Stress is a biological response to threat; it is a much more primitive response to protect us against immediate danger. Unfortunately a lot of men find many frivolous things to be threatening. Ok, so your career, relations, or your financial status aren’t completely frivolous, but they are not actually immediate threats against your life. Stress was useful for Neolithic men back in the prehistoric age, but now stress doesn’t do much except harm the internal organs and operations.
Affects of Stress
- It excites the heart rate to pump more blood into the brain, so to better make quick decisions.
- Blood moves to the large muscles of the legs and arms and away from the gut, so to create more strength and faster movements.
- Blood sugar rises to provide more energy.
- Blood clots more easily, so to not be lost from open wounds.
Stress sounds like diabetes, coronary heart disease, and other cardiovascular implications. You can see why these are harmful to one’s health.
What To Do To Reduce Stress
- Exercise regularly: Doing this helps to reduce any pent up energy that you may have. A fatigued body is a relaxed and happy body. That is what I always say.
- Meditate: This is the least practiced form of stress reduction and ironically it is the most effective too. The simple relaxing and grounding effects of meditation really do wonders for the mind and body.
- Sleep right: This is another major cause of excessive stress. In our bustling lives we think that staying up late and cramming everything into one day is the best way to get things done. This is wrong. Sleeping a healthy 7-8 hours a night will significantly lower stress levels and it will also help you to have more energy during the day.
- Accept things you can’t change. Stop stressing over the past, there is no way that helps you. Take the lesson that you have learned and move on.
- Become a master of triage: Triage is the act of sorting victims in order of most importance to least; we, however, will be sorting tasks. Identify the most important things and do them first.