I often see clients who have a lot of anxiety about their memory.

It just seems that they cannot remember things as well as they used to. This lack of memory leads to high levels of anxiety as they wonder whether they may be coming down with altzheimers or some other type of dementia.

The problem is often stress. And of course the more they worry the more they stress. What a viscious cycle!

When you are stressed your body releases high levels of cortisol into your bloodstream. Cortisol destroys glucose and glucose is the brains only source of food. So if your brain isn't getting the nutrients it needs then it makes sense it will not function as well.

Add the following into your daily routine to reduce high stress levels and keep you stress resilient.

• Exercise- Essential for brain health.  Regular exercise will reduce the levels of cortisol and send those feel good endorphines into your body. You don't have to spend a lot of time. 20 to 30 minutes a day. A nice walk before bed will also help you get a good night sleep helping you to be more productive and focused the next day. That will help to reduce your stress levels as well.
• Practice breathing exercises. The breath is the quickest way to shift you from anxious to calm in a matter of seconds.
• Aromatherapy- Certain olis such as lavander and chamomile have been proven to help you move into a calm state. Oils can be infused into the air, added to a bath or added to a massage cream or oil and massaged into the skin.

As a Life Coach and Stress Specialist I can help you create a plan to keep the stress gremlins away so you can enjoy more of your life! ~ Kathryn

Author: Ari Novick, Ph.D.


Eight practical tips for reducing stress and anger triggers in every day life.



(1) Take time off – Take a vacation or a long weekend. During the work day, take a short break to stretch. Walk, breathe slowly, and take a day off and go to the beach, and relax.

(2) Manage your time – Set realistic goals and deadlines. Plan projects accordingly. Do “must do” tasks first. Schedule difficult tasks for the time of day when you are most productive. Tackle easy tasks when you feel low on energy or motivation.

(3) Set limits – When necessary, learn to say “no” in a friendly, but firm manner.

(4) Choose your battles wisely – Don’t rush to argue every time someone disagrees with you. Keep a cool head and avoid pointless arguments altogether.

(5) Use calming skills – Learn not to act on your first impulse. Give your anger time to subside. Anger needs to be expressed, but it is often wise to do something that takes your mind off the situation. The break allows you to compose yourself and respond to the anger in a more effective manner.

(6) If appropriate, look for less stressful job options – But first, ask yourself whether you have given your job a fair chance.

(7) Take control of what you can – For example, if you’re working too many hours and you can’t study enough, ask your boss if you can cut back


(8) Don’t commit yourself to things you can’t or don’t want to do- – If you’re already too busy, don’t promise to decorate for the school dance. If you’re tired and don’t want to go out, tell your friends you’ll go.


Ari Novick, Ph.D. is Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and a certified anger management provider for both adults and adolescents. Dr. Novick is also an adjunct professor of psychology at Pepperdine University's Graduate School of Education and Psychology. His corporate website is www.ajnovickgroup.com and his innovative online anger management class is available at www.angerclassonline.com

Article Source: http://www.article99.com

When faced with stressful situations the body takes on a series of biochemical changes that affect the body and mind. These changes were designed to enable us to flight or flee when faced with a life-threatening situation. 

Great for the caveman who had to flee the saber toothed tiger! These days however we rarely have to fight or flee for our lives however we still manage to turn on the stress response often many times each day.Our saber toothed tigers come in many forms: the morning commute, deadlines, demands of family and friends, a “to do” list a mile long, financial worries and obligations, etc. I could go on and on. Our body is constantly in a state of fight or flight!

When our body elicits the stress response the following changes occur:

• heart rate increases  
• breathing rate increases   
• muscle tension increase
• blood pressure increases

In addition to this your adrenal glands begin to pump hormones, which cause 

•  digestion decreases
  
•  reproduction decreases
  
•  responses of your immune and inflammatory systems decrease
  

 

The same mechanism that turned on the stress response can turn it off!

As soon as you decide that a situation is no longer threatening, your brain stops sending panic messages to your nervous system. Three minutes after you cease to send out the danger signals all of the systems in your body return to normal functioning. Herbert Benson, a leading researcher on stress referred to this natural restorative process as “The Relaxation Response”

Your spouse tells you that you should relax. You children tell you to chill out already. Even your doctor has told you that you need to relax. But how? Nobody seems to have that answer…… that is nobody did until now.

