STRESS - HOW TO REDUCE THE STRESS IN YOUR LIFE!

Table of Contents:

Introduction...4
Chapter 1 – What Does Stress Do to Your Body?...5
Chapter 2 – Health Problems Caused by Stress...9
Chapter 3 – How Much Stress Do You Have?...13
Chapter 4 – Useful Tips to Reduce Stress...20
Chapter 5 – Stress at Work, Home, With Friends and Family...24
Chapter 6 – Stress Related to Money Problems...28
Chapter 7 – Relaxation Techniques...31
Chapter 8 – Can Medication Relieve Stress?...35
Chapter 9 – Mental Stress...38
Chapter 10 – Physical Stress...42
Chapter 11 – Natural Ways to Relieve Stress...45
Chapter 12 – Quick Ways to Relieve Stress...49
Chapter 13 – How to Reduce Stress While Driving...54




Chapter 1 - What Does Stress Do To Your Body?
Stress is a normal part of everyone’s life. No matter whom you are or where you live, everyone experiences stress. You may be surprised to learn that having some stress is actually good for you. But too much stress is bad. Stress can have a cumulative effect on the human body. As it adds up, stress can affect you in many ways, both mentally and physically. Stress is a biological response. It is caused by either stimuli to the body or danger, either real or perceived. Back in the days of the cave dweller, the body used stress to help us get away from danger, such as wild animals. The body still gives us responses to danger, however, now the “dangers” are much different.
Stress is a chemical reaction in your body when you confront danger or perceived danger. Stress happens when your brain thinks something is threatening. The body releases chemicals into the nervous system that sends it racing. The heart pumps faster and you breathe more quickly to take in more oxygen. The body tenses up. Your reflexes get sharper. Your brain is preparing the body to deal with a dangerous situation. Although our modern stresses come from many places, they are no less real to us than dangers were to our caveman ancestors.
Doctors deal with stress-related problems every day. While medications can sometimes help to alleviate the symptoms, stress related issues are best dealt with by getting to the root of the problem and eliminating it. Stress causes many responses in the body. Anxiety attacks, while now quite common, are a typical response to an over buildup of stress. An anxiety attack can have very acute symptoms, many of which mirror
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symptoms of a heart attack. The body tenses up. Breathing becomes erratic, often hyperventilation occurs. Fear of dying is common. The erratic breathing can cause chest pains, again simulating a heart attack. For many, a trip to the emergency room reveals through an EKG that what they have experienced was not a heart attack, but was actually an anxiety attack. An anxiety attack is actually nothing more than an extreme build up of stress in the body. Victims of an anxiety attack are told to go home and to relax.
Later in this book, you will learn several useful techniques for reducing daily stress in your life.
To better understand what stress is, it will help to know something about the human body. When you perceive a threat (either real or imagined), the communication systems within the body begin to activate. The nervous system triggers the release of hormones such as adrenaline. These hormones are secreted into the nervous system and cause a heightened arousal that increases the blood pressure and heart rate. Hormones are also released into the system that prepares it for action. They ready the body for quick response, getting the heart and muscles ready for action.
At the same time, the hypothalamus, a part of the brain, releases a substance that travels to the pituitary gland, which in turn triggers additional powerful hormones to be released into the bloodstream. These responses happen simultaneously and almost instantaneously. We feel the changes happen within our body. Our breathing becomes much more rapid.
You can get stress from a wide variety of circumstances. Some stress is rapid and lasts a relatively short time. This type of stress is usually quite intense for a short time, and then
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subsides. This is the type you experience when you have a close call, such as an accident or are involved in a fire or other disaster. Your body reacts to an external situation and produces the typical responses. This stress is mostly physical, that is, it is brought on by physical events. This quick-type stress goes away quickly. You do not accumulate physical stress in the body.
Other stress can be slow, and long term. This stress can have cumulative effects on the body. This type of stress may be more mental than physical. That is, it is more a product of the mind than of any actual physical danger. This is the type of stress that you may feel at work. When people say th