High blood pressure is the most important of the risk factors identified in the research, but there are nine others that also bear some of the blame when it comes to stroke.

The one bright spot is that of the list, the top five are related to lifestyle – high blood pressure, smoking, abdominal obesity, diet and being physically active – accounting for 80% of all stroke risk.

In fact, blood pressure plays a part in both types of stroke. Ischemic caused by blockage of a blood vessel in the brain, and are the more common. Hemorrhagic (or bleeding stroke) happens when a blood vessel in the brain bursts and bleeds into the surrounding tissue. Both types are very dangerous and require immediate medical attention.

The findings of this work come out of the INTERSTROKE study, a standardized, case control bit of research that involved 3,000 subjects from 22 different countries who had strokes and an equal number of healthy controls with no stroke history.

A second phase of the study is underway now, with experts looking at the importance of the risk factors in different regions, ethnic groups and types of stroke. They plan to enroll more than 20,000 participants and also look at the link between genetics and stroke risk.

The list of ten risk factors that were also presented at the World Congress on Cardiology (WCC) held in Beijing are…

1. High blood pressure, across the board the most important factor – accounting for one third of all stroke risk.

2. Smoking

3. Being active on a regular basis

4. Waist-to-hip ratio (also known as abdominal obesity)

5. Diet – a high intake of fish and fruits was found helpful in reducing risk

6. Blood lipid levels, more important in the risk of ischemic stroke

7. Diabetes

8. Alcohol intake

9. Stress

10. Depression

And while many of these risk factors are ones we’ve heard about before, this is the first research to include both low and middle-income participants from developing countries in the mix. Other vital information comes from the brain scan conducted on the stroke survivors who participated in the study.

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Ten Factors That Account For 90% Of Stroke Risk… Continued…

In an editorial accompanying the research, Dr. Jack V. Tu of the University of Toronto pointed out that high blood pressure is the leading cause of stroke in all countries, developed or emerging nation.

The stroke risk factors are pretty similar no matter where you live. This highlights the need for medicine and public health officials to do whatever can be done to encourage people to reduce high blood pressure, which experts believe would have a major impact on the incidence of stroke. The best news is that many of the risk factors, blood pressure included, are under your control. What you eat, if you smoke or drink too much alcohol, even your stress levels can be changed. Starting today.

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For those not up on their biology, telomeres are small strands of genetic material that look almost like a tail at the end of a cell. Experts recognize the shortening of these structures as an indicator of aging.

There’s also a growing body of evidence that suggests short telomeres are tied to health problems like coronary heart disease, diabetes and early death. Think of these structures much like a biological marker of the wear and tear of living that includes genetic influences, lifestyle and stress.

The latest research is the first to find that exercise can prevent the shortening of telomeres due to stress. The study included 63 post-menopausal women, all healthy, many highly stressed, who were divided into two groups – inactive and active based on how much they exercised over a three-day period.

At the end of each day the subjects reported the number of minutes of vigorous exercise they’d done. To be considered vigorous, the activity had to increase the heart rate and/or cause sweating. They also reported their life stress over the past month. The immune cells in the subjects’ blood were also examined to determine telomere length.

The team found that the women in the inactive group who were under stress had shorter telomeres than the active (exercising as little as 42 minutes over that three day period) women who were also considered high stress. In other words, stress affected the telomeres of sedentary women, but left no sign on the active women.

This is great news for the chronically stressed. We know that stress is bad for the body, the heart, and makes you look worn and haggard, even putting you at increased risk for infections according to study author Eli Puterman, PhD out of the University of California at San Francisco. Evidence is mounting that stress and health may be linked, and it’s empowering to find something that anyone, especially the chronically stressed, can do to help blunt the effect on the body.

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Exercise May Blunt Effects Of Stress On The Body… Continued…

The study authors conclude that 13 minutes (or more) of vigorous exercise each day seems to be the key amount that ties into longer telomeres. These are very close to the CDC recommendations of 75 minutes of vigorous exercise, or 150 minutes of moderate exercise (plus weight bearing exercise) every week for adults to stay fit.

