How To Deal With Stress Naturally

Let's talk about stress.  Stress to make your parents proud, stress at work, stress in school, stress in friendships, stress over boys, stress over your weight, stress over your acne, stress over your hair, stress over your health, stress, stress, stress!  SO much stress abounds in our lives and we let it control us instead of us controlling our stress.

Stress is caused by change or worry.  Even if they are caused by good things, it can produce stress.  Whether it is brought about by the thought of an impending argument with your parents or by the excitement of going to Disneyland this weekend, stress is stress.  Some people work fine under stress, they have little to no change in their everyday tasks as a result of it.  Others will react dangerously with insomnia, headaches, grinding of teeth, and nervous twitches.  These can all be the result of being under stress.  It’s not all bad news, though; there are some things we can do to lower our stress levels or to cope with the stress we have to deal with on a daily or weekly basis.

This kid's doing it right!

I know we work really hard, but we have got to learn how to REALLY relax.  Even on the weekends, sometimes we're constantly up and about what with the yard work needing to be done and homework to be studied.  Even when we do decide to relax all we do is sleep in late and sit around in our pajamas watching tv and eating cereal all day long.  I don't count that as relaxing.  Perhaps you could consider taking a nice slow walk out on the beach or sitting by the creek taking in all the sounds of nature.  Winding down in a nice hot bath or a Jacuzzi.  Maybe even just making yourself a cup of tea and reading a book or meditating.

I had some honey roasted almonds my dad bought from the

store a few weeks ago, YUMMY!!!

Then there is the stress your body is under what with all the processed food it might be fed.  We should want to make sure that most of your daily food intake is of raw foods.  Fresh, raw fruits and vegetables are packed full of free-radical scavenging antioxidants, vitamins and minerals.  When you are under stress, your body uses up a lot of your calcium, so you should consider upping your calcium intake naturally by the consumption of  cheeses, almonds or yogurt; or by taking multivitamins.  Whichever you consider easiest and whichever you know you will be able to stick with.  Even though naturally occurring calcium is better for you, be sure that you will be able to get the proper amount daily. 

Coffee can make it difficult for you to relax, so consider replacing your evening cup three nights a week with some chamomile tea.

Photo 1 by~ Ellen Humphries
Photo 2 by~ me