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Stress Balls and Their Benefits

Date: January 17, 2010
Author: Penny Pettman
Categories: Advice
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A stress ball can be defined as a malleable toy. It is about seven centimeters in diameter. It is squeezed in the hand and then manipulated by the fingers. This exercise helps a lot in relieving stress as well as the muscle tension. This is also a good exercise for hand muscles.

Many types of stress balls are available on the market, these days. Some of them are available in the form of a closed-cell polyurethane foam rubber. This kind of stress ball is created by injecting liquid components of a foam into a mold. The chemical reaction that results forms bubbles of carbon dioxide and ultimately comes out in the form of a foam.

Stress ball recommended for physical therapy contain gel of various densities. The gel is placed inside a cloth or rubber skin. There is another type of stress ball that is made via using a thin rubber membrane that surrounds a fine powder.

A stress ball can also be made at home via filling a balloon with baking soda. Some balls look like foot bag and are marketed and used widely as stress balls.

The name ‘Stress ball’ may indicate that the shape of this substance is spherical. However, these are available in various amusing shapes, spot printed or screen printed. Some are also available with corporate logos. These make great gifts to clients and employees.

Stress balls can play a major role in decreasing stress injuries. Due to the shape these balls are available in; they are known as stress relievers and also make a great corporate promotional product.

Stress balls are wonderful options to relieve stress. Whenever the hand is turned in to a fist, you would notice certain muscle tension. This muscle tension may also be experienced if you don’t have anything in the palm. As soon as the grip of fist is released the muscle tension eases.

The cycle of creating a muscular tension and thereafter releasing it is the basic principle that works with stress balls.

It is better to have something in hand instead of making an empty fist and releasing it frequently. These days, stress balls are very famous with computer professionals.

You can also make your own stress balls at home. The activity will be fun and help you to reduce a lot of stress.

Balloon Stress Ball – Instruction

i) Blow a small thick balloon half way.

ii) Pinch and hold the balloon tight about one inch from the hole.

iii) Place a small funnel inside the opening of the balloon.

iv) Now pour cornstarch in to the funnel.

v) Now gradually release the top of the balloon so that the cornstarch slides in to balloon

vi) Keep adding cornstarch until the balloon is 3 inches in diameter.

vii) Now tighter the end of the balloon and let the air come out slowly.

viii) Tie the balloon tightly near the cornstarch.

A stress ball is a great tool to manage stress. Buy one for yourself now or make one on your own.

Stress at Work and Its Symptoms

Date: January 17, 2010
Author: Penny Pettman
Categories: Advice
Comments: Leave a reply

Stress at work is not a new phenomenon. These days, in modern lifestyles, the nature of work has gone really stressful. One needs to do a lot in order to stay ahead in competition.

Most people don’t even realize that they are undergoing a lot of stress in their life. They don’t have time to realize that they are under stress.

Work stress is a type of chronic disease. It is caused by different conditions in the workplace that negatively affect an individual’s performance. This also affect overall well being of body and mind of the person.

In certain cases, job stress can even be quite disabling. According to a study, one must go for psychiatric consultation. This will let him or her validate the reason and degree of stress related to work.

Sometimes working on a project also causes a lot of stress. The early stages of job stress are not much irritating as it can enhance the performance due to the efforts put in to the whole thing.

However, in case, the condition goes unchecked the body faces stress on a regular basis the body tends to get affected adversely.

If you want to know whether you suffer from work stress, here are certain symptoms you need to look for:

• Insomnia or sleeplessness

• Family conflict or constant dispute

• Lack of mental concentration

• Anxiety; Depression; Extreme anger

• Frustration

• Physical illnesses such as migraine, stomach problems, headaches, heart disease and back problems.

• Substance abuse

• Absenteeism on a frequent basis without any regular reason

There are several causes of work stress. Here are some of the visible ones that would let you know how to handle work stress.

1) Insecurity at work place

These days, one requires to do a lot at job in order to survive the tough competition. There is a lot of reorganization, mergers, takeovers, and downsizing. All these situations lead to stress for employees. They need to work hard to survive and let their organization survive the competition.

2) Demand for performance

Today, employers, managers and team leaders keep unrealistic expectations and set unrealistic goals for their employees. This results in unhealthy and unreasonable pressures on the employee.

Now, this can be really tremendous and the person may suffer from serious depression. Big targets make employees work for long hours and physically stressed out. They may also require to travel a lot and too much time away from family results in emotional stress.