This latest study builds on some fascinating earlier UCSF work that documented the effect of chronic stress on telomere length in immune cells. A 2004 UCSF-led study found that the implications of stress are felt deep inside the cells, impacting aging and possibly even disease development. USCF has also done extensive research on exercise – but this is the first work to show that working out actually offers some protection from the shortening of telomeres due to stress.

Watch for more studies to come on exercise health benefits. The next UCSF project involves participants first learning their telomere length, to see if this information offers motivation to make the lifestyle changes (more exercise, cutting stress, eating less processed red meat) that seem to have an impact on telomere length.

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It’s no surprise that this state of affairs has brought a recent resurgence of interest in simplifying your life – living in a more balanced, deliberate and thoughtful way, without all the running around, the struggle and stressing out.

Trouble is, if you ignore stress (either prolonged, unexpected or unmanageable) it won’t go away. The destructive effects of long-term stress on the body and mind are all the worse if you don’t do anything to manage your stress level.

What’s more, when the body is under stress, the stress hormone cortisol makes it harder for your brain to work properly. This leads to forgetfulness, irritability and the often inevitable (not to mention perfectly understandable) meltdown.

Stress experts suggest that adding to the stress we’re all under is the clutter that’s lying about. The piles on your kitchen counter or on your desk are sending the visual message that you’re surrounded by more than you can handle. It’s a silent way of saying, “Your life is out of control.”

Constantly being faced with that message makes it easy to believe. And then the mess seems so big, so unruly that procrastination becomes a matter of course, though putting things off only perpetuated the chaos.

Here are some suggestions that might help ease some of your stress, or at least get you moving in the right direction.

- Clear away clutter – start small, pick one area (and one only) that you can clean up and work on for today. Tomorrow move to a different space. By cleaning and organizing small amounts each day, you won’t feel overwhelmed by the job, plus you’ll make slow, steady progress, the best (and most lasting) kind.

- Have a place for everything - and keep things in their place at all times. Keys, homework, purses/briefcases need to be given a permanent home and always, always be kept in that location. This cuts out that awful last minute searching and scrambling, and will always have you knowing right where to find everything you need as you head out the door.

- Assess what you have - take a hard look at all you’ve accumulated and donate anything that you’re not using (or haven’t used in a year) that is in good shape to a local charity. If you haven’t worn/used/looked for something in a year (or more) chances are you never will. This is the stuff that can go.

- If you cannot bear to part with something - gather these items together and pack them in a carton or bin and store this in an area for keepsakes. If another year goes by without you looking at them, it’s time for the donation bin or the trash pile.

- Switch off the gadgets – iPods, smart phones, laptops and video games, when used at the same time, contribute to audiovisual clutter. Being flooded by stimuli (even entertaining stimuli) is a source of tremendous stress to the body. Your best bet is to unplug and limit the amount of multi-tasking… do one thing at a time instead.

- Limit your news feed – TV news can be stressful, so don’t watch just before bed or at mealtimes, this will only add a sense of tension and urgency that you don’t need when you’re trying to eat or fall off to sleep.

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Fight Stress With These 8 Simple Steps Continued…

- Stop over scheduling – forget trying to pack in an unrealistic number of activities into your day or week as this results in a schedule that goes from fun and engaging to feeling like an unpleasant obligation in no time. Make a change by saying “yes” only to activities that you (or your kids) really care about – learn to say “no” to the rest. It’s far easier to decline now than try and get out of something later on, or bear the guilt of letting someone down.

- Stop multi-tasking - if your attention is spread too thin you aren’t as efficient or effective as you might have thought. Focus on one task at a time and move on to the next only when you’ve finished. Recent research has shown that those who multi-task are less able to concentrate, and more easily distracted than those who don’t do more than one thing at a time.

Even if you can’t put all these suggestions into practice right now, choose one you can do and focus on that. Then move on to the next thing.

Experts also point out that it’s not just your physical space that can be cluttered… your thoughts, and even your life can become overcrowded with too much stuff. By using some of these hints in these areas as well, you can reduce, maybe even eliminate, many of the day-to-day life stressors that are making you feel so rushed, so harried and so out of control.

