The Reality…
Stress hits us from many different directions in today’s world. And some of our sources of stress are delivered to us non-stop via the Internet. According to a recent study, American adults spend more than 11 hours per day watching, reading, listening to or simply interacting with media. It’s no wonder we are more stressed than ever before.
Aside from what’s going on “out there” that we read about online and otherwise, we have our own personal stressors. Work-related stress is a major source of personal stress. A recent Forbes article reported the following survey results for workplace trends in 2019:
- 76% of respondents said workplace stress “had a negative impact on their personal relationships”
- 66% have lost sleep due to work-related stress
- 16% have quit jobs because stress became too overwhelming.
Add additional personal stressors such as relationship conflict and money challenges to the mix, and it’s no wonder so many people are suffering. According to the Global Organization for Stress, 75% of adults reported experiencing moderate to high levels of stress in month prior to the survey and nearly half reported that their stress has increased in the past year.
Sadly, we don’t even need to see the statistics, watch the news or go online to know stress is on the rise. We feel it in our own bodies. In fact, stress may be one of the primary reasons we find ourselves living in an overweight body, and maybe even trying to medicate against health challenges such as high blood pressure.
The Challenge…
If you allow stress to go unchecked, your mind and body may experience some undesirable side effects, such as anxiety, depression, insomnia, premature aging, mood disorders, high blood pressure and a weakened immune system. Stress can also lend itself to poor dietary choices, which contribute to unhealthy weight gain and obesity.
How do you cope with your stress? Do you do anything proactive to manage it? Or do you give it free reign to lessen the quality of your life and your health? Does stress impact your relationships? Does stress keep you up at night? Have you wanted to your quit your job because you found it too stressful? Can you look in the mirror and see it on your face?
The Solution…
The truth is that if you don’t manage stress, it will manage you. And it will seriously impact the quality of your life, your health, and your efforts at weight loss. Below are ten tips to reduce your level of stress. Each one will be explored in more detail in upcoming blogs because I consider stress management to be key to maintaining a healthy body, and a happy life. I recommend you incorporate some sort of stress relief into each day to counter balance the inevitability of stressful situations that will present themselves in your life. A mindful daily practice of stress management will help avoid the accumulation of stress in your mind and body, which can lead you to chronic stress and put you at risk for significant health problems. Try some of these and see which ones work for you.
- Meditation
- Yoga
- Exercise
- Spend time in nature
- Plan your week in advance
- Work on improving your organization skills
- Learn to say NO to too many commitments
- Optimize your sleeping environment for a good night’s sleep
- Examine how you spend your time and incorporate more life balance
- Examine, and work on, your thoughts about your life circumstance and stressors
The Invitation….
To get started on a deeper dive into stress management and permanent weight loss, click on the calendar below to schedule a FREE mini-session with me. What do you have to lose but some weight??
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