And on the subject of stress--

This includes meditation practices as well as music, song, dance, poetry and laughter as medicine.

And on the subject of stress--

Postby Judith » Wed Oct 23, 2013 5:46 pm

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The untold harmful effects of stress

Hi--I'm so STRESSED OUT!

How many times have you heard someone say that?
Or said it yourself?

We can't avoid it--ours is an increasingly complex, high-stress world and it doesn't look like that will be changing any time soon.
Now, in addition to the obvious mental pressure and emotional effects it causes, stress also affects your body physically in MANY different ways, some of which you might not be aware of.

Let’s take a peek at how your body handles stress, how it can be detrimental to your health and most importantly, how you can fight back and stop stress from stopping YOU.

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The stress hormone powerhouses
Your body’s ability to handle stress is largely controlled by two little pyramid-shaped pieces of tissue that sit comfortably right above your kidneys—otherwise known as your adrenal glands.
These little powerhouses have a BIG job because they dictate how you handle stress by secreting two important hormones—adrenaline and cortisol.

Here’s how:

When your brain senses a threatening situation, it sends an alarm through the sympathetic nervous system down to your adrenals, telling them to release adrenaline.
The adrenaline kicks into gear and prepares you for a possible “fight or flight” response by raising your blood pressure, heart rate and blood flow to your muscles, and putting sugar in your bloodstream to burn for energy.
Then cortisol gets the signal to get moving. Cortisol is adrenaline’s partner and, like a traffic cop, it helps direct energy to your brain and muscles to respond to the stress.
Back in man’s earlier days this system worked like a charm because their stresses were short-term in nature. The dangers (from ferocious animals or enemies) were dealt with immediately, then the early men and women could return to their regular daily activity (and their bodies could quickly recover).
Their adrenaline would subside pretty quickly and hence their blood pressure and heart rate would calm down. The cortisol would stick around for a while and make them hungry, so they could eat and replace any glucose they used up in the emergency.

The shift from tigers to life as we know it

Life is very different now—we’re no longer running for our lives from wooly mammoths or tigers. Our stresses are more mental in nature, like working long hours, unsatisfying jobs, financial problems, school workloads and deadlines, relationship problems, demanding schedules, etc.
But the problem is your body don’t know the difference between physical and mental stress!
So it reacts the same way regardless of what kind of stress you have.
Note that it also doesn’t matter whether the stress is positive (such as working hard on an exciting project or striving for a promotion) or negative (going through a job loss or a loved one’s serious illness).
And when your stress is chronic and ongoing and you’re spending days, weeks and months with tension and anxiety, your body is getting a consistent barrage of adrenaline and cortisol.

The health prices of that can run the gamut, my friend and include:
Low thyroid function (because high levels of adrenal hormones trigger thyroid hormones and eventually your thyroid can become exhausted)
• Elevated blood sugar and type 2 diabetes
• Lowered immune function
• Repeated infections
• Chronic fatigue
• High blood pressure
• Obesity (due to overeating caused by repeated cortisol secretion)
And of course there’s the obvious—once your adrenals are cranking in overdrive day in and day out eventually they can become burned out.
Plus chronic stress can also lead to an inflammation of the stomach called gastritis.
Its symptoms are like acid reflux or an ulcer and can include:
• Burning or ache in your stomach
• Loss of appetite
• Bloating
• Belching
• Hiccups
• Nausea and vomiting
• Vomiting of blood
• Dark stools
• Inadequate digestion and absorption of nutrients
• Feeling of extreme fullness after just a small amount of food
Lastly, stress is also linked to IBS (irritable bowel syndrome) and can worsen attacks of Crohn’s and colitis!