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A new study by scientists at the Nestle Research Center in Lausanne Switzerland has found more about the health benefits of dark chocolate and that enjoying dark chocolate might not just be a tasty indulgence, but it also appears to lower levels of stress hormones in those who are feeling stressed out.

Add this to the growing number of potential benefits to your heart that come from dark chocolate and all those good-for-you flavonoids inside that tasty package, and you’ll be choosing dark chocolate over any other kind.

Enjoying one dark chocolate candy bar daily for two weeks was found in this latest study to actually reduce levels of cortisol as well as the “fight or flight” hormones known as catecholamines in highly stressed people.

So, if you’re dealing with constant stress, a small amount of dark chocolate each day might be just the thing to help you cope.

In the study, the team examined the effects on 30 healthy adults of eating 1.4 ounces (40 grams, the size of an average candy bar) of rich and yummy dark chocolate every day for a two-week period on measures of stress.

Half the candy bar was eaten mid-morning, the other half mid-afternoon. The anxiety levels of the subjects were determined at the start of the study using validated psychological questionnaires, allowing the team to classify subjects as low or high anxiety.

Body fluids (blood and urine) were also collected and analyzed at the beginning and end of the research period.

The result was that those with lots of anxiety who ate dark chocolate daily cut stress hormone levels. The dark chocolate also seems to have a beneficial effect on the metabolism and microbial action of the digestive system.

“Consuming dark chocolate daily can positively impact the metabolism of people that report having high-stress levels,” explains Sunil Kochhar, a Nestlé researcher leading the study. “These results strongly support our ongoing metabonomics research efforts to ascertain the impact of certain foods on human metabolism through the adaptation of gut microbial activities.”

The study appears in the Journal of Proteome Research and was conducted by a team of experts at the Nestle Research Center located in Lausanne, Switzerland.

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Chocolate Removes Stress Continued…

It makes sense that chocolate, which comes from plants, should have some of the same natural, good-for-you substances found in dark veggies.

Flavonoids in this kind of chocolate are nearly 8 times what you find in strawberries, and act as antioxidants that protect the body from damage caused by free radicals.

They also help relax blood pressure by producing nitric oxide, as well as balancing some hormones in the body.

And while chocolate of any kind does contain fats, only 1/3 of the fat in dark chocolate is bad for you. That doesn’t mean indulge all you like… keep your dark chocolate intake to no more than 100 grams (about 3.5 ounces) a day to get the benefits without suffering because of the added calories.

Remember too, that the calories you take in from chocolate must be balanced to get the best health benefits of dark chocolate, by lessening the amount you take in someplace else so you won’t be packing on the pounds while you’re coping with an especially stressful time.

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In 2005 he and his team found that laughter could open up blood vessels so that blood circulates more freely all through the body. The next logical question was would music have a similar effect.

It turns out, music (and not just meditating music) is one of the best, most natural, easily accessible stress relievers out there. Either playing or active listening to music you find pleasing may in fact be incredibly good for your heart and your entire cardiovascular system.

Of course it’s also important to understand that everyone responds to types of music in a unique way – what may be joyful to one, may be utterly horrible to another.

Still, any music lover can tell you that a piece of favorite music can bring out an amazing range of emotions as you listen, physically relax you, even exhilarate (or bother) you.

And who can deny the impact music has when the chorus of a song (loved or hated) repeats through our heads even when we try our hardest to ignore it.

In this latest work, Dr. Miller asked ten healthy nonsmokers (70% men, average age 36) to participate in a four-phase study. Participants were instructed to fast overnight and told not to listen to the music they liked for a minimum of two weeks before the appointment.

The first phase of the study involved subjects listening to their favorite music – everything from rap and classic rock to jazz and showtunes.

The second phase called for subjects to listen to music that made them feel anxious.

In the third phase, subjects listened to audio tapes intended to promote relaxation, and in the forth phase they watched videos that made them laugh.

The phases were administered in random order and scheduled at least one week apart from the one before.

