The Relaxation Response
Stress is a natural part of life. The effects of stress on health is actually good for you - if you didn't have stress, what would motivate you to complete a project or reach your next goal? On the other hand, a prolonged exposure to high levels of can have negative impacts on brain function.
The positive effects of stress on health include a release of the neurotransmitter norepinephrine, which boosts brain power. Norepinephrine helps to improve your mood and is a key neurotransmitter in creating new memories. It helps to promote or stimulate creative thinking and can be a powerful tool in achieving your desired outcome.
Another positive effect is that it triggers our basic instinct of "fight or flight." Our body has natural systems for giving us the energy to make it through stressful experiences and then helping us to return to a more natural homeostasis. The sympathetic nervous system, which triggers the "fight or flight" response, provides a mechanism for our bodies to have increased adrenaline when times of stress arise. This is part of our survival instinct. After the initial stress response, your body also has a system for returning to a metabolic equilibrium. The parasympathetic nervous system springs into action and triggers the relaxation response. It is vital that these two systems work together to help manage the effects of emotional stress.
Effects of stress on health, of course, doesn't always yield positive results. Increased stress response over an extended period of time can have a dramatic impact on your mental focus, memory retention and memory recall. This type can also lead to increased physical issues or mental health disorders such as depression. It is important to utilize stress reduction skills so that stress does not have a lasting effect on your physical and emotional well being.
Stress is a natural part of life. By understanding your body's natural stress response, you can be more aware of the need to keep your body in a state of balance. There will be times of stress and relaxation--just make sure that stress doesn't overpower the time your body needs to recover.
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What do stress management techniques do and what is the relaxation response?
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Stress Management For Teens
All of our teens experience daily stresses and can benefit from learning proven stress management skills. When they perceive a situation as threatening, hard, unpleasant or painful, they often do not have sufficiently mature resources to cope with the level of frustration that results. Consequently, they experience even more stress and the cycle goes on and on. No wonder our kids have so many problems.
Sources of teen stress include:
Demands and frustrations generated by challenges in school or social development,
Self-deprecating attitudes and feelings,
Bodily changes that are viewed as unfavorable,
Conflicts or arguments with peers,
Violence-prone family environments or neighborhoods,
Squabbling parents, either married or divorced,
Severe illness in the family,
Death of a family member, loved one, or peer,
Excessive rates of moving from neighborhoods or schools,
Maintaining expectations that are unrealistic or too high,
Chronic financial problems.
When teens become overloaded with stress and, as is often the case, it is ineffectively managed, it leads to frequent worrying, isolation, acting-out, illness or destructive attempts to cope, such as drug and/or alcohol abuse. When kids perceive a situation as difficult or painful, mental and physical changes take place that prepare them to protect themselves from danger.
This is called the fight, flight, or freeze response. It is characterized by a more rapid pulse, heart palpitations, increased flow of blood to the arms and legs, and/or a piercing sense of dread. However, this same mechanism that turns on this fight or flight response can turn it off as well.
As soon as our kids perceive that a situation is no longer threatening, changes occur which help them to calm down. This is called the relaxation response and is characterized by a decreased pulse rate and a greater feeling of well being. Teens that develop or can induce this relaxation response feel more confident, more effective and have more functional choices from which to choose when responding to stress.
This is how you can help your teen:
Assess whether or not stress seems to be affecting his or her health, school performance or feelings,
Listen carefully for any expressions of overwhelming stress, anxiety or depression,
Model effective use of stress management methods yourself,
Support your teens involvement in athletics and other healthy group or social activities.
To decrease stress, kids should:
Exercise, work-out and eat appropriately,
Eliminate the intake of excess caffeine, which can unnecessarily increase anxiety,
Eliminate the illegal use of drugs, alcohol or tobacco products,
Practice abdominal breathing and the use of muscle relaxation exercises,
Practice the use of assertiveness skills and reduce the use of aggressive or passive styles of communicating,
Rehearse and practice anxiety-inducing behaviors,
Break anxiety-inducing tasks into smaller, more attainable ones,
Reduce the use of pessimistic self talk which predicts failure or bad outcomes out-of-hand,
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Do not unrealistically demand perfection from either yourself or others,
Take intermittent breaks from stress-inducing activities,
Build a social support network and nurture it.
By using these techniques, your teenager can begin to self-manage stress in a healthy way. In severe or overwhelming cases of teen anxiety, however, get a consultation with a clinical psychologist or other mental health professional to nip any potential self-defeating behaviors in the bud.
About the Author:
Dr Shery is in Cary, IL, near Algonquin, Crystal Lake, Marengo and Lake-in-the-Hills. He's an expert psychologist. Call 1 847 516 0899 and make an appt orlearn more about counseling at: http://www.carypsychology.com
Article Source: ArticlesBase.com - Helping your Teenagers Cope with Stress-From McHenry and Cary, IL
Stress Management At Work
We live in a hectic world, where the affects of acute and chronic stress can have serious impacts on our health. Although conventional and alternative medicine offers many options for stress management, there is an ancient healing technique that works especially well: Reiki energy work.
What Is Reiki?
Reiki is a Japanese energy technique that produces a relaxation response to reduce the feelings of stress. Reiki practitioners are trained to tap into the Universal energy force and, by the laying on of hands, transmit healing energy to another person or animal. The premise of Reiki, which is a very spiritual stress management technique, is that it increases your life energy. Reiki is considered to be a holistic therapy because it addresses the mind, body and spirit.