The stre
ss/adrenal quiz

Here is a little quiz you can take to see if chronic stress and adrenal burnout might be affecting you.
Answer yes or no to each question the tally up your yes responses:
Do you have:
1) Low stamina for stress/easy irritability?
2) Moodiness after eating carbs like pasta and bread?
3) Hypoglycemia attacks?
4) Chronic infections?
5) Low blood pressure, fainting or feeling of dizziness when standing up quickly?
6) Chronic allergy or sensitivity to things in the environment?
7) Arthritis?
8) Insomnia, wound up at night or poor sleep?
9) Cravings for sweets?
10) Very poor resistance to respiratory infections (get them easily and they last a long time)?
11) Dry unhealthy skin?
12) Hard time recuperating from jet lag?
13) Anxiety and/or depression?
14) Premature signs of aging like gray hair or wrinkles?

If you
answered “yes” to 4 or more of those questions, it may behoove you to have your adrenals tested to see if adrenal hormone supplementation may be necessary.
But note that even if you get treated for low adrenal hormone levels, it’s crucial that you also address the underlying problem—chronic stress—and the other ways it can be taking a toll on your body!

Here are some surefire strategies for managing stress in your life and counteracting its physical effects.
1- Stress removal
This is numero uno.
The easiest way to fight back at stress is to diffuse it or remove it!
There are many ways to help diffuse stress: Meditation, exercise, yoga, counseling, deep breathing, prayer and seminars, to name a few.
Also taking up a hobby or getting a pet have both been shown to reduce stress in various studies.
You also might have to remove sources of stress in your life.
One way is to set boundaries. Don't add to your stressors by saying yes to every single committee, party, event or other commitment that comes your way. Learn to say no when your plate is already full.

Job stress may be unavoidable, and if it's temporary, that's one thing. However, if you're in a job that's consistently loaded with stress and you find yourself dreading work every day or losing sleep over it, it’s time to find another job.
And if you’re in a personal relationship that is not fulfilling, positive and beneficial to you (or worse yet, is downright harmful or making you miserable), it’s time to get out.

2- Have a healthy diet that encourages good digestion
Efficient digestion is crucial for proper nutrient absorption and can help eradicate the stress-induced symptoms of gastritis and other GI problems.
And eating a wide variety of good-for-you foods helps nourish your body, fight fatigue and encourages all of your organs and glands (including your adrenals) to stay strong and efficient.
Trouble is, most of us eat lots of processed or fast foods that are anything but good for you. Plus our typical modern meals can be next to impossible for your system to properly break down.
But I can guide you and help you turn that all around FAST--and you'll love every bite.
In the Great Taste No Pain system,
- http://www.greattastenopain.com/great.asp
or if you're gluten-sensitive, Great Taste No Gluten
- http://www.greattastenogluten.com/great.asp
I explain ALL the health dangers of the typical modern diet, show you how to structure delicious meals that digest in a snap and help nourish you from head to toe, and even give you a book of scrumptious recipes to try.

Believe me, you'll see there's nothing bland or boring about eating for great health once you taste these recipes!

3- Balance your gut flora
Stress can cause your gut to become hypersensitive, which can contribute to the development of food allergies and intolerances.
Plus it also causes the protective mucosal lining in your intestines to become less effective at defending your body against unfriendly bacteria and dangerous pathogens.
That means that you are more susceptible to catching viruses and infections when under chronic stress--your body literally cannot fight them off as well.
Although a healthy diet can help encourage a good gut flora balance, since so many other factors (like environmental toxins, medications, lack of sleep and STRESS) can affect your gut microbes, most times diet is not enough.
That's why supplementation with a good multi-strain formula can help SO many people.
F
ighting the effects of stress on your gut is yet another great reason to take Super Shield probiotic formula every day.
- http://www.bluerockholistics.com/product/pross.asp
One of Super Shield's 13 superior bacteria strains, Bifidobacteria lactis, has been shown to have high adhesion to human mucus. That means it will stick to your intestinal wall and keep it strong and protective.
In addition, Super Shield also contains Lactobacillus rhamnosus. This strain has been shown to stimulate antibody production and enhance phagocytosis, one of your body's weapons for destroying invaders.
It also helps strengthen the gut-barrier function, and can even have beneficial impact on autoimmune diseases including rheumatoid arthritis and allergies!
Stress is a fact of life that we all must endure at one time or another.
And as you saw up above, it can certainly take its toll on you physically and mentally!

