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The IMPORTANCE of being relaxed !

If there is one thing I hope my readers learn from my site, it is the following: Being relaxed is important. Very important. When you realize how important being relaxed is, you'll no doubt learn how to lower the stress in your life, so please, read this page with as much attention as you can: You'll thank yourself later.

I like to explain things by examples, so I'll start with a classic example of a very stressful lifestyle.

A girlfriend of mine that we'll call Susan recently got married shortly before giving birth to a beautiful baby boy. The marriage cost a fortune, but both Susan and her fiancee thought it appropriate to spend a very significant chunk of their savings to support wedding costs. The wedding was a success (susan was 28 weeks into her pregnancy, and she still looked gorgeous in a wedding dress!), and soon after the honeymoon, Susan gave birth to the baby.

The boy is now almost 2 years old, and the couple is in financial despair. Susan doesnt work and her husband has a mediocre job, and the expenses of raising a kid are growing more and more difficult to handle. As a result, both Susan and her husband are stressed.

Now, you've no doubt experienced stress in your lifetime: it's a natural part of life. What isn't natural or healthy, however, is when you're living in a situation surrounded by stress. Susan and her husband are becoming increasingly unhappy as they become increasingly stressed. Susan has been getting more frequent headaches and I know like I know like I know that it is most likely stress related. Furthermore, her and her husband bicker constantly now, and they used to get along swimmingly (I've received many a phone call in the middle of the night from an upset Susan - and the fights are never over significant things, it's always a small problem that gets blown out of proportion because of stress).

I've been helping Susan cope with stress recently, but it hasn't been easy. Lets take a look at some of the problems that stress can cause:

Anger
Anxiety attacks
Cardiac health problems
Depression
A lack of general well-being
Weight gain
Headaches
High blood pressure
Immune system deficiency
Insomnia

I'm not kidding: Stress can cause these things. Seriously.

But Susan, I can handle it! It isn't a problem for me!

The above is the most common reaction I have when I discuss stress with people. For some people, it's true! But, for a lot of people, stress can be a major problem!

A simple test to figure out if you are indeed stressed to an unhealthy level is to pay special attention to how you react to things. If you tend to get angry easily or if you feel irritable a lot of the time, it might be because of stress. Also, your body can tell you a lot about how stressed you are. If you've been gaining weight, or if you've been having trouble sleeping, or if you've been having an abnormal amount of headaches recently, stress might be the catalyst.

I stumbled upon a very interesting article recently that covers the effects of stress and why relaxation is important, on Go Ask Alice, entitled Can Stress Kill? I highly recommend reading it, and so I've made it easy for you and pasted it here (link to original article can be found below):

Although stress does not usually lead directly to one's demise, long term exposure can increase a person's chances of developing life-threatening conditions.

Stress is an influential force that can either fuel us through a public speaking engagement or make us feel sick to our stomachs. One common response to stress is what scientists have called "fight or flight." When you feel threatened your pituitary gland sends signals throughout your body to increase the amount of hormones released in your bloodstream. In response to your brain's signal, your adrenal glands release cortisol and adrenaline. These hormones help to increase your strength and agility and also speed up your reaction time. In short-term stressful situations, this process is a positive one that pushes you to work harder or avoid danger.

On the flip side, the long term affects of stress can have a negative impact on your body. When the body releases more hormones than normal, your equilibrium is thrown off. If this process continues at a constant level (due to continual and repetitive stress) your body never gets the recovery time it needs between stressful situations. As a result of this constant stress on the body, risk factors for obesity, insomnia, digestive complaints, and depression increase. Continual and repetitive stress is related to six of the top causes of death including cirrhosis of the liver, heart disease, lung ailments, accidents, cancer, and suicide.

A few side effects of stress:

increased appetite, which can lead to weight gain
decreased stomach acids, which slows ones metabolism
increased blood pressure
upset stomach
chest pain

Due to increased levels of cortisol, stress can raise the risk for autoimmune diseases as well. It can also aggravate any autoimmune ailments that one already has by suppressing your body's ability to react properly. Those with autoimmune diseases such as Lupus often suffer from flare-ups when subjected to constant stress.

Stress is dependent on the individual; your personality, time-management abilities, career, and genetic makeup all affect your relationship with stress. Inherited traits may make one person more predisposed to a negative reaction to stress than another. Personality is also a factor when dealing with stress and it may be affected by the level of stress one faced as a child. Because many character traits develop at an early age and our environment influences our growth, children who faced extreme stress are more likely to be vulnerable to stress as adults.

A healthy diet, regular sleep patterns, and exercise are the key to managing stress effectively. Also, sometimes talking with someone else can help lower your stress levels; an outside opinion can often give you a new perspective on something you could not originally take a step back from. Approaching a friend or family member whom you can talk with may help diffuse stressful situations or anxiety, and there's always the option of talking to a psychologist or psychiatrist when you need a professional opinion. Part of beating stress is a determination to keep it from taking over your life. Ultimately, keeping both your mind and body as healthy as possible, especially when stress appears in multiple arenas of your life, is your best defense.

-Copied from Go Ask Alice - Click for original article.

I hope by now you've seen the incredible problems that stress can create. Even if stress isn't a huge problem for you, almost anyone can benefit from being more relaxed. I encourage everyone, especially those that feel they struggle with stress, to read the two other sections on this site, techniques and devices!