A baseline blood vessel dilation test was conducted at the beginning and at regular points during each session of each phase. All in all the study took about eight months to complete, and involved a total of 160 dilation measurements for each participant. The findings were worth the wait – showing that listening to music you truly enjoy can counter the effects of stress (vessels opened 26%); just as listening to music you dislike can increase your stress and narrow vessels by 6%.

Experts know that long-term stress can cause real problems for your body. Stress causes blood vessels stiffen and become rigid, and as we get older, arteriosclerosis adds to this as a natural condition of the body as it ages.

Blood pressure goes up when blood is pumped through tight, constricted blood vessels, and this increases the risk of heart attack or stroke. Today cardiovascular disease is the number one cause of death in the U.S.

Stress is also known to suppress the immune system, speed aging, contribute to infertility and maybe even re-wire the brain, leaving us more vulnerable to anxiety and depression.

Another study on the power of music out of Stanford University found that older patients diagnosed with depression saw an improvement in mood when visited by a music therapist.

There are hospitals all over the country that use music therapy as a way to help healing. The Mayo Clinic uses music as part of the heart surgery healing program. Relaxing in this way is thought to ease pain, lift mood and improve sleep.

But when it comes to music’s effect on the body, variety is key. “You just don’t get that boost if you listen to the same song over and over again,” Dr. Miller points out. “You need to vary your songs, so when you hear the song fresh, it brings back the sense of joy and opens up the system.”

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Acute stress has been shown to galvanize the immune system, while chronic stress has long been thought to weaken immunity and increase the risk of disease.

For the research, 30 lab mice were exposed to doses of cancer-causing ultraviolet light for ten weeks. The light didn’t cause blisters or burns, but rather left the subjects with only a slight reddening of the skin after exposure.

One group of mice was also subjected to nine periods of short-term stress, confined in a well-ventilated plastic tube that limited how much they could move. This method is known to bring on a behavioral and hormonal stress response in mice. Each stress period lasted 2.5 hours. A second group of mice were not stressed in order to provide controls for the research.

When the stressed and non-stressed mice were compared, fewer of the acutely stressed mice developed squamous cell carcinoma (the second most common form of skin cancer) during the ten weeks that followed the study period. The stressed mice that did develop tumors had noticeably fewer than the non-stressed mice.

“This is the first evidence that this type of short-lived stress may enhance anti-tumor activity,” explains Firdaus Dhabhar, an associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford University School of Medicine, and a member of Stanford’s Cancer Center and Institute for Immunity, Transplantation and Infection.

“This is a promising new way of thinking that calls for more research. We hope that it will eventually lead to applications that help us to care for those who are ill, by maximally harnessing the body’s natural defenses while also using other medical treatments.”

Interestingly, the protective effect wasn’t permanent. After week 22 of observation about 90% of mice of both groups developed skin cancer. The mice that had been stressed continued to have fewer tumors for an additional four weeks.

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Short Term Stress Might Protect Against Skin Cancer Continued…

What’s more, the skin of the stressed mice had higher levels of immune-activating genes than the non-stressed mice.

As the most common form of cancer in the United States, skin cancer can happen to anyone, at any time, even if you’re free from risk factors (fair complexion, family history, severe sunburn or age) known to make this form of cancer more likely. An estimated 1 million cases of skin cancer will be diagnosed in the U.S. this year.

Always talk to your doctor about any growth on your skin that bleeds or doesn’t heal. Experts also suggest you look over your skin (using a mirror as necessary) on a regular basis for any mole, sore or skin growth that appears or changes. Watch for:

Asymmetry – one half of the area in question is different than the other.

Border – the outlines of the area are irregular

Color – can vary from one area to another in shades of tan, brown or black, sometimes even white, red or blue

Diameter – almost always bigger than 6 mm (about the size of a pencil eraser)

The intriguing findings from this research will be published in a future print issue of the journal Brain, Behavior, and Immunity.

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A key ingredient in this delicious fruit is an enzyme called superoxide dismutase (SOD) that has helpful antioxidant properties known to prevent damage to body tissues. This remarkable enzyme may help to cut the damage caused by oxidative stress, which is the process that releases those troublesome atoms known as free radicals into the tissues of the body.