I know…. you’re busy, very, very busy. You don’t have time to do one more thing!  You know you should go to the gym to work out your stress but when are you supposed to do that. By the time you arrive home you are exhausted. All you want to do is veg out in front of the TV for a while before you go to bed. Tomorrow you will get up and do it all over again. I can clearly see that you are on edge.

Well guess what? I am going to demand very little of your time. How about 5 minutes or less? In fact I am going to give you some great tools and tips most of which will take no additional time at all. Have I gotten your attention yet? And I promise that if you begin to implement these tools you will see results. You will notice that you get more done in less time. You will discover that you have more energy and your work and your relationships will prosper.

 
The last time I checked everyone had the same number of hours in the day, 24 to be exact. So why is it that some people seem to get so much more accomplished and have plenty of time for their family and to do the things they love? Are they just better time managers?

The truth is that it isn't about managing your time at all. It’s about managing your energy. The following five steps will help you on your way to reclaiming the life you want with plenty of time for everything.

1. Know what you want


What do you value in life? Who do you value in life? If you found out that you only had a short time to live how would you want to spend it and with who? A lot of my clients tell me that family is top on their list but when we look at their day planner or PDA I rarely see family mentioned or any time left over for them. You have to make time for the people and things that are important to you. Go ahead and schedule them in just as you would an important client and remember, you would not cancel an appointment with your most important client would you?

2. Set your intention

By setting the intention to make more time for your family, the gym, playing soccer or whatever is important you will help your mind to stay focused on what you want. I suggest that you write your intention down and/or say your intention out loud first thing in the morning. When you start the day with intention and focus it will begin to seem as if you had extra hours in the day. By staying focused on your intention throughout the day you will be less likely to get sidetracked; spending lots of time doing those things that ultimately will lead us away from those we love. Remember it isn't about being a good time manager it's about being a good energy manager.

Everyone I talk to wants to know how to get rid of stress, eliminate it and become stress free. Pick up just about any magazine these days and you will find an article telling you how to get rid of or manage your stress.

I am here to tell you that stress is not the enemy. Stress is often what pushes us forward in life. It helps us to cram for exams, finish that project, and clean the house before company arrives. Stress helps us to win contests and races, ace that test or the job interview. Stress is often the very thing that helps us to make necessary changes in our life like leaving a bad relationship or moving on to a better job opportunity.

 Stress does play an important role in our lives. With out stress our lives are dull and our performance is low. The right amount of stress however and we achieve the goals we set with stress providing a catalyst for high performance.However according to the Yerkes/Dobson Law a scientific principle developed by physiologists Robert M. Yerkes and J.D. Dodson in 1908 when stress reaches an optimal point performance decreases.

Have you ever been working on a project night and day? You seem to have bounds of energy and you push yourself to completion only to find that when the project is complete you wind up in bed with the flu or a bad cold. College students often experience this at exam time, continuing to push until the exam is over and then collapsing into bed for days.

The key is awareness. It isn’t about managing your stress or eliminating it. It is about using stress to your advantage. It’s what I refer to as being stress hardy.

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According to the American Psychological Association, out of 25,000 adults surveyed 75% said that money was the #1 source of stress in their lives. And financial stress is the
# 1 reason that couples divorce. With the economic future unstable many couples are feeling the stress already. Here are a few steps that may help keep your stress at bay and your marriage in tact.

• Communicate with intent
  

Don’t yell or point fingers or lay blame. These tactics never work. Before opening a conversation with your spouse spend a few minutes alone to get centered and calm. Breathe in slowly to the count of six, hold to the count of four and then slowly release the breath to the count of 8. Repeat this process 8 to 10 times.Then ask yourself, what do I want to accomplish from this conversation? What is my intention? Do I want to come together with my spouse to create a plan? Do I want to garner the support of my spouse? Do I want to create a harmonious atmosphere in our home? By knowing what you want to accomplish you will create a conversation that will help the two of you find solutions. If the discussion moves away from your intention be aware of what is happening and gently steer the conversation back.

• Share your feelings
  

This is the person you choose to spend the rest of your life with, don’t clam up now. This is the time to share your fears and anxieties with your loved one so that together you can come up with a solution. Maybe you messed up and spent money you should not have or you made a bad investment go ahead and fess up and I guarantee you will feel better. We all make mistakes. Your spouse will find out eventually. It is better if they hear the bad news coming from you. It is human nature to want to help someone and I guarantee that your spouse will want to help you if you approach this situation right.