But when you help your body fight the inevitable stress that we all face, you are taking giant steps toward keeping your health strong no matter what stresses may come your way.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Here’s a little exercise to try. It just might help...

"The 6-Minute Antidote to Stress" features a Healing
Code that will help neutralize everyday stress, and
show you how to be instantly rejuvenated and
revitalized so you can function more effectively
throughout the day, have a better outlook on life,
have more restful sleep at night, and enjoy better
health.



When you try "The 6-Minute Antidote to Stress,"
you'll experience the powerful effects that
The Healing Codes has on the body.Google it!
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Judith
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Re: Preparing for surgery-so stressful--this might help

Postby Judith » Wed Jan 22, 2014 3:04 pm

Preparing for surgery…

I had a mastectomy & then chose not to have chemo—as the pre-op medic said ‘a mastectomy is not a walk in the park’
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---here is something from an EFT practitioner which might be useful—and please pass it on—it just might help someone...http://www.eftuniverse.com/index.php?op ... le&id=1626
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Judith
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Re: And on the subject of stress--borage tea anybody?

Postby Judith » Sun Apr 20, 2014 2:22 pm

Just found out that borage tea is an anti-stress beverage-well known since ancient times, used when soldiers went into battle-well let's forget the battle imagery but worth a try, and the beautiful blue starflowers are lovely as an addition to your raw salads too...

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Judith
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Re: Stress--could you use a shield?

Postby Judith » Tue Dec 02, 2014 5:23 pm

Need a shield when you go into fear-laden and negatively charged situations?

This is adapted from something I read about a Reiki shield- I thought it might be useful for those going for tests/follow-ups in hospital, if that is what you are doing. (I don’t do this any more since I would not be taking up the suggestions of therapies which would currently be offered, unless things radically change). But I know that after a visit to the hospital with my supportive husband, we would both feel totally drained and exhausted sometimes for days afterwards. It was my acupuncturist who pointed out that the atmosphere, however nice the hospital, would be so ‘toxic’ and charged with people’s fears and terrors, that it was difficult to shield oneself against it...

Here is a suggestion. And don’t dismiss it: thirty years ago when I was working in a very fraught and disturbed environment, I asked my then small son who was an excellent artist to draw me a knight in armour, with a shield. I took the knight around in my pocket and just as a memory jog, he was very helpful.

Now of course we have the field of quantum energy to back this kind of endeavour up...

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1: Take a deep breath
2. Ask for a protective shield of energy to form around you, and give thanks for this.
3. Visualise a circular stream of light moving around you, forming an energy shield like a TUBE, from the top of your head to the soles of your feet.
If you are someone who practices Reiki, visualise the symbols SEI MEI Ki and CAO KU REI moving in the shield.

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4. You can also add a layer of white or pink light around the shield.
5. Visualise the white or pink light above your shield emitting love –this will protect you as well as sending out love and light.

No lower energies can touch you when you are enveloped in love and light. So feel free to create this, be free, and enjoy your life...

I would welcome comments and responses to this post from those who might have found such practices helpful- or not...thank you
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Judith
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Re: And on the subject of stress--reclaiming your life

Postby Judith » Thu Dec 11, 2014 3:17 pm

After the trauma of cancer diagnosis, and the inevitable and often deep troughs of depression that follow, how can you reclaim your mental balance and recover feelings of joy and well-being?

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This article from The Journal of Positive Psychology will not be for everyone, it is couched in psychological terms and has a list of references which may make your mind boggle, but it publishes the results of MBSR (mindfulness based stress reduction) on cancer patients, worth a read or to have available if people question whether there is 'scientific proof' that meditation and related practices actually work...

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And when difficult moods descend, as they will, try a little bit of the dawn chorus to bring a song to your heart....

Re: now we have a song in our hearts..birds do it too!

Postby Judith » Tue May 05, 2015 10:34 am
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0 ... -of-spring This is only available for a month on BBC I player, but wow how uplifting is this...


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and when it's over, here is another link to birdsong which is quite transforming of difficult moods....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jR2VjukqE0
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