Stress Less!

Getting Calmer Can Reverse Ageing, make you Lose Weight and Make You Smarter.  Yes it really can!

Stress is toxic, makes you old, fat,increases the size of your waist line and makes you tired and slow witted. It also kills your libido, stops you sleeping, makes your irritable and increases your blood pressure. It’s linked to just about every serious illness, from heart disease to cancer. Okay, now do you want to do something about all that stress you’re feeling.

Scary stuff here, as stress also causes a cascade of chemical reactions which effect your Hormones and your hormones influence everything in your body and mind, so you can see how important it is to “Take Control “of your stress levels and learn to manage and contain them.

It’s easy to feel proud of your stress, when you tell people how busy or even how stressed out your feeling, it somehow proves how important and in demand you are, and how hectic and interesting  your life must be.

Okay just a bit of science, for you, to make you realise once and for all that Stress damages your body and mind.

*Stress releases cortisol, which fuels the blood and energy in the form of sugar. This is fine when we need a sugar rush to flee from a potential danger, and once the danger is over our cortisol levels drop and all returns to normal. But most of us don’t face real “danger” on a daily basis, but worry more about tax bills, bad dates, rows with husbands, deadlines, work and overdrafts.

*Worrying about this stuff means our Cortisol Levels stay chronically high. Too much Cortisol makes you feel anxious, worried and negative.  It stops your brain from laying down new memories, effects reproduction, has a negative effect on your immune system, decreases your libido, and even decreases the flow of blood to your skin.  You start to look pale and grey.  Too much Cortisol also increases oil in your skin, causing breakouts and it messes with the skins natural barrier that keeps infection at bay.  You then become more prone to spots, redness, even eczema and psoriasis.

*Scientists have found that too much cortisol, which produces chronic stress contributes to making us fat around the middle as well. This “belly fat” releases another chemical which causes inflammation throughout the body. Inflammation is bad news, making you fat, old and ill before your time.

*Also Stress makes many of us indulge in comfort eating and studies show it primes the brain to want high fat, high calorific foods.

*It has also been proven that Stress prematurely ages you at a deep cellular level. High Cortisol levels even causes our skin to produce less Hyaluronic Acid, the skin’s natural moisturiser so that means more wrinkles and duller looking skin.

Okay, so we know that stress is down right bad for us, but we are too busy right now, too overwhelmed to stop and do something about it right?  Wrong. It’s not as hard as you think.

Here are some simple Steps to help you Take Control of That Stress that are simple and easy to adapt…  And yes, you do have the time to try them!

*  Smile, yes just a simple smile. It’s almost impossible to smile and worry at the same time.  Go on try it.

*  Have Fun, spend more time with good, positive, friends. Fun is fabulously de-stressing.

*  Change what you realistically can; learn to cope with what you can’

*  Eat well. Eat more green vegetables and oily fish. Cut out sugar, salt and processed foods.*Exercise most days. Ideally try yoga, Pilates, walking, and oh yes more Sex (that counts as exercise as well) and is a wonderful de-stresser.

*  Take up meditation of some kind and remember to take the time to Breath!

* Sleep more and better, easier said then done when your stressed, but turn off the Ipad, phone and  computer 1 hour before bedtime, read a book, have a comforting herbal tea or “Sex” to ease yourself into a better nights sleep.

*  Take a holiday when you can and really switch off if possible. Even one day a week can count   as a holiday.

Our Book Your Hormone Doctor, published by Penguin Books will give you lots more helpful tips and insights on how to De- Stress your life.

Keep smiling and enjoy!

 

Susie