Relax the mind and improve your life – easy to say and it’s easy to do – when you know how.
Stress: the cause of numerous health issues
This time of year you are likely to encounter a cold, the ‘flu’, chest infections, sinus infections and sore throats to name a few or someone close to you will develop the symptoms. These bugs and nasty infections get into us when our immune system is a little weak or overworked and no matter what you do they will have their time irritating and weakening you further. Taking the time to relax is paramount for a healthy life. Unfortunately we have lost the art of relaxation (if we ever knew how to). Taking time to relax the mind can improve your life.
Stress is often seen as something linked just to our mood or emotions, we are at work and things are not going right, a particular task is outside of your comfort zone maybe you feel threatened and you feel ‘stressed’ and can’t wait to get home for a beer, glass of wine or grab a bar of chocolate.
The mind matters, getting ‘stressed’ triggers a host of chemical reactions in the organs of the body, for example to produce more adrenaline. This (adrenaline) is generated in times of fear and the typical situation is often referred to as the ‘flight or fight’ mode . Adrenaline could be seen as the body’s supercharger it gets you going and has been known to push people to do extraordinary physical feats outside of their normal capability. At the time of an accident for example people have been known to lift up a car to release someone who is trapped, when in normal circumstances they don’t have anything like that strength available.
Imagine what state your body and mind would be in if you were feeling that adrenaline rush every few hours during your working day! And in many, many cases that’s exactly what is happening. If the mind and body keeps pumping extra amounts of chemicals like adrenaline in response to the stresses being perceived by the mind on a regular basis eventually the body can collapse or shut down. There is a cost to this activity and one is that our poor old immune system gets battered and weakened. When you put up your feet for a rest so does the immune system, it can’t cope it almost switches off and hey presto you have a sore throat, a high body temperature or something more serious. This is why we have to consider ‘relax the mind’ and ‘improve your life’.
So take a look at how to manage the stress in your life, take a break for 5 minutes from the computer screen, have a good laugh with friends or colleagues, have a quiet ‘day dream’ of a great memory, put into perspective the threats in your job. Above all learn how to breath correctly. Is ‘failure not an option’? I can’t recall any UK bankers being taken out and shot after their catastrophic mismanagement of their business! Perhaps we say YES too often in our jobs when sometimes a reasoned explanation can take undue pressure away. For example “Yes, I can do XYZ I will have to put ABC on hold of course, so which way do you want to play it?” Give it a try.
Too often people have hit that downward spiral in life where darkness prevails and even the small things in life seem to be out of reach. Don’t be unkind to yourself and take control while you can. Good luck and remember your mind does matter, preserve it for you.