Have you ever had difficulty concentrating or feel like you can’t stop worrying about something? Then you have experienced stress.
Stress is your body’s approach to responding to any demand or threat. When this happens, your body’s defense system kicks into high gear in a rapid, automatic process which is known as the “fight-or-flight” reaction or the “stress response.”
It may also be a factor that causes bodily or mental disrupt and in the long run, maybe a leading factor to disease. There are several factors that may cause stress, including the physical, chemical and emotional factors, the causes of stress and tension are varied.
While most people understand stress to be a psychological term, it is a term used to denote anything that may affect the stability and balance of bodily functions. When not effectively managed, stress may lead to several health conditions which include:
- Psychiatric illnesses: anxiety, depression, schizophrenia, bipolar affective disorders
- Inability to concentrate
- Excessive hunger
- Digestive dysfunctions
- Poor memory
- Autoimmune diseases
- Weakened immune system
- Insomnia
- Sweet and salty cravings
- Osteoporosis
- Inflammation
- Dementia
If stress can cause all these, then it’s a bad one right?
Well, not really.
When working properly, stress is your body’s way of protecting you. As a matter of fact, it can help you stay energetic, focused, and alert, resulting in better performance under pressure and motivating you to do your best.
You cannot completely eradicate stress, as it’s a part of the normality of life. The most significant move here is to ensure the effective management of stress.
It’s impossible to eliminate stress, and we will not advise that you do so. Instead, we recommend that you learn to apply effective relaxation techniques other stress management styles that assure quality control over your stress levels and its impact on your general health.
How do you Manage Stress?
Like we said earlier, we all experience stress. However, the management technique adopted is what differentiates the impact it has on our overall health.
Therefore, stress management is an efficient way to guarantee wellness and improved life quality. But how do you go about it?
Here are some effective stress management techniques you can adopt.
Regular Exercise
Exercising is one of the best ways to keep your body muscles active. Adopting even the most straightforward exercise techniques combined with a healthier diet can help reduce stress levels while helping you lose weight.
So, we advise you to take up yoga, Ti Chi or even swimming. Taking time to relax and perform some breathing exercise can also go a long way at reducing your stress levels.
You can also take up a programme that adopts an active exercise pattern in combination with quality diets for an improved result.
Sleep
The time we spend sleeping is precious to us as it helps to relax the body and aid muscle regeneration.
Therefore, you should make sure to get sufficient and quality sleep. Reduced intake of caffeine and eating healthier will help improve your sleep quality and time.
Socialize
One of the best ways to keep the mind and body active is by maintaining contact with people. Therefore, you should ensure to spend quality time with family and friends, discuss the problems you are having, while making time to laugh together.
Keeping communication with people won’t just help relieve stress, but also boost self-esteem.
Get Help
If your stress level keeps increasing over a long period, then it’s advisable to seek help. You should contact your doctor who may recommend alternative stress management techniques like acupuncture, stress-relief diets or massage.
Being fully aware of your body and how it responds to stress helps to make management a lot easier. The management technique works when looking to reduce stress levels.
However, after a stressful period, the body often goes into a “recovery mode” which is when the appetite and cravings come into play. At this stage, metabolism also drops to better conserve energy.
Diet for Stress
Managing stress levels through diet can help your body recover from stressful periods more rapidly and minimize adverse effects such as weight gain. One of the most effective diet to achieve this is the Ketogenic Diet.
Ketogenic Diet is a low carb diet, where the body produces ketones in the liver to be used as energy. This diet helps to affect the brain in some positive ways that can help reduce stress levels and effect, such as:
Providing a ‘feel good’ effect
The Ketosis stage is known to improve the production of a neurotransmitter in the brain called GABA.
Lack of GABA activity often leads to a wide range of anxiety disorders. According to recent studies, the use of the ketogenic diet has shown that it can provide a good balance of GABA that leads to reduced stress and anxiety levels for better mental focus.
Bolstering brain power
Ketone bodies are produced from fatty acids, like the beta-hydroxybutyrate, making it possible to provide an alternative ready fuel for the brain.
Ketones may even be a more efficient fuel for your brain than glucose. Since ketogenic diets are known to increase the number of energy factories in brain cells, it can enhance mental health.
Having antioxidant effects
Ketogenic diet could work in treating seizures by helping to increase the levels of an antioxidant, known as glutathione that protects us against oxidative stress. It means ketogenic diets may work in helping to reduce inflammation in the brain.
Stress is an everyday norm in life. However, the way we manage it is what determines the type of effect it has on our mental and physical health.
One of the best ways to manage stress effectively is through adequate exercise and a quality diet. Therefore, we recommend an effective stress management technique that adopts both exercise and a good diet.