Melons, it turns out, are a rich source of an extract dubbed “the enzyme of life” when it was first discovered in 1968. It’s believed by many experts to be even more powerful than antioxidant vitamins because it encourages the body to produce its own antioxidants such as catalase and glutathione peroxidase.

The placebo-controlled, double-blind study involved representatives from Seppic France (the distributor of a commercial extract of SOD known as Extramel) working in collaboration with scientists from the University Henri Poincaré and Isoclin to investigate the anti-stress effects of this natural compound on 70 healthy volunteers aged 30 to 55.

Earlier work had shown that there may be a link between psychological stress and oxidative stress, and this team wanted to see if helping the body to deal with oxidative stress might also help people cope with mental stress too.

The lead researcher, Marie-Anne Milesi of Seppic points out, “Several studies have shown that there is a link between psychological stress and intracellular oxidative stress. We wanted to test whether augmenting the body’s ability to deal with oxidative species might help a person’s ability to resist burnout.”

Damage from oxidative stress has been implicated in many diseases – life changing conditions such as cancer and Alzheimer’s disease – as well as how we age. Free radicals come from the natural intake of oxygen as your breathe, interacting with other molecules inside your cells. Beyond what happens inside the body, things from the environment such as pollution, sunlight and smoking can also trigger the production of dangerous free radicals.

The research randomly assigned stressed but healthy volunteers to two different groups. One group of subjects took a capsule with 10 mg Extramel, equal to 140 international units of the SOD enzyme, the other group got a capsule with an inactive starch compound.

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An All-Natural Way To Fight Stress – Eat Melon Continued…

The group taking the SOD enzyme reported fewer stress or fatigue symptoms than those who took the placebo capsule. In fact, the positive effects on stress and fatigue was much greater and longer lasting than the researchers had expected.

Taking the enzyme seemed to offer significant improvements to concentration, cut feelings of being tired, lessened irritability and improved sleeping problems.

There was a strong placebo effect in the 35 subjects who got the placebo capsule, though the effect only seemed to last for the first week of the study. This may have been because the levels of fatigue and stress were not out of the ordinary in these volunteers.

The authors suggest that the results might have been more pronounced if subjects with higher levels of stress or fatigue had been a part of the work.

Further research of a longer duration with a larger number of subjects will be needed to confirm these results that this can reduce cortisol levels. In the meantime, a serving of juicy, delicious melon might just be the natural answer to dealing with everyday stress.

To your good health,

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Fat in this area isn’t just awful to look at, its known to be trouble, making conditions like blocked arteries and metabolic syndrome much more likely according to Carol A. Shively, Ph.D. and her team out of Wake Forest University. The research is set to appear in the next issue of the journal Obesity.

Shively and her team had shown before how socially stressed moneys (at the bottom of the pecking order in the monkey world) get blocked arteries faster than control monkeys fed the very same diet but without the stress.

With the latest work the team wanted to learn more about stress, and how something outside your body seems to be turned into troublesome plaque on the inside of your body.

Female monkeys are much like human females in that they aren’t as likely to get heart disease as males. Yet the stressed female monkeys who had the dangerous belly fat were just as likely to develop heart disease as male monkeys.

What this says for women is that if you have visceral fat and metabolic syndrome you pretty much obliterate any protection you get from being female.

Over the two-year study period Shively and her colleagues collected a whole lot of data on female cynomolgus monkeys – ones who were considered under stress and those considered being stress free.

The stressed subjects had higher levels of cortisol, known to be a stress hormone, than did monkeys not under stress. The stressed monkeys also had abnormal menstrual cycles, meaning they were much less likely to ovulate than non-stressed monkeys.

The evaluation of the subjects included a CT scan that identified visceral fat -the medical term for the fat in your abdomen that sometimes sticks out (the “beer belly”), though other times this fat isn’t visible on the outside. Visible or not, belly fat wraps itself around the internal organs.

Even when compared to monkeys, who were the same weight, the CT scans showed that the subjects under stress had a lot more belly fat.