3) Balance

For woman, it becomes really difficult to strike a balance between work and home. After spending stressful work hours, it becomes difficult to work at home. There may be situations where women face sexual harassment at work place.

It is easy to cope up with stress at work if you want to. You can do a lot of things to keep yourself away from stress. Here are some tips:

• Don’t give in to alcohol

• Don’t cheat on your spouse

• Develop positive attitude towards stress

• Find time to refresh yourself whenever you get time

• Take a short leave and enjoy with your family.

Effects of Stress

Date: January 8, 2010
Author: Penny Pettman
Categories: Advice
Comments: Leave a reply

Before we have a discussion about stress, let’s define our terms. What exactly, are the kinds of stress that we are talking about? There are the physical stresses like lack of sleep or working nine hours digging ditches. There are the chemical or nutritional stresses that are becoming more common every day in America. Just have a soda and pizza and watch the people for a while. Then there are the emotional or mental stresses. I bet you’re talking about emotional stress.

Okay, let’s talk about emotional stress, but understand that all three kinds of stress can create the same effects of stress.

There are certain patterns that take place during times of stress, no matter what kind you want to talk about. Here’s a list of stress effects: circulatory changes, skin rashes, adrenal gland fatigue, lymphatic system slow down, intestinal track irritation…almost every symptom of the body will show the effects of stress.

So instead of looking at all the symptoms, which won’t do you any good anyway, let’s get to the cause and the correction of the cause of stress. Because no matter what the cause and effects of stress are, there are some powerful ways to reduce them.

Emotional Stress

Some people never “get over” a loved one’s death, marital breakup, or other severe stress. Never. These people live their lives in the constant presence of the past emotional stress. Even extensive counseling doesn’t help some people. Counseling at such times can be most important for a person, but counseling does not reset the emotional stress overload circuit breakers if they have been short circuited.

How many stressful life events can you think about which cause your “stomach to tie into a knot” or a queasy feeling to occur or tears to fill your eyes? The presence of these symptoms when thinking about an emotionally stressing event are a surefire indication that the emotional stress overload points need to be “reset” by you or someone close to you.

Have you ever seen a distressed person or a person completely frustrated, clap their hand to their forehead? Maybe you’ve done it yourself… recently. Why over the forehead?

It is no accident that placing the hand over the forehead is an instinctive reaction. Your body knows what it’s doing.

It has been discovered that on the skin of the forehead are located neurological “circuit breakers” which are associated with mental and emotional stress overload. The instinctive reaction of the person’s nerve system is to draw attention to these circuit breakers.

Think about the last time you went through a stressful situation. How about a school assignment that you had forgotten? What about that person you have to talk to but don’t want to? What about that event that’s coming up that you have to attend—and it’s the last thing you want to do? Think of “that one thing” that causes you stress.

In each of these situations, if you think about the one that causes you intensity, you may very well slap your hand to your forehead. You might even add a shake of your head.

The point is this thought is causing you stress and the job of your subconscious mind is to minimize the effects of stress by attempting to reset your emotional circuit breakers. So let’s do this for real. It will take 5 minutes and may very well change your life.

Find something moderately stressful. Think about it for ten seconds or to the point that this thought causes you a “gut feeling” of stress. You know what I mean? If it’s not there, add some sensations like movement, sound, color, or brightness.

Now, place your finger pads on your emotional circuit breakers; they are the two bony points on your forehead. Make sure you are thinking about that stressful episode at the same time you are touching your forehead. Hold these points with a slight stretching or tugging on the skin and you’re going to reset these circuits. The contacts should be held until a slight pulsation (like taking your pulse on your wrist or your neck) is felt in both fingers simultaneously. This usually takes from 30 seconds to two minutes. Once the pulsation is felt, the contacts may be held for a few more seconds and then released.

This is a simple but powerful way for you to reset your emotional circuit breakers in relation to a specific episode of stress. It will dramatically reduce the intensity of the event. If not, do it again. Do it until the intensity goes down to zero.

How do you feel? You have just removed a significant effect of stress from your life.

Symptoms of Stress – Warning Signs of Stress

Date: January 6, 2010
Author: Penny Pettman
Categories: Advice
Comments: Leave a reply

Stress Introduction

Stress is something that has become synonymous with our everyday life. Though everybody has problems, tragedies, challenges, and frustrations, being stressed for long time, and habitually can drain you out physically, as well as mentally. A stressed mind requires you to make certain adjustments in your attitude, your priorities, your life style, your habits and the way you respond to certain situations. However, when you fail to do so, for one or more occasion, you are stressed. Gradually, it becomes a part of your life and as medical practitioners say, stress is a disease that becomes chronic over a period of time.

