Tag: Emotional Stress

Alternatives to Assist With Anxiety and Depression

Many who suffer from anxiety and depression take medication to relieve their pain. Doctors may prescribe antidepressants, tranquillizers and sleeping tablets for your condition. But there are healthier alternatives that can be used in attacking anxiety and depression.

Exercise is extremely important for many reasons but even more so if you suffer from emotional stress. Many of you will say that you just don’t have the time to exercise. But exercising doesn’t have to be done in a gym or health club. It can be a 20 minute walk around your neighborhood or running up and down your stairs. Among other things, regular exercise increases your endorphins, those happy hormones that get the good feelings going in your body. They boost self-esteem, and reduce the symptoms of depression, anxiety and stress. The catch is that you need to exercise regularly to benefit from it. Set up a schedule and stick to it. If you can’t do 20 minutes every day, try it three or four times per week. And make sure you do something that gets your heart rate up a little bit. Once you get the hang of it, you’ll start to feel better and will look forward to your little exercise break.

Social support is crucial during tough times and especially if you’re attacking anxiety and depression. It’s probable that you want to just be alone when you feel depressed. But try to keep in mind that loneliness is actually one of the causes of depression, and if you already have it, sitting alone could worsen the situation. So think about getting involved in some groups, even if it’s the last thing you want to do. You can start by volunteering. Doing something for others is a great way to feel better about yourself and humanity, and it takes your mind off of how bad you may believe things are.

Similarly, talking to someone about how you feel is a great way to alleviate some of your pain. You don’t need to go out and join a group to do this. Share how you feel with a close family member, friend or even a professional who will lend an objective ear.

Relaxation and meditation are also very effective when it comes to treating depression. One of the best methods of relaxation is to practice savasana (referred to as the “dead body pose”) In this position, you lie flat on your back with your arms relaxed at your sides. This is a position that is often done between yoga exercises. It returns blood circulation to normal and teaches complete relaxation.

Take certain supplements. There is a strong correlation between anxiety/panic disorder and low levels of certain vitamins and minerals. Here are some things that you want to make sure you are getting enough of: Omega 3 fish oil, calcium, magnesium, vitamin c and b-complex vitamin supplements.

The above information about attacking anxiety and depression does not substitute medical advice given by a health professional.

Tips on How to Relieve Anxiety and Stress

It begins with alarm. The muscles, particularly in the face and neck, tighten. The stomach feels knotted. The pulse is rapid, the mouth is dry, and the palms are sweaty. Lactase, a substance released during muscle contractions, appears in the blood. Hormones that speed up the heart and constrict the blood vessels are released. Blood pressure rises.

All of these things constitute to a condition that people commonly know as stress or anxiety. Experts define it as the bodys nonspecific response to any demand made upon it.

After this initial response, the body returns to normal, but maintaining normalcy under stress and anxiety requires all the energy of mind and body. If the stress and anxiety continue long enough, normal functioning cannot be maintained, and the initial alarm responses reappear.

In fact, experts say that even a small amount of additional stress and anxiety at this stage can cause breakdown. Scientific reports show that in small animals, stress beyond the point of endurance has proven deadly.

So how do people manage stress and anxiety? What are the ways on how on how to relieve anxiety and stress? Here are some great tips you must muster to fight back stress and anxiety and live your life to the fullest.

1. Exercise

Regular exercise helps to relax a tense body and a stressed mind because it helps uplift depression and improve mood. It can also decrease the activity of the sensory receptors in the muscle, which send information to the central nervous system. Tension makes these receptors oversensitive so that they bombard the nervous system with electrical impulses.

Exercise can also cut down on the overload on the nervous system by quieting the electrical signals from the muscles. Best of all, exercise induces and enhances the ability to sleep restfully.

2. Take out a multivitamin or mineral insurance policy

Physiological and emotional stress can rob the body of important nutrients, including antioxidant vitamins. In times of stress and anxiety, free radicals, such as unstable molecules of harmful chemicals, can increase and sack the bodys health fragments for substitute electrons, parting uninhibited radicals and impaired tissues and cells in their body.

Anti-oxidants, most particularly vitamins E, beta-carotene, and vitamin C protect the bodys healthy fragments by giving up their personal electrons to counteract free-radical attackers. So to arm yourself against a stress-induced free-radical invasion, take a daily multivitamin or mineral induced supplement.

How Does Exercise Acts as Tranquilizer?

