Overlooked Causes of Stress

Many people today experience levels of stress that drastically impact the quality of their lives. The obvious stress causes are finances, relationships and career. Stress affects our health, job performance and all round productivity. The typical solutions for stress management are exercise, meditation, deep breathing and relaxing. The body is designed to handle short term stress but long term, chronic stress creates serious health problems.

Stress can be describes as any thoughts that promote fear, anxiety and worry. It's commonly known as the fight or flight mode. The adrenal glands respond to this stimulus by producing stress hormones. When stress becomes chronic it causes the body to continually produce stress hormones and eventually the adrenal glands become exhausted. The continual production of these hormones effect weight control, susceptibility to depression, high blood pressure, insomnia, diabetes and many other ailments. The common forms of stress are easy to recognize but what about stress that is the result of diet and exercise?

Remember that stress is anything that triggers the adrenal glands to produce more stress hormones. Blood sugar problems, difficulties with digestion and exercise cause the body to produce more stress hormones. Eventualy the adrenal glands become depleted and exhausted which leads to many other health issues.

Blood Sugar - Skipping meals is very unhealthy because it causes blood sugar imbalance. This effects our ability to focus and think clearly. The biggest problem it creates is a situation where the body holds on to calories because it is starved for energy, preventing the normal burning of fat. Low blood sugar forces the body to compensate by producing more hormones.

Difficulties with Digestion - Digestive difficulties such as hearburn, indigestion, bowel problems, bloating and gas are a serious problem. They cause imflammation and irritation in your stomach. Again, the adrenal glands take action producing a hormone that works as an anti-inflammatory to reduce the inflammation in the stomach. Eventually, they become over burdened which leads to adrenal gland exhaustion.

Exercise - Intense exercise has the potential of adding more stress to your body. The more intense the workout, the more stress hormones are produces. Low to moderate exercise is considered stress reducing. Jogging, dancing, swimmingand walking are great.

Moderate to intense workouts are beneficial if your body isn't dealing with a lot of stress from obvious sources. Your current health due to stress may make low to moderate workouts the best choice for you.

Recognizing where your stress is coming from is essential. If you have only been focusing on work, finances and relationships as the source of your stress, it may explain why you haven't been getting the stress relief you expected through your stress management techniques. These methods of stress reduction will do nothing for your blood sugar, digestion or intensity of exercise

Eat regular meals (5 smaller meals a day is the best for blood sugar balance)

Avoid junk food.

Eat food with protein and healthy fat to regulate blood sugar levels.

Avoid processed foods and beverages.

Chew your food slowly and thoroughly while sitting down.

If you have chronic digestive problems add probiotics to your diet.

Properly combine the different food groups at meals.

Avoid foods with chemicals and artificial sweeteners.

Eat raw fruit daily

Eat high protein foods with steamed, high fiber vegetables.

Nourish your adrenal glands.

These are the first steps to dealing with stress that depletes the adrenal glands. To learn more about adrenal fatique and how to restore the adrenal glands to health click on the link below.