When the team looked at the animals’ arteries, they found plaque as well. High levels of cortisol, over the long term are known to cause belly fat to accumulate, as well as making fat cells throughout the body bigger.

This is what’s known as “sick fat” according to Harold Bays, MD, the medical director of the Louisville Metabolic and Atherosclerosis Research Center who reviewed the study.

“Your body fat can become diseased like any other body tissue,” Bays explains. “Your fat cells are getting bigger and your fat tissue is getting bigger and neither the cells nor the tissues work as well as they should. The fat is sick.”

What’s more, the monkeys with all the belly fat had metabolic syndrome, just like people do. Metabolic syndrome, a problem for an estimated 50 million Americans, is actually a group of risk factors all found in one person and are what put patients at risk for heart disease, stroke and other peripheral vascular disorders as well as type 2 diabetes.

If you’re worried about your own belly bulge it’s not too late to do something about it.

While fat in this part of the body is more worrisome than carrying weight in other areas, the good news is that by making real, solid lifestyle changes (forget “miracle diets” or the latest ab-flattening gadget) and doing a few targeted abdominal exercises you can be rid of that unsightly bulge in no time.

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This according to the findings of a new cross sectional study out of the University of Mainz in Germany that appears in the early online edition of BMC Public Health.

The research team evaluated data on more than 9.000 subjects, 949 who were in debt and filled out a questionnaire that reported a full 25% of those who were in debt also met criteria for obesity.

By contrast, of the 8,318 subjects intended to represent a cross section of the general population, questioned in a 2003 telephone survey, only 11% could be categorized as obese.

These numbers held even after taking into account income level and other socioeconomic factors (age, sex, education) and health issues (depression, smoking) of the subjects.

Socio-economic status is usually measured using education, income and job status; the amount of household debt isn’t usually a part of the mix.

Over-indebtedness is defined as when the level of debt is no longer manageable, a state that’s become all-too-familiar for too many households.

The team found that over-indebtedness was linked to an increased prevalence of overweight and obesity that was unexplained by traditional definitions of socioeconomic status. Still, it’s important to note that because of the design of the study, cause and effect can’t be absolutely confirmed.

“Our survey has shown that there is an increased probability that a private individual who is over-indebted will be overweight, that is, clinically obese, irrespective of whether the other cited socio-economic factors apply,” points out lead researcher Eva Munster, a professor out of the Institute of Occupational, Social, and Environmental Medicine. “We’ve shown that debt can be associated with the probability of being overweight or obese, independent of these factors.”

The team also speculates that obese or overweight people are more likely to lose their jobs, and job loss is the most likely cause of falling into debt.

When it comes to financial hard times, Munster and her team believe that there are lifestyle changes that come with increased debt, things like comfort eating, poorer food choices (energy dense foods like sweets and snacks are less expensive as a rule) and being less active during the day.

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*Highly Recommended*

Medical Doctor Reveals The Shocking Truth

The real reason you can’t shift those stubborn pounds has nothing to do with a lack of willpower, eating too much or not eating the right kinds of foods – absolutely nothing.

It’s because your gut is full of plaque and parasites that work against you, no matter what you do, making it impossible to lose weight.

However, now there’s a proven way to flush these parasites from your gut and get rid of the plaque, allowing you to shed unwanted pounds fast.

Find out about Dr Suzanne Gudakunst’s brand new program will make you healthier, sexier, fitter and may even save your life!

Click through now to discover the shocking proof…

As Debt Increases So Do Our Waistlines Continued…

Lots of times people aren’t aware of cheaper but still good-for-you foods, so they see no choice but to put unhealthy things into their bodies. Not to mention the tremendous stress load people in debt are dealing with each and every day. What’s more, the level of indebtedness affects everyone in the house, adults and kids.

At the end of 2008, credit card debt in America had reached the astonishing $972.73 billion mark, a rise of 1.12% from the year before.

In light of this latest work on debt and health, and the potential for debt to drive more of us to pack on the pounds. If you’re struggling with debt, don’t let this rob you of your health, do all you can to stay healthy. Look for lower cost, healthy foods, be sure to stay active both to burn calories and help with the added stress.

