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.

According to the American Diabetes Association the answer is yes.

The fact is that stress alters blood glucose levels. Studies have also shown that people who are under stress often do not take good care of themselves. They often drink more alcohol, eat more of the wrong foods and exercise less. The stress hormones produced by the body alter blood glucose levels directly. Studies show that diabetic mice under physical or mental stress have elevated glucose levels.

Physical stress such as illness or injury causes higher blood glucose levels in people with either type of diabetes. Mental stress raises blood glucose levels in patients with type 2 diabetes. The effects of mental stress on type 1 diabetes are mixed.

Reducing stress is key to managing your diabetes. The American Diabetes association says that controlling stress with relaxation therapy seems to help. It is more likely to be effective with type 2 that type 1 diabetes. The reason is simple. Stress blocks the body from producing insulin in people with type 2 diabetes, so releasing excess stress help. People with type 1 diabetes don’t make insulin so stress reduction doesn’t have this effect. However, reducing stress is beneficial for all since it helps people to focus on taking better care of themselves.

Ok, so now I know how it will help and why I need to learn to relax but how do you do it? This is the question I hear most from people. My doctor says I need to relax but I don’t really know how to do that.  I relax at night in front of the TV, isn’t that enough?

When relaxing at night in front of the TV our mind is still actively engaged. If we are watching a drama or action movie our body is still responding as if the action on TV was really happening, pumping out the same stress hormones it did during the day. To really relax you have to be able to slow down your brain waves.

“Can slowing down my brain waves really be good for me” you might ask. Have you ever gone to bed at night with a problem weighing heavy on your mind? When you wake up it suddenly has become so clear. You have the answer! This is because as you moved deeper into sleep your brain waves slowed from the fast and frenzied beta state in to a slower rhythm called alpha and then even slower rhythm called theta. It is in the alpha and theta states that our mind truly relaxes. Our body has the amazing ability to heal at these levels.

So all I have to do is sleep more! Sounds easy but unfortunately people who are constantly stressed (and if you have diabetes don’t tell me you aren’t) have trouble entering these deeper states. They toss and turn in the bed never fully allowing their body and mind to relax. They often wake up tired. The body has simply forgotten how to relax.

Learning a few simple techniques can help you get back on track towards a more relaxed and restful sleep. Waking after a nice restful sleep each night will help you to better handle the stresses of the day. Adding a few simple exercises into your everyday routine will not take up more of your precious time but you will find that moving to a more relaxed state will improve your concentration and focus. You will accomplish more in less time.

Breath training is probably one of the most effective methods for reducing stress. Most adults in our society have simply forgotten how to breathe naturally. We move through the day holding our breath and taking short shallow inhalations. Have you ever watched a baby breathe? Their breath is slow and even with the breath moving the belly up and down. Does your belly move? Or do you take shallow breaths from up in your chest?

The neat thing about the breath is that it’s portable! You take it everywhere you go. You can literally practice conscious breathing anywhere and everywhere. It will be beneficial to get help retraining your mind and body. But it’s easy and like riding a bike your body never really forgets. Adding visualization or guided imagery to your breath work can be beneficial. Find a coach who specializes in relaxation training or purchase audio products on breathing and guided relaxation and meditation. You only need to practice a few minutes a day. Aren’t you worth it?