Stress adds misery to your life, making you pessimist and negative in perception, and reacting negatively to different situations. The specific signs and symptoms of stress may vary from person to person; however, all symptoms are harmful for your health. It also affects your emotional well-being, and your relationships with others. Generally you can see and tell whether a person had been leading a happy and healthy life style or has been leading a stressful life. There are some common symptoms that are seen in most of the people who are under stress. Symptoms of Stress

The symptoms of stress are seen in one’s body language, physical health, behavior and habits, and one’s mindset as to how one responds in certain situations. One category of symptoms is related to one’s intellectual self. The patient may experience memory loss, inability to make decisions, not able to concentrate, and the person is always in confused state of mind. You lose your power of judgment and are not objective in your approach to life.

Stress can lead to emotional drain of a person. Since you might have lost your judgment and ability of objective analysis of situations, you tend to be emotional. An emotionally stressed person becomes moody and hypersensitive to situations. Depression overpowers you and you are often angry. You lack confidence and are always looking for sympathy from near and dear ones. Since people with high level of emotional stress are moody, you may tend to laugh or cry in such situations where it is not required at all.

Apart from the mental effects, stress also weakens you physically. A person who is stressed and remains tense is not physically healthy. One of the most common symptoms of stress is frequent headache. You may have improper digestive system and a weak immunity. Your body loses strength to fight diseases and you can not sleep properly. Over a period of time, your body loses energy and you are easily fatigued. You may lose weight, or you gain weight astonishingly quickly, even without any change in your diet. Many a times, it develops into some serious disease such as chest pain, breathlessness and irregular heartbeat as well. You blood pressure will rise to above normal will stagnate there, almost permanently. This may lead to life threatening situations.

Stress leads to anxiety disorders and behavioral problems. You may suddenly notice yourself eating too less or eating too much. Same with you sleeping disorder; either sleeping too much, or not sleeping at all. Such patients like to remain isolated, and they overreact to emotional and confrontational situations. You may get used to alcohol or using drugs, thus further affecting your health. You get short-tempered. The situation where you are not comfortable or when you are nervous, nail biting and jaw grinding becomes a habit.

There can be some external factors that contribute to stress. If you notice a few of these symptoms of stress, consult a good doctor and communicate your behavioral changes. It is the job of your physician to identify the core reason of your stress and to guide you out of the situation. Why Symptoms of Stress Vary

Different people respond to same situations in different ways. Even if many people feel stressed because of same situation, the effects on them may vary – physically, mentally, and psychologically. For example, one can feel frustrated because one is not able to convince the colleague or spouse, and is stressed. The other may avoid conflict and still can be stressed. You can be stressed because of your relationships, some issue at your workplace, your neighbor, some social issues that you can not avoid, financial problem, handicap or a prolonged ailment. Stress symptoms vary because of one’s education, upbringing, and the kind of social support system that one gets.

When you tend to avoid conflict because of stress, you develop withdrawal symptoms. You dislike social gatherings, parties, functions and meetings for the fear of conflict. However avoiding the situation further aggravates the problem. People around you should make an effort and support you to come out of this shell. First of all, it is important to understand that this is a medical problem. Next, one should try to understand the reasons that cause stress and then figure out options to overcome that.

Detecting Stress

Date: January 5, 2010
Author: Penny Pettman
Categories: Advice
Comments: Leave a reply

Are you suffering from stress? Have you been lately feeling low about anything that’s happening in your life? Is stress the main reason behind all the negativity you suffer from?

A lot of people suffer from stress these days. However, only few of these people actually come to know that they are stressed out.

There are a lot of things you can do to remove stress in your life. However, to make certain efforts and getting relief from the stress you are suffering from, you need to know that you have been attacked by stress.

Here are some symptoms that would indicate that you are stressed out.

a) Memory problems

This is one of the major problems suffered by people who are stressed out.

b) Indecisiveness

Most of us are indecisive at one point in our lives. However, if this becomes a regular affair then take it seriously. There is something wrong. This is one of a strong indication that you are undergoing a lot of stress.

c) Inability to concentrate

When suffering from stress, you are generally not able to focus. It becomes almost impossible to concentrate on one thing.

d) Trouble thinking

One is unable to think clearly when stressed out.

e) Poor judgment

Most often, we are not able to judge properly. Most of our judgment goes wrong. This is due to the stress we face in our life.

f) Negative approach

Experiencing a lot of stress can put negative impact in our lives. You tend to take every single thing in a negative manner.