While Reiki is spiritually based, it isn't associated with any specific religion. That's why there are no intellectual or spiritual requirements to give or receive Reiki. In other words, you don't need to have any particular beliefs about religion (or any beliefs at all) to either benefit from it or practice it.
Because Reiki is based on the principles of peace, harmony and balance, anyone can learn it. Although it's a simple technique, the process must be passed on from a Reiki master to her student during a process called "attunement."
What to Expect During a Reiki Treatment
During a Reiki treatment, you should be fully clothed and will usually lay flat on a massage-like table, although seated or standing positions can be used in a pinch. It's important to be comfortable and warm, so let your practitioner know if you need to adjust your position. (Simple things, like placing a pillow under your knees to relieve low back pressure or adding a lightweight blanket, can increase your comfort level.)
When the Reiki session begins, your practitioner may close her eyes and take a moment to gather her own energy before placing her hands on or near your body. As the treatment progresses, your practitioner will move her hands along your body, concentrating on areas that relate to your specific issues. When using Reiki for stress management, for example, your practitioner may spend extra time around tense neck and shoulder muscles. Although even a few minutes of Reiki can reduce stress, a typical full-length treatment can last anywhere from 45 to 90 minutes.
A full-length Reiki treatment should make you feel extremely relaxed and may even cause you to fall sleep. You should be able release the tension being held in your body as you reach a new level of peace.
Why You Should Choose Reiki for Relaxation
Reiki practitioners believe that negativity doesn't exist solely in the brain. Instead, they believe that negative thoughts and feelings are also stored in other areas of the body and in the body's surrounding energy field (known as the aura). When negative energy collects in and around the body, the flow of life force, or Ki, is restricted. This results in headaches, body pains, feelings of stress and, if left untreated, more serious physical illness.
The healing energy of Reiki is guided by a Higher Intelligence that intuitively understands how to release restrictions to the flow of Ki. This energy is able to work in harmony with the unconscious mind to dissolve negative thoughts and help remove them from the body and its aura. As these energy blocks are cleared, your Ki begins to flow unhindered, sending the healing life force to unhealthy bones, organs and tissues. With a consistent treatment plan, Reiki allows your body to heal itself and restore optimal balance and function.
Although people with serious health problems should consult their doctor before undergoing treatment, there are no known side effects associated with Reiki, which is proven to be a safe therapy for people in all stages of wellness or ill health.
Stress management is often a lifelong pursuit that requires an entire toolbox of traditional and alternative therapies for maximum relief. Consider incorporating Reiki treatments into your self-care regimen. The only thing you've got to lose is a little stress!
About the Author:
Patty Harder is a Reiki master, ordained SHES minister and self-help guru. She is also the author of
Less-Stressed NOW! Your Complete Guide to managing stress, Beating the Blues, and Waking Up Happier Every Day. To learn more, visit
http://www.5MinuteSelfHelp.com.
Article Source: ArticlesBase.com - Stress Management and Reiki: Restoring Balance through Energy Work
Stress Management Groups
Yoga is very good in stress management. Research has also shown that Hatha Yoga - the type of yoga practiced in the West - if practiced regularly, has a significant impact on ones muscular strength, flexibility, balance and endurance. Studies done on a group of people, who practiced yoga, revealed that after eight weeks - on average - the flexibility of this group improved by 14% to 35%.
Yoga is an excellent stress relief technique. It involves a series of both moving and stationary poses, combined with deep breathing. The physical and mental benefits of yoga provide a natural counter-balance to stress, and strengthens the relaxation response in your daily life.
Yoga is an ancient practice of controlling body and mind which originated in India a few thousand years ago. It is a practice by which there occurs a physical and mental harmony. The Yoga that is practiced all over the world is actually called 'Hath Yoga' a component of the wholesome Yogic practices. There are many sections in yogic practices which have got different implications.
You can counter the effects of stress to your body through yoga's breathing exercises and other relaxation exercises. These exercises try to achieve deep quietness in the mental and physical state to alter your emotional and physical responses. After performing such exercises, you will soon notice that your heart rate decreases, as well as your muscle tension and blood pressure.
stressed out individuals carry a great deal of physical tension in their bodies. In these cases the natural unblocking effected by yoga postures are helpful. When one rests between postures, abdominal tension is released from the body promoting deep breathing. The benefits of yoga postures (asana), breathing (pranayama), and meditation (dhyana) include increased body awareness, release of muscular tension and increased coordination between mind-and body. It helps in better management of stress and ensures an overall feeling of well being.
Breathing - Controlling your breathing is an important part of yoga. In yoga, breath signifies your vital energy. Yoga teaches that controlling your breathing can help you control your body and gain control of your mind.
If you have ailments, feel nervous, or are attending your first Restorative Yoga class, you should consult with your Yoga teacher, before class time. Your Yoga teacher may be able to advise you in regard to techniques that will alleviate stress or pain. You can expect that your Yoga teacher will be compassionate and modifications to postures will be taught.
When we are totally relaxed by using the techniques Yoga has to offer, our system slows down the body’s processes and actual changes occur. These include slowed metabolism and respiration, pupil constriction in the eyes, and the central nervous system is calmed or taken off “alert status”.
About the Author:
Read about Natural Supplements, Herbal Remedies. Also read about Tribulus Terrestris and Low Libido
Article Source: ArticlesBase.com - Yoga for Stress Management, Yoga for Stress Relief
