Category: Internal Medicine
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How To Manage Stress
How To Manage Stress By Keeping Your Stress Levels In Check
Why do we need to manage our stress levels?
The following are some of the complications that can occur when you fail to properly manage your stress levels:
… a weak immune system (trouble fighting infection)
… heart problems (myocardial infarction, coronary artery disease)
… acid reflux, heartburn (dyspepsia)
… high blood pressure (hypertension)
… migraines, headaches and backaches (tension headaches… chronic fatigue (lack of energy,feeling tired)
… diabetes (hyperglycemia, elevated glucose)The key is in keeping your cortisol levels in check.
Cortisol, also known as the “stress hormone“, can have damaging effects on many of your bodily functions.
We are living in a fast paced society with constant deadlines, crazy schedules, a fast-paced society and not enough hours each day to accomplish every single task.
All of your daily issues can lead to health complications if you do not keep your stress or cortisol levels in check.
How to Keep Your Cortisol Level in Check
The following are 2 ways cortisol levels may rise in your body.
When your mind triggers a “fight or flight” response to something that is going on in your life, cortisol is produced. When your cortisol levels are high, your cardiovascular and respiratory health begins to decline immediately. As you can see from the list above, multiple bodily functions can be affected in a negative manner.
Cortisol is also naturally present in higher levels in certain foods.
So whether your stress comes from an outside source, or you get too much cortisol in the foods you eat, you can suffer the consequences of being anxious and stressed-out.
Decrease your intake of foods known to contain high levels cortisol or cause your body to produce increased cortisol levels.
Here’s how to keep your cortisol levels where they need to be:
Cut back on chewing tobacco and smoking cigarettes.
Limit your caffeine intake. This means fewer coffees, soft drinks and energy drinks, especially those which are loaded with sugar.
Cut back on the number of starchy carbohydrates in your diet. This means eating fewer foods like potatoes, french fries, bread, potato chips and pizza.
Exercise regularly, get plenty of rest and keep hydrated. Remember that during exercise, cortisol does spike naturally, so when you are through working out, enjoy some “recovery based” physical activities such as yoga, pilates, or simply take a relaxing walk.
You can also practice mindfulness meditation and visualization to control your stress levels.
Tell yourself that when you see a stressful situation arising, you will respond to it in a calm manner.
Visualize yourself relaxed and peaceful, recognizing the stressful event, but not giving into it.
For the best chance of keeping stress in check, combine several of the successful stress-relief tips listed above for a calm, low-anxiety response to life’s stresses and strains.
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Hypertension Blood Pressure Facts
As you get older and start to pay more attention to your body, it’s important to know hypertension blood pressure facts as you make health decisions. Hypertension is the scientific term for high blood pressure and it is more serious than you might know.
Fact 1: High blood pressure is the most common form of heart disease. You might not realize it, but when your blood pressure is too high you’re already considered to be traveling down the road of heart disease.
This road leads to possible chest pain, enlarged heart, heart attack, and stroke. If you allow blood pressure to go untreated you’re putting yourself at great risk for these illnesses and even death from one of these events.
Fact 2: High blood pressure is known as the “silent killer”. This is because many people often have high blood pressure, but don’t have any symptoms. So, how do you know what your blood pressure is? You have to have it checked.
You can check your blood pressure on your own at many pharmacies, you can purchase a machine to check it at home, or you can make sure to have your doctor check it regularly at your appointments.
Fact 3: High blood pressure can be inherited. If you have a family history of heart disease or high blood pressure, you’re much more likely to have it yourself. It’s a good idea to participate in regular blood pressure screenings if you know someone in your family has had hypertension.
Fact 4: African American people have a higher incidence of high blood pressure. No one is exactly sure why this is, other than genetic inheritance. But if you’re African American it’s important to stay on top of blood pressure screenings and pay attention to your blood pressure.
Fact 5: High blood pressure can lead to kidney failure. One of the little known facts about hypertension is that it’s directly related to kidney function. If your blood pressure is too high, your kidneys don’t do as good of a job filtering out toxins and removing fluid from your body.
Some people are required to go on dialysis or even receive a kidney transplant due to the damage caused by high blood pressure. Your kidneys play an important role in managing your blood volume and blood pressure.
When they don’t work well, you can have problems with swelling and fluid retention. You can also have difficulty keeping your body free from byproducts that can be toxic if they build up in the blood.
It’s important not to ignore high blood pressure because it can have devastating effects on the body. Understanding hypertension blood pressure facts can help you to be realistic when you’re confronted with your own high blood pressure.
