Beat stress and be healthy!

by: Peter Sachford
Everyone knows that stress isn't good - that it can get on top of us and effect our wellbeing. What most people don't realise is that stress can effect much more than just our mood or mental state. Stress has been shown to have a detrimental effect on many parts of our body and indeed peoples health in general.Stress is one of the most widespread afflictions in modern life - everyone suffers from it in their day to day lives.Its because of this that most people don't recognise stress for what it is until it is effecting their mental and physical health in a negative way. Most people don't realise they are stressed until it becomes a major issue for them.Of course some of the effects that stress has effect us on a mental level but it can have an effect all over the body.High blood pressure and heart rate have both been linked to stress so if you find your blood pressure is too high a lot of the time then you should act to reduce the amount of stress you have in your life. This can reduce your health problems and leave you happier and more content.There is no such thing as a safe level of stress, obviously we will all have stress in our lives but decreasing the stress you experience every day will always have positive effects in your life. Considering the health implications of prolonged stress it is better to actively act to cut down the stress that you experience in your life.Reducing your stress is not difficult, a little time spent planning how to change your life can make a huge difference.A small effort will go a long way to making you feel better about yourself and others.The first thing that you should do is to sit down and make a list of all the things that are causing you to be stressed out. It doesn't matter whether or not you think something should be stressful - write down anything that genuinely is stressful to you. Then, go through the list again and see which things you can eliminate from your life.Of course you won't be able to eliminate everything that causes you stress - you will probably still have to go work, and deal with people you find difficult. The important thing is that there will be several items on your list that you can take steps to avoid and eventually eliminate from your life or at least cope better with.One of the key ways to reduce stress is also one of the simplest - relax! Relaxation time is extremely important in your day - a time to unwind and forget all the stress of your day. You should schedule your relaxation time and let nothing interrupt it, it is as important to your health as exercise in avoiding the negative effects of stress.Exercise is another excellent way to defeat stress. Exercise will clear your head, make you feel better, and more confident. It is also excellent for your general health so make exercise a part of your day also.If you start working on stress reduction, you should start seeing improvements in your health right away. Also, even if you are not noticing that your health is improving right away, you should still feel confident that it is - the more relaxed you are, the better you should feel. Start working on stress reduction today, and have a healthier life tomorrow!