons and use it when you want to feel better.
Do Hashsa Exercise – Laughing exercise-
For Laughter exercise keep your teeth also healthy.
Hasansana (laughing) in Pranayama (breathing exercises) is recommended for increasing the chemical manufactured in the brain (endorphin), which prevents, treat and may cure many diseases including cancer, aids, without side effects it eliminates all the pain.
Also by laughing abdominal exercise is also done.
Meditation
We use actually an external medium to train the mind on positivity. The mind is a very wonderful mechanism. It remembers what it chooses to and forgets when required. However, the mind is a wide horse that needs to be tamed and given a direction. That is where the concept of faith in the object. This can work in reserve too. One may see some object which is considered inauspicious, and the thought transmitted to the mind is that disaster will follow.
Inevitably, it does, and it does not happen because of the object. It happens because of the information you gave to the mind and it manifested so according to your thought. To have faith in our self, in our mind, is very difficult. That is why temples and mantras were created- to help all build faith in themselves.
Meditation can help create a profound feeling of relaxation- reducing stress. Asana are done with deep, controlled breathing, which enhances the flow of oxygen to the brain and body, erasing stress and increasing energy.
Immunity Boosters
Right antioxidants from colorful fruits and vegetables boost the immune system. The green in spinach, orange in carrots and the blue in blueberries are all full of antioxidant rich chemicals that keep the cells healthy.
Iron which is one of the necessary elements for blood is found in the foods like soy beans and lentils, soy flour, whole grain cereals (particularly whole wheat and millet, which contains the most iron of the grains),nuts and seeds, dark green vegetables and dry fruits as Apricots, Prunes and Prune juice are particularly good sources.
Seven Nutrients that Boost Immunity are given below
Eating right has been known as the best way to keep your body healthy, also a sure way to boost your immunity.
1. Milk/Yogurt is richest sources of zinc which increases the production of white blood cells that fight infection more aggressively.
2. Garlic is also a good source of zinc which is a powerful immune booster and can also act as an anti-oxidant. Garlic may protect against cancer. It is also a heart friendly food since it keeps platelets from sticking together and clogging tiny blood vessels. 7.0mg of zinc is required for a day.
3. Guava is cheapest and richest source of vitamin C increases the production of infection fighting white cells and antibodies, thus preventing the entry of virus. It reduces risk of heart disease by raising the levels of HDL (good) cholesterol while lowering blood pressure. It has been observed that persons whose diets are higher in vitamin C have lower rate of colon, prostrate, and breast cancer.
Papayas, strawberries, kiwis, oranges, cantoloupes and grape fruits are other richest sources of vitamin C.
4. Soybeans are derivatives are the richest sources of vitamin E. About 400mg of Vitamin E is needed /day which also includes the vitamin E supplementation like Evion.
Vitamin E is an important anti-oxidant and immune boosted that stimulates are the production of natural killing cells, that destroy germs and cancer cells, that destroy germs and cancer cells.
Oil like sunflower, canola, corn, soybean, almonds, peanuts, olives, baked beans are the sources of vitamin E.
5. Carrots are rich in carotenoids which have anti-cancer properties and immune boosting functions. Lowers risk of cardio-vascular diseases- strokes and heart attacks. This anti-oxidant’s richest sources include dark green leafy and yellow vegetables and fruits like oranges, papaya, carrots, greens, spinach, sweet potato and canto loupe, apricots, broccoli, broccoli, tomatoes and peaches.
6. Beans are richest sources of bio-flavonoid. They protect cells of the body against environmental pollutants. They also reduce the cholesterols ability to form plague in arteries, which can lead to heart attack and stroke.
Bioflavonoids can get from a diet that contains a wide variety of fruits and vegetables, at least 6 servings / day. These bioflavonoids are needed to help your immune system work in top form. These are also found in green tea, onions.
Foods which are good source of selenium are whole grains, vegetables, brown rice, cottage cheese, sunflower seeds. This mineral increases natural killer cells and mobilizes cancer fighting cells.
7. Flax oils are rich in omega 3 fatty acids which acts as immune boosters by increasing the activity of white blood cells that eat up bacteria.
Essential fatty acids protect the body against damage from over reactions to infections. Vitamin E with essential fatty acids acts to boost the immune syste