Scientists do not understand the precise how and why yet. They believe that certain brain chemicals found in relaxed states are released during exercise.

In experiments with cats, researchers found that the activity of the muscle receptors was reduced when the temperature of the receptors themselves or of the hypothalamus, a region in the brain, was raised. Vigorous exercise is one way of raising these temperatures and, perhaps, of slowing the receptors activity.

Some investigators suggest that the tightening of the muscles associated with tension causes chronic over-arousal and over-activity of the nervous system. Moving the muscles, they say, may be necessary to keep the muscle receptors transmissions to the nervous system at a normal level.

Mental health professionals have begun to study the effects of exercise on emotional disturbances. No one is suggesting that people can quite literally run away from our problems, but one psychologist did find that depressed patients improved significantly after ten weeks of jogging.

All of these things are boiled down to the fact that exercise is one of the best solutions to relieve people from stress and anxiety.

Can Female Hair Loss Make Me Totally Bald?

View the pattern that affects women only. Loss of female hair is not the same as male hair loss determined by heredity. Female hair loss is temporary and is seldom an advance warning of baldness. Transient loss of hair should not, however, be ignored. It is possible for a woman to suffer from hormonal hair loss leading to baldness.

Some of the most common causes are:

1. Pregnancy
2. Severe emotional stress
3. Under medical treatment
4. Hormonal hair loss
Is there a relationship between hair loss and menopause?

The most common cause of hair loss is low thyroid function, which is common among menopausal women.

Other causes include, but are not limited to: changes in hormone levels, increased testosterone, increased stress, which can either be physical stress, or emotional stress, various medications, scalp/dermatological issues and heredity.

Any time sudden hair loss is experienced, one must consider events which took place up to three months prior to the hair loss, as factors affecting hair loss can often take up to three months to have an effect, i.e., were you diagnosed with something new in the past few months? Did you start taking medication during the past few months?

Did you go through a traumatic experience. Subsequently, any treatments for hair loss should be given at least three months to have noticeable effects.

There are of course various ways to solve hair problems, such as:

1. Wig / toupe
2. Hair-weaving (weaving in extra hair)
3. Hair transplant
4. Cosmetic hair treatment courses
5. Therapy

There are only a few products available worldwide which have been conclusively proven to combat hair loss. They are Aminexil, Alopesan 400, Maxilne, Minoxidil and Finasteride.

Its very important for you as a consumer to know this if you are thinking of taking steps to combat your hair loss. Rogaine is another one of the more popular brand names in the hair loss industry.

Taking Care Of Acne-Prone Skin

Although acne has been largely associated with teeners and puberty, the condition is not only confined in this age level. In fact, there are cases when as teeners, people do not suffer from acne only to have acne appear when they are in their 20s.

Acne is characterized by big break outs and pimples in large quantities. It can develop in different areas of the body although frequently found on the face and at the back. Acne often starts from the overactivity of the pilo-sebaceous glands, oil-producing glands. When combined with bacteria, dead skin cells and hormones, these oils are trapped in pores and induces swelling.

Often, lumps will develop into white heads or blackheads or even purely red lumps that are tender. Acne can also lead to scarring when not treated early. Some acne extend so deep within the skin and form nodules and cysts that even when heals, will leave scars that may not disappear.

Although nothing has been proven yet, acne has been known to be exacerbated by emotional stress, fatigue, humidity and even cosmetics. This is the reason why the use of chemicals on the face is strictly forbidden when there is acne as the products only irritate the skin.
There are actually medicines that can be applied to treat acne but before putting them on your face, you need to first consult a doctor to find out the regimen that will fit your condition and your skin type.

Here are some tips on how to take care of acne prone skin.

1. Let it be treated by professionals

The earlier you have it medically treated, the better will be the prognosis. There are medications that can help control the processes that lead to the acne problem such as the over-activity of the sebaceous glands, hormonal imbalances and even stress.

2. Do not take it in your own hands

Do not squeeze your pimples. This will only spread the infection and cause the affected area to swell. Squeezing your pimples may also result in permanent scarring. So be very careful in tweaking those red bumps on your face.

3. Avoid oily cosmetics

Remember that acne-prone skin is oily enough as it is. If you use oily cosmetics, it will only add up to the oil build up. If you have to wear make-up, look for the ones that are water-based. This will be less harsh on the skin. Also, remember to always remove your make-up at night. This is very crucial as leaving make-up on your skin while asleep can further irritate the skin.