g) Anxiety

When under stress, you tend to show a lot of anxiety. You may also suffer from racing thoughts of either past or what’s going to happen in future.

h) Constant worry

Stress makes an individual worry constantly about different things in life.

i) Loss of objectivity

This is another strong sign of stress. One tends to feel that he or she does not have any object in life.

j) Fearful anticipation

Nothing seems to go right when one under goes stress. Stress makes one feel that something wrong has happened or something wrong is going to happen. Thereafter one tends to think about the bad consequences.

k) Short temper

Stress can affect one’s temperament. One tends to get very short tempered. So, if you feel that you have become unusually short tempered or tend to lose temper easily, you need to do something about it. You are suffering from a lot of stress.

l) Depression or general unhappiness

When under stress, one tends to feel depressed or get unhappy without any reason.

m) A sense of loneliness

One may feel lonely, is unable to retain a relationship or make friends. This is due to the stress one is facing.

n) Unable to sleep

A lot of stress makes it difficult for an individual to enjoy sound sleep.

Other major symptoms of stress include the following:

• Feeling overwhelmed

• Chest pain; Rapid heart beat

• Skin breakouts

• Loss of sex drive

• Frequent cold

• Nervous habits; Overreacting to unexpected trouble

• Picking fights with others without a good reason.

• Teeth grinding

Remember that in order to remove stress from your life, you need to recognize stress.

Is Everyday Stress Making You Underperform?

Date: January 3, 2010
Author: Penny Pettman
Categories: Advice
Comments: Leave a reply

Every day seems the same.You never seem to have enough time to relax and take time for yourself. If it’s not the kids and their hectic schedules, it’s the pressures of work. Are you constantly striving to balance your domestic responsibilities with the high demands of the work place?Sometimes you are irritable and restless thinking about those unpaid bills, the kids needs, your partner’s needs, and the demands of your boss.

If your answer is yes, you have something in common with nearly half of all Americans today–stress.

What is Stress?

Stress is a combination of psychological, physiological, and behavioral reactions that we experience in response to events that seem to threaten or challenge us. As defined by the famous stress researcher Hans Selye, “Stress is the non-specific response of the body to any demand made upon it.” These demands may be physical or emotional in nature and the perceived threat/challenge can be real or imagined. However, it is the perception of threat that triggers the response.

During a stress response, the body experiences increased levels of cortisol, adrenalin and other hormones that produce an increased heart rate, quickened breathing rate, and higher blood pressure. Blood is shunted from the extremities to the large muscles, preparing the body to fight or flee. This is also known as the fight-or-flight response.

The stress-response system is self-regulating. It decreases hormone levels and enables your body to return to normal once a crisis has passed. However, due to our hectic lifestyles, many of the stressful circumstances tend to be prolonged. As a result, you may be on the fight-or-flight reaction longer than is necessary. During this time, you may often end up feeling overwhelmed, tense, and frustrated. What is good for your body during a short-term crisis could be quite harmful over long periods. This long-term activation of the stress-response system can disrupt most of your body’s processes, and may lead to other long-term complications.

What Causes Stress ?Leading Causes/Sources of Stress:

 

Stress may be linked to external factors such as:

 

Stress can also be a result your own:

 

How does one recognize stress?

It’s not always easy to recognize stress, especially when you are experiencing the symptoms of stress as part of your daily life. Reportedly, women and men exhibit stress differently. While women confess feelings of nervousness, lack of energy, or wanting to cry, men talk about trouble sleeping, or feeling irritable and angry.

The most common symptoms of stress are:Emotional: Worry, anger, irritability, anxiety, frustration, and impatiencePhysical: Fatigue, headache, back pain, jaw pain, trembling, cold hands and feet, and muscular stiffness.Digestive: Heartburn, diarrhea, constipation, flatulence, and fullness.Vital sign: Rise in blood pressure; rapid heartbeat.Mental: Confusion, inability to concentrate, indecisiveness, nervousness, occasional sleep problems, and blankness.

How can stress affect you?Stress affects performance of daily duties and responsibilities, resulting in negative lifestyle changes including relationship challenges, career dissatisfaction, deteriorating health, complacency, and substance abuse. It not only steals vitality, health, and energy, but also undermines our ability to perform at our best.If the cause of your stress is temporary, the physical and psychological effects of stress are usually short-term as well. Normally, our bodies rest when stressful events cease and life gets back to normal. However, stress becomes dangerous when it interferes with the ability to live a normal life for an extended period of time.Recent studies suggest that stress and anxiety contribute to a majority of illnesses such as diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, dyslipidemia, obesity, lung ailments, allergies, sexual problems, cancer, and psychological disorders.In some cases, stress may result in short term memory loss, poor mental ability, lack of focus, poor concentration, poor judgment, difficulty making decisions, and depression.