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Job insecurity, financial pressures and constant uncertainty that on top of the hustle-bustle of our everyday lives all contribute to a steadily mounting stress level.

What’s worse, if you ignore stress (prolonged, unexpected or unmanageable) this doesn’t make it go away. In fact, the destructive consequences of long-term stress on the body and mind are all the worse if you don’t do anything to manage it.

With regular reports of gloomy economic numbers, it’s no surprise that the most recent Stress in America survey found that our financial worries are taking a physical and emotional toll on everyone, with working women bearing the brunt of the stress.

Nearly half of the nearly 1,800 adult respondents said their stress levels were up over a year ago. People reported fatigue, being irritable or angry, or lying awake at night because of stress.

Women are more likely to report these stress symptoms than men.

Veterans of the stress management world, clinical professor of medicine and psychiatry Dr. Paul J. Rosch, and research psychologist Deborah Rozman recommend these strategies to cope:

1. Volunteer - not the thing you’d expect to top a list like this, but Rozman insists it’s a great strategy. “Volunteering actually opens you up to possibilities,” she explains. The amazing thing is that there is no shortage of opportunities. Think about a church or local event, a food pantry or soup kitchen, driving elderly neighbors to appointments – All these are examples of ways to get your mind off you. What’s more this will “reopen the heart,” according to Rozman, “because the heart gets shut down when you worry.”

2. Practice appreciation – by changing your outlook, focusing on what you still have, you can do yourself a world of good. Rozman explains. “If you still have a job, appreciate that.” Look for the good in your life and take a moment to enjoy these things, whatever they might be. She contends that doing this will help to bring hope back to your heart.

3. Tweak traditional de-stress advice - do what works for you. You’ve heard about regular exercising, eating healthy, getting enough sleep and the relaxation techniques you might use to calm yourself. “You have to find out what works for you so that you will practice and adhere to it because it relieves tension and makes you feel better,” Dr. Rosch points out. “Jogging, meditation, progressive muscle relaxation, yoga and listening to music are great for some but dull, boring and stressful when arbitrarily imposed on others.”

4. Decrease the drama - that’s around you as much as possible. Even if you can’t be rid of it all, cut some out. For example, Rozman points out that those who are in fear of losing a job might tend to grumble more. This only adds to your stress and makes the environment around you miserable too. “Drama is when we amp up anger, anxiety or fear,” Rozman continues. Rather than piling on to a stress filled discussion, try to change the subject or the tone.

5. Ration your news diet - and you’ll notice the difference at once. The news, now always-on and intent on disaster is full of gloom and doom. Limit your viewing, Rozman suggests, deciding how much you can watch to stay informed without being overwhelmed.

6. Stop the comparisons - they’re hard to avoid in times like these, but they are no help in the end. “Don’t compare the present with the past,” Rozman says. Give yourself time to mourn and heal after a setback. But then you must move on. Instead of thinking about what you’ve lost, think instead about what you can still do to reach your goals.

Continues below…

*Highly Recommended*

Professional Trainer (CPT) Reveals Truth About Quick Fat Loss…

Have you ever dreamt about hiring a personal trainer? Just think of the results you’d achieve! Well, now you can have access to your own PT at no cost.

Mike Geary, a Certified Nutrition Specialist and Certified Personal Trainer (CPT), has blown the lid off the ‘Professional’ health industry and released a no-cost “no-gimick” insiders report which reveals the explosive truth about fat loss…

And he’s giving his insider report away today – you can get your copy here at Lean Body Fitness Secret

Six Secrets To De-Stressing Your Life During A Recession Continued…

By using these suggestions to cope with the stress around you, shifting focus to the positive, you’ll be able to put this troublesome feature of our modern world in its place.

While experts have found that stress can add years to a person, they also know that those who cope effectively have higher levels of good cholesterol.

Finding coping strategies that work for you and keeping a positive, upbeat attitude are the sure-fire ways to manage the stressful situations to come and to help you stop feeling depressed.

To your good health,

Kirsten Whittaker
Daily Health Bulletin Editor

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