4. Reduce Your Stress

Stress is debilitating.  It affects everybody adversely and can lead to weight gain, lack of sleep, heart attacks and death.  So, how can we beat stress?

Here are a few hints on how to overcome the stress of the holiday season:

A Banana a Day Keeps the Stress Away!

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5 Ways to Reduce Stress in Your Life

1.Get Adequate Sleep

Are you getting at least seven hours of quality sleep every night? Is your bedroom completely dark? If not, then you’re not getting the sleep you needed for a healthy body and mind. Try to read a book before bed instead of overlading your brain watching tv, computer or your cell phone.

2. Eat Optimally

What you eat affects you. Eat well then you live and sleep well. The best foods are meats, seafood, fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds and eggs. Eggs do not cause heart disease and are among the most nutritious foods on the planet. Eggs for breakfast can help you lose weight.

Avoid vegetable oils (just use coconut and olive oil), sugar and grains. Grains are relatively low in nutrients compared to other real foods like vegetables. The gluten grains in particular may lead to a variety of health problems.

3. Move More

It does not have to be specific exercise like jogging but by incorporating more movement in your day can give you a natural endorphin boost, improve your metabolism and circulation, and eliminates toxins from your body. See these hints to be fit (not fat) at work.

Try to exercise daily, even if it’s a brisk 30-minute walk to work from the train station, using the stairs or push ups in the morning after your 2 glasses of water.

4. Allow For Me Time

No matter how busy your day, take time out to reflect, relax and breathe deeply. Even 15 minutes without your computer or cell phone and away from meeting allows you to de-stress. Try meditation, prayer, imagery, yoga or even self-massage. Basically, the idea is to shift your mental focus from what is causing you the stress, even for a little while. Most of these relaxation techniques also have secondary benefits as well.

Make sure you don’t rush your meals and take time to chew well so your food can be digested properly.

5. Talk to a Friend

If you’re feeling overwhelmed, seek help. Even if it’s just talking to a loved one or friend about what’s worrying you, it will make you feel better. Make yourself feel better by expressing your sincere gratitude to those friends for being there when you needed them.

Managing Stress Quotes

“In times of great stress or adversity, it’s always best to keep busy, to plow your anger and your energy into something positive.” – Lee Iacocca

“There are very few certainties that touch us all in this mortal experience, but one of the absolutes is that we will experience hardship and stress at some point.” – James C. Dobson

“The time to relax is when you don’t have time for it.” – Sydney J Harris

“Sometimes when people are under stress, they hate to think, and it’s the time when they most need to think.” – Bill Clinton

“Every night,I have to read a book, so that my mind will stop thinking about things that I stress about.” – Britney Spears

“Grant to us the serenity of mind to accept that which cannot be changed; the courage to change that which can be changed, and the wisdom to know the one from the other” – Reinhold Niebuhr

Top 10 List:

1. Understand circle of influence
2. Lower arousal level via breathing
3. Progressively relax muscles
4. Exercise vigorously
5. Get sufficient sleep
6. Distract yourself
7. Get social
8. Focus your energies
9. Moderate substance use
10.Assess progress