Further, stress has been reported to affect the vitality and reproductive systems in both males and females, and is linked to some of the leading causes of death.

Stress Management:

Meditation,

Yoga,

Natural Supplements.

Though hundreds of natural products claim safety, I personally feel,we need to bother about efficacy first and safety next. I came across very few clincally tested natural products which are available over the counter/online in United states.Please go for that, they work.

Drugs:

 

            

 

Some Symptoms of Stress

Date: December 18, 2009
Author: Penny Pettman
Categories: Advice
Comments: Leave a reply

There are many symptoms related to stress. It is only when our mind and body does not overcome the amount of stress that we have many symptoms of stress.

Symptoms of stress can be a death sentence. Stress symptoms can include gastrointestinal problems and this is why it is very difficult for the person to return to health.

Are symptoms bad?

Symptoms are important — if we listen and learn from them. Stress symptoms speak volumes about a state of well-being. The symptoms of stress are symptoms related to one of the main causes of stress: physical, electromagnetic/geopathic, thermal, allergies/sensitivities, toxins/poisons, nutrition, and emotions.

Emotional stress is what people consider when they think about stress. Emotional health is paramount to your health and well-being. To get a grasp on your stress you have to take time to understand your emotional state. When you do you can change it to reduce the stress in your life.

Name one symptom and it is related to stress. We all have stress symptoms. This is a part of life. How we each deal with stress in our lives leaves clues to our quality of life. Symptoms speak volumes to how we deal with life.

You want to be more specific? Your heart beat is related to stress. At rest it beats to pump blood through your body. The more you work, the harder it beats and when you really over-do it, it can’t keep up with your demands.

Physical stress, emotional stress, and nutritional stress all exhibit symptoms of stress in different parts of the body and mind.

But the question isn’t all the symptoms of stress that society keeps chasing. It is in finding the cause of stress related to your symptoms. Remove the cause of your stress and you remove the affect of your stress.

How to remove the cause of your stress takes work and dedication. There are some tools that work and some things you can do that will increase your stress. Find what works for you and make a stress management plan for a lifetime.

Stress is a normal response of your body to situations that you perceive as ‘dangerous’. We all have amounts of stress every day that we each have to deal with.

Burn this into your brain: Any symptom you have is related to stress to some degree or another!

A great practice to get into is to correlate the symptom you have to a particular stress. Is your symptom related to lack of sleep, bad food, insufficient exercise, or emotional stress?

Can you even identify your stress? Is your stress buried deep?

When you ask pointed questions about your symptom and your stress you might find an answer you need to move beyond your current level of health.

Physical symptoms of stress are virtually any symptoms that show up. Physical symptoms are a mirror from the body to the stress the person is going through. Chronic stress brings with it many of the physical symptoms you are probably dealing with today.

Symptoms caused by stress go through many physiological changes.

The first effect on the body is that blood is diverted from less vital to more vital organs. Over time and amount chronic stress, less blood in a certain area causes that area to become malnourished. Then this body part may give physiological symptoms.

All due to a stress response and reaction by the body. The cure? Remove the stress–THEN attend to the physical symptom.

After a period of time, your body will nourish the non-vital area once again and the body will heal. Can you see why addressing the physical symptom of stress without finding the cause of stress is foolish?

The first hallmark sign of the body’s reaction to stress is dysfunction of the adrenal glands; an adrenal enlargement. These are the stress glands of choice in the body. These glands literally become fatigued and “stressed”. Caffeine, sugar, inactivity, emotional stress, physical stress all have a profound effect on the adrenal system and lowers any chance of dealing with stress.

The second effect in reaction to stress is the activity of the lymphatic system; an intense shrinkage or atrophy of the thymus, the spleen, the lymph nodes and lymphatic structures throughout the body. They cannot keep immune surveillance. Do you know people who are always sick? Check out their stress and you’ll find a correlation.

The third effect of stress on the body is bleeding or deep irritation to the lining of the stomach and intestines. They literally ulcerate. Stomach ulcers. Intestinal ulcers.

It is when the mind and body does not overcome the amount of stress that we have effects of stress show up on the body.

Are symptoms of stress bad? If we listen and learn from our symptoms we can lessen the effects of